Professor of Government and terrorism scholar Martha Crenshaw addressed the Connecticut Center for Arts and Sciences at the Admissions Office Tuesday night to ask the question “Why is the U.S. Targeted by Terrorism?”
Crenshaw’s lecture focused on the underlying causes of terrorism against the United States and around the world.
Crenshaw discussed the popular notion that the United States’ role as world superpower, and its portrayal in the media as such, has led to anti-American violence.
According to Crenshaw, there is a direct connection between a country’s economy and its power status in the world. The U.S. is viewed as powerful because of its strong economy, while other poorer countries are seen as weak. These weaker countries then use terrorism as a way of taking power away from the U.S., and hence making their own country stronger.
“People feel entitled to have more,” Crenshaw said. “This creates feelings of anger and resentment. And terrorism is one of the extreme ways these sentiments are expressed.”
While controversial, Crenshaw said that terrorism could be described as “asymmetrical warfare.” According to Crenshaw, many Americans are adverse to the term, preferring to call it a crime.
“They hate our friends, they hate our values, they hate democracy an freedom and individual liberty,” said President Bush in a speech at the National Defense University.
According to Crenshaw, Bush views terrorism as something to be conquered, and that is why he is declared a war on it.
Crenshaw highlighted the fact that the vast majority of terrorist acts have been domestic and that international attacks are less frequent. Since the 1960s, there have been about 400-500 groups who use terrorism and only 50 of them have attacked the U.S. Many members of these groups, however, split and merge with other groups or change their names, making it difficult to identify or retaliate against them.
According to Crenshaw, terrorist groups usually attack the U.S. as means of strategy and incentives, which is why banks and financial institutions are the most likely targets.
“Terrorism can be very contagious,” Crenshaw said. “And if one group’s terrorist attacks gets results, other groups look for more severe forms of terrorism to get results.”
Crenshaw also talked about the history of terrorism and how it has evolved since the 1960s. Groups have used violence in the form of kidnapping and killing of diplomats and ambassadors. These tactics were usually successful until the US established their policy of no concessions.
Crenshaw ended her lecture by noting that terrorist attacks are incredibly hard to predict, but that the past provides the best insight into the future.
In addition to being a Professor of Government at Wesleyan, Crenshaw is also a Colin & Nancy Campbell Professor of Global Issues & Democratic Thought.
The Crenshaw lecture was presented to The Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, which is the third-oldest learned society in the United States. The aim of the organization is the furthering of scholarly information. For the past 200 years, the Academy has fulfilled this mission through lectures and extensive publications. The group’s talks are free and open to the public, held at universities throughout Connecticut.
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