‘The Capability Spectrum; Locating Terrorism in Relation to other Manifestations of Political Violence.’

Abstract

Terrorism is often discussed in isolation from other manifestations of political violence; however, significant understanding of the phenomenon can be gained by assessing terrorism in relation to the wider context of other forms of political violence. This paper presents a model which locates terrorism in relation to acts ranging from rioting to insurgency, based on a spectrum of increasing capabilities. This spectrum suggests that the predominantly communicative acts of terrorism locate it closely to the communicative acts of political rioting; whilst at the same time, the desire of terrorist groups to militarise further links terrorism to insurgency.