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Article: Contrasting secular and religious terrorism.(What Motivates Terror?)
- Article from:
- Middle East Quarterly
- Article date:
- January 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Middle East Forum. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, there has been a steady rise in Islamist terrorism. Too many analysts underestimate the ideological basis of terrorism and argue instead that rational-strategic rather than ideological principles motivate Islamist terror groups. Comparison between terrorist groups with secular and religious agendas, however, suggests that ideology matters for both and that downplaying religious inspiration for terrorism in an effort to emphasize tactical motivations is both inaccurate and dangerous.
Some researchers suggest that to understand terrorism it is more important to study what terrorists do rather than what they say. (1) University ...