The Terrorists
Terror From Above
State Terrorism
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Understanding State-Sponsored Terrorism
The Patronage Model
The Assistance Model
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Understanding State-Sponsored Terrorism
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State terrorism incorporates many types and degrees
of violence.
 Cases: Warfare, genocide, assassinations, torture.
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Linkages between regimes and terrorism range from
clear lines to murky “deniable” associations.
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Concepts:
 State patronage for terrorism.
 State assistance for terrorism.
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The Patronage Model
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Active state participation in terrorist behavior.
 Foreign and domestic participation
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Active involvement by agencies and personnel.
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Cases: Direct arming, training, providing sanctuary.
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The Assistance Model
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Tacit state participation in terrorist behavior.
 Foreign and domestic participation.
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Indirect support for extremist proxies.
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Cases: Indirectly arming, training, and sanctuary.
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Moral Support
Technical Support
Selective Participation
Active Participation
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Moral Support
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Politically sympathetic sponsorship.
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Open embracement of the main beliefs and
principles of a cause.
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Governments may act as ideological role models for
championed groups.
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Case: Iranian support for Islamist movements.
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Technical Support
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Logistically supportive sponsorship.
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Providing aid and comfort to a championed cause,
directly or indirectly.
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Permits an aggressive agenda while allowing
“deniability.”
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Case: Syrian regime of Hafez el-Assad.
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Selective Participation
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Episode-specific sponsorship.

Support for a single incident or a series of incidents.
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Carried out by proxies or agents of the state.
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Case: Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
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Active Participation
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Joint operations.

Government personnel jointly carry out campaigns
in cooperation with a championed proxy.
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Case: Phoenix Program.
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Legitimizing State Authority
Vigilante State Terrorism
Official State Terrorism
Genocidal State Terrorism
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Legitimizing State Authority
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Every type of regime seeks to legitimize its authority
and maintain its social order.
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Democracy.
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Authoritarianism.
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Totalitarianism.
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Crazy states.
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Vigilante State Terrorism
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Unofficial repression.
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Terrorism perpetrated by nongovernmental groups.
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Unofficial support from agents of the state.
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Case: Paramilitaries and death squads.
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Official State Terrorism
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Repression as a state’s domestic policy.
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Deliberate adoption of domestic terrorism.
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Overt cases: Policies of Stalinist Russia, Nazi
Germany, Khmer Rouge Cambodia, and Taliban
Afghanistan.
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Covert case: Iran during the reign of Shah
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
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Genocidal State Terrorism
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Dr. Raphael Lemkin’s 1944 book, Axis Rule in
Occupied Europe.
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Scapegoating a group of people as policy.
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Acts classified as genocide against a group:
 Killing members of the group.
 Creating conditions leading to the partial or complete
destruction of the group.
 Preventing births or forcibly transferring children.
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U.S. Department of State’s Country Reports on
Terrorism
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Annual list of countries designated as state sponsors
of terrorism.
Private Agencies Monitoring Political Abuses
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Human Rights Watch
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Amnesty International