This thought-provoking book challenges the conventional discourse on—and responses to—contemporary terrorism. It examines the synergy between the extremist ideologies and the organizational models of non-state actors that use terrorist means in asymmetrical conflict. This synergy is what makes these terrorist groups so resilient in the face of the counterterrorist efforts of their main opponents—the state and the international system—which are conventionally far more powerful.

The book argues that the high mobilization potential of the supra-national extremist ideology inspired by al-Qaeda cannot be effectively counterbalanced at the global level by either the mainstream secular ideologies or moderate Islam. Instead, it is more likely to be affected and transformed by radical nationalism. Unless the political transformation of violent Islamist movements in specific national contexts is encouraged and the transnational ideology of violent Islamism is ‘nationalized’, it is unlikely to be amenable to external influence or to be destroyed by repression.

About the author

Dr Ekaterina Stepanova (Russia) has led the SIPRI Armed Conflicts and Conflict Management Project since 2007. She has led a research group on non-traditional security threats at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), Moscow, since 2001 and prior to that she worked at the Moscow Center of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She is the author of Rol' narkobiznesa v politekonomii konfliktov i terrorizma [The role of the illicit drug business in the political economy of conflicts and terrorism] (Ves Mir, 2005), Antiterrorism and Peace-building During and After Conflict, SIPRI Policy Paper no. 2 (2003), and Voenno–grazhdanskie otnosheniya v operatsiyakh nevoennogo tipa [Civil–military relations in operations other than war] (Prava Cheloveka, 2001). She serves on the editorial boards of Terrorism and Political Violence and Security Index.

SIPRI Research Reports

This series of reports examines urgent arms control and security subjects. The reports are concise, timely and authoritative sources of information. SIPRI researchers and commissioned experts present new findings as well as easily accessible collections of official documents and data.

Download Terrorism in Asymmetrical Conflict: Ideological and Structural Aspects

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SIPRI Research Report No. 23
EKATERINA STEPANOVA

SIPRI & OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS  2008

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an independent institution whose task is to conduct research on questions of conflict and cooperation of importance for international peace and security. SIPRI’s aim is to contribute to an understanding of the conditions for peaceful solutions of international conflicts and for a stable peace.

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Preface:

Despite the growing scope of terrorism literature, especially since 11 September 2001, some of the toughest questions concerning security threats posed by terrorism remain unanswered. What does asymmetry in conflict mean for terrorism and anti-terrorism efforts? Why is terrorism used as a tactic in some armed conflicts but not others? What are the anti-terrorism implications of dealing with broad armed movements that may selectively resort to terrorist means but, in contrast to some marginal splinter groups, are mass-based and often outmatch in popularity and social activity the weak states where they operate? Why at the same time have relatively small, al-Qaedainspired groups challenged and altered the international system so effectively through high-profile terrorism? How is it possible that these small and dispersed cells that are only linked by their shared ideology manage to act as if they were parts of a more structured and coordinated transnational movement?

Breaking new ground, this Research Report provides original insights into these and many other difficult questions. It builds on over a decade of Dr Stepanova’s research on terrorism, political violence and armed conflicts. The report looks at the two main ideologies of militant groups that use terrorist means—radical nationalism and religious extremism—and at organizational forms of terrorism at local and global levels, exploring the interrelationship between these ideologies and structures.

Dr Stepanova convincingly concludes that, despite the state’s continuing conventional superiority—in terms of power and status—over non-state actors, the critical combination of extremist ideologies and dispersed organizational structures gives terrorist groups many comparative advantages in their confrontation with states.

She is also sceptical about current national and international capacities to counterbalance the main ideology of contemporary transnational terrorism— violent Islamism inspired by al-Qaeda. She stresses the quasi-religious nature of this ideology that merges radical political, social and cultural protest with the passion of belief in the possibility of a new global order.

The report argues that the mobilizing power of radical nationalism may be an alternative to transnational quasi-religious extremism at the national level. The main recommendation is that the major radical actors that combine nationalism with religious extremism be actively stimulated to further nationalize their agendas. While not a panacea, this strategy could encourage—or force—them to operate within the same frameworks as those shared by the less radical non-state actors and the states themselves.

I congratulate the author on the completion of this sharp and thought-provoking study intended for the broader public as much as for analysts and practitioners. Special thanks are also due to Dr David Cruickshank, head of the SIPRI Editorial and Publications Department, for his editing of the book, to Peter Rea for the index and to Gunnie Boman of the SIPRI Library.

Dr Bates Gill
Director, SIPRI
January 2008

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