Terrorismin syistä ja seurauksista : pohdintoja terrorismin toimintalogiikasta, vaikutuksen luonteesta ja tulkintoihin liittyvistä ongelmista

Authors

• Teemu Sinkkonen

Abstract

Terrorism as a political phenomenon is very complex. In public debate it is normally simplified, and interpretations of specific terrorist acts are typically made with hindsight bias. This article deals with the problematic of causes and consequences of terrorism. The main questions ad­dressed here include the following: Do terrorists have power over their target or is it the hands of the target itself? How to react to terrorist action? What actually happens when terrorist acts take place, and how are their political consequences realized and by whom exactly? What are the real life practical motives and meta-motives of terrorism, and how could they be specified? Is preven­tive action possible, and what kinds of problems does it involve?. The intention is to offer starting points and ideas for further studies on the causes and consequences of terrorism as well as to point out some problems one may encounter when interpreting the causality of the phenomenon.