KAI HIRSCHMANN The Changing Face of Terrorism T errorism can be defined as»the substate applica­tion of violence or threatened violence intended to sow panic in a society, to weaken or even overthrow the incumbents, and to bring about political change«. 1 It is a strategy of»the weak against the apparently strong«, 2 relying heavily on press coverage and modern communication channels. With a few notable exceptions, the wea­pons and tactics of terrorists have not changed, but the perceptions of threat and the vulnerability of modern societies 3 have. New types of terrorists have emerged, some of the old ones remain or periodically return, operating with higher financial resources than in the past. 4 One of the most important aims of terrorism is to create public attention or even sympathy for their overall demands. So the main reason for terrorist attacks is not the destruction or killing itself, but some kind of public information as a communication strategy. 5 Or as Bruce Hoffman puts it:»Terrorists are interested in publicity, not killing«. 6 Five motives for terrorist action can be identi­fied: 7 ̈ Ideological Terrorism: A desire for(revolu­tionary) changes in political or social structures. ̈ Ethno-Political Terrorism: The longing of eth­nic or political minorities in existing states for their own state or at least a certain political and cultural autonomy. ̈ Religious Terrorism: A desire to impose reli­gion-based norms of conduct, but also»apoca­lyptic fanaticism« as is characterized the Aum Shinrikyo cult in Japan. 8 ̈ Single Issue Terrorism, defined as»extremist militancy of groups or individuals protesting a perceived grievance or wrong usually attributed to governmental action or inaction«. 9 Salient issues under this definition are: the»fight« for animal rights, environmentalism and the»fight« against abortion. 10 ̈ The»Chosen Ones«: Mentally disturbed / derang­ed single persons with a certain mission or social philosophy whose planning of terrorist attacks is fundamentally rational but who work without network or group support. Ideological, ethno-political and religious terrorism is different from guerilla warfare. Both terms, terrorism and guerilla warfare, denote irregular fighting methods that can be combined. Never­theless they describe different insurgent actions. Guerilla warfare is a military strategy including annoyance, surrounding and finally defeat of the opponent(enemy). Terrorism primarily represents a communication strategy. It is not used primarily for destruction, but as a»signal« to achieve wide­spread psychological impact. Or as Franz Wörde­mann puts it:»Guerilla fighters want to occupy the territory, terrorists want to occupy the thinking«. 11 In contrast to guerilla fighters, terrorists do not operate as military units in public, they do not try to conquer or defend territories, they avoid fights with regular armed forces and do not 1 . Laqueur( 1996 ), p. 24 . 2 . A detailed definition of»Terrorism« that stresses this aspect is provided by Hoffman( 1999 a). 3. For the United States see Sloan( 1995 ) and Crenshaw ( 2000 ). 4. For information on the financing of terrorists see Adams( 1986 ). 5. This view is shared by most scientists. Cf. Waldmann ( 1999 ), p. 10 f. as an example. 6. Hoffmann( 1999 ). 7. For the first three, see Waldmann( 2000 ), more detailed Waldmann( 1999 ). 8. A deeper inside into religious terrorism is provided by Ranstorp( 1996 ), Hoffman( 1998 ), and, with a histori­cal perspective, Heine( 2000 ). 9. Smith( 1998 b). 10. Cf. Smith( 1998 b), p. 1 . 11 . Wördemann( 1977 ). See also Waldmann( 2000 ), pp. 14 ff., Hoffman( 1999 a), pp. 52 ff. and Wördemann ( 1977 ). IPG 3/2000 Kai Hirschmann, The Changing Face of Terrorism 299