ABSTRACT

This chapter argues that the reason why some violent groups use both violence and non-violent action is because they are rational actors and under certain conditions violence is a rational choice, though the thought of violent political actors like terrorist and guerrilla groups as rational actors is difficult for some to believe due to the illegitimacy factor. Such assertions are encouraged by Francesco Cavatorta, who supports the idea that: Islamist political organizations should be studied through the same assumptions of rationality that are utilized for other non-Islamist formations. Islamist groups have a wide range of objectives, ranging from nationalist, liberation movements against perceived foreign threats to domestic insurgencies, which threaten status quo governments, to the other extreme, transnational terrorism like that pursued by al-Qaeda. Just as violence is rational in some circumstances, the use of non-violent means, particularly electoral politics, is effective and most rational under other circumstances.