What Motivates Terrorism?

The recent attacks in Paris shocked the world and left us wondering what could possibly motivate such barbarism. In this episode, we ask that question about terrorism in general. What has motivated terrorists around the world and through recent history? Spoiler: groups representing all kinds of ideologies have used terrorism as a tool long before the more recent (and more violent) attacks by Islamic extremist groups.

We also spoke briefly on this topic on the Challenging Opinions podcast!

Dig Deeper

Take a look at some of our favorite articles that we came across while researching [this topic]:

* Europol Terrorism and Situation Report (pdf)

* This is the group that’s surprisingly prone to violent extremism, Henry Farrell on the Washington Post

* Deadly Attacks since 9/11, New America Foundation

Want to contribute to a future episode?

document.write('\u003C','\u0070\u003E','\u0049\u0066',' \u0079','\u006F\u0075',' \u0068\u0061','\u0076','\u0065 \u0061','\u006E',' \u0069\u0064\u0065\u0061',' \u0066','\u006F\u0072 \u0061 \u0074\u006F','\u0070','\u0069','\u0063 \u0074','\u0068','\u0061','\u0074 \u0077','\u0065 \u0073\u0068\u006F\u0075','\u006C\u0064',' \u0063\u006F\u0076\u0065\u0072',' \u0069\u006E',' \u0061 \u0066','\u0075\u0074','\u0075\u0072\u0065',' \u0065\u0070\u0069','\u0073\u006F','\u0064','\u0065\u002C \u0074\u0068','\u0065','\u006E \u003C\u0061',' \u0068','\u0072','\u0065','\u0066','\u003D','\u0022','\u0068\u0074','\u0074\u0070\u003A','\u002f','\u002f\u0077\u0077','\u0077','\u002E\u0074\u0077\u0069\u0074\u0074','\u0065','\u0072\u002E\u0063','\u006F\u006D','\u002f\u006D\u0061','\u0074\u0074','\u0065\u0072','\u0073','\u004F','\u0073\u0074\u0061\u0074\u0065','\u0022 \u0074','\u0061\u0072','\u0067','\u0065','\u0074\u003D','\u0022','\u005F\u0062\u006C','\u0061','\u006E\u006B','\u0022',' \u0072\u0065','\u006C\u003D','\u0022','\u006E\u006F','\u006F','\u0070\u0065','\u006E','\u0065\u0072','\u0022\u003E\u0074','\u0077','\u0065','\u0065','\u0074','\u003C','\u002f','\u0061\u003E',' \u0069\u0074 \u0074\u006F',' \u0075','\u0073','\u002C',' \u0070\u006F','\u0073\u0074',' \u0069\u0074 \u006F','\u006E',' \u006F\u0075\u0072',' \u003C','\u0061 \u0068\u0072\u0065\u0066\u003D','\u0022\u0068','\u0074\u0074\u0070','\u003A','\u002f\u002f\u0077\u0077\u0077\u002E','\u0066\u0061\u0063\u0065\u0062','\u006F','\u006F','\u006B\u002E','\u0063','\u006F','\u006D','\u002f','\u006D\u0061','\u0074','\u0074\u0065','\u0072','\u0073\u006F','\u0066','\u0073\u0074\u0061','\u0074','\u0065','\u0022',' \u0074','\u0061','\u0072','\u0067\u0065','\u0074\u003D\u0022','\u005F','\u0062','\u006C\u0061\u006E','\u006B','\u0022 \u0072','\u0065','\u006C','\u003D\u0022\u006E','\u006F','\u006F\u0070\u0065','\u006E','\u0065','\u0072','\u0022\u003E\u0046\u0061\u0063\u0065\u0062','\u006F','\u006F\u006B','\u003C','\u002f\u0061','\u003E',' \u0077','\u0061','\u006C','\u006C','\u002C  \u006F\u0072 \u0063','\u006F\u006E\u0074','\u0061','\u0063\u0074',' \u0075','\u0073 \u006F\u006E \u003C\u0061',' \u0068','\u0072\u0065\u0066\u003D\u0022','\u0068\u0074','\u0074','\u0070','\u003A\u002f','\u002f','\u0077','\u0077\u0077\u002E\u006C','\u0069\u006E','\u006B','\u0065','\u0064','\u0069\u006E','\u002E\u0063\u006F\u006D\u002f','\u0063\u006F\u006D\u0070\u0061\u006E\u0079','\u002f\u006D\u0061','\u0074\u0074','\u0065\u0072','\u0073','\u002D','\u006F','\u0066\u002D\u0073','\u0074','\u0061\u0074','\u0065','\u0022',' \u0074\u0061\u0072\u0067','\u0065','\u0074','\u003D','\u0022','\u005F\u0062','\u006C','\u0061\u006E',