Erika Brown

6 Nov 2012

PL SC 150

Blog 8: Categorizing Political Violence

     One specific case of political violence that took place in Italy is the terrorism by the Red Brigades during the 1970s and early 1980s.  The definition of terrorism from Comparative Politics is, “Threatened or actual use of violence for political purposes by non-state actors, directed particularly against civilian targets” (Samuels).  Does this definition encompass what terrorism really is?  It comes close.

     The Red Brigades used “actual use of violence” to achieve their political purposes (Samuels).   Rather than using threats, they used tactics such as sabotage, bank robberies, kidnappings, and murder to get what they wanted (Westcott).  Some of these tactics were used as a source of income, while others were used to influence politics.  Within the first ten years of the Red Brigades’ existence, an estimated “14,000 acts of violence,” were committed (Martin).  75 people were murdered, the majority of which were politically motivated (Martin).  The Red Brigades used violence to get attention from the Italian government.

     This group used terrorism for a specific “political purpose” (Samuels).  Their goal was to destabilize Italy and remove it from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.  In the 1975 Manifesto, this terrorist group formally announced the political goal that they hoped to achieve through violent actions.  Their aim was, “A concentrated strike against the heart of the State, because the State is an imperialist collection of multinational corporations” (A Jamieson).  Clearly, the Red Brigades were willing to commit thousands of acts of violence to achieve their purpose. 

     The Red Brigades originated as a radical study group at the University of Trento (Jenkins).  Slowly, the group gained followers and grew larger until it had hundreds of members and thousands of supporters (Jenkins).  This group was comprised of the citizens of Italy, not state actors. 

     The Italian terrorist group directed their violence against civilian targets as well as influential political leaders.  They used sabotage, burglary, and kidnapping against civilians, but their aim was to, “undermine the Italian state” (Jenkins, Dugdale-Pointon).  To make their point, the Red Brigades kidnapped the former Italian Prime Minister.  They wanted, “…a semi-official status as ‘insurgents’ but the government refused to negotiate” (Dugdale-Pointon).  When they realized the government would not comply with their demands, they were afraid of being discovered, so they murdered the Prime Minister.  The textbook’s definition does not adequately address the violence used against civilian targets as well as against political targets because political targets are not always involved in terrorism.

     Terrorism is further defined later in the textbook.  “Terrorists use violence not to overthrow the state directly, but to undermine state strength—to chip away at the appearance that the state is legitimate and effective” (Samuels).  This addition to the definition specifies what is meant by “political purposes” (Samuels).  The Red Brigades did not want to overthrow Italy; rather, they wanted Italy to separate from NATO (“Italian Red Brigade”).  They used violence to urge Italy to move in that direction.

     The given definition is almost complete for terrorism.  However, political purposes should be defined more specifically and its targets should include politically involved people as well as civilians.  Taking these additions into account, terrorism should be defined as, “threatened or actual use of violence against civilian and political targets by non-state actors for political purposes and to undermine state strength.”  This definition would describe the Red Brigades’ terrorism better than the textbook’s definition.

Works Cited

A Jamieson. Identity and morality in the Italian Red Brigades. Terrorism and Political Violence,

1990, p. 508-15

Dugdale-Pointon, T. (19 November 2007), The Red Brigade Terrorist Group.  Web.  6

Nov. 2012.

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_red_brigades.html.

“Italian Red Brigade.”  The Free Dictionary.  Thefreedictionary.com.  2003-2012 Princeton

University.  Web. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Italian+Red+Brigade. 

Jenkins, John Phillip.  "Red Brigades." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica

Online Academic Edition.  Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 06 Nov. 2012.

Martin, Clarence Augustus; Gus Martin (2003). Understanding Terrorism. Sage Publications

            Inc.

Samuels, David J.  Comparative Politics.  Pearson Education, Inc.  Print.  6 Nov. 2012.

Westcott, Kathryn (January 6, 2004). "Italy's history of terror". BBC News.