Abstract
Purpose This paper aims to discuss the dilemma of terrorism as a political phenomenon that many political scientists care about; however, they find themselves incapable of explaining some of its aspects and they resort to other disciplines. The second part of the dilemma is related to the incapability of well-established disciplines to provide political scientists with much help. This raises the following question: Will political scientists be able to enhance their knowledge of terrorism with the help of scholars from consolidated and well-established disciplines or with the help of scholars from interdisciplinary fields? Design/methodology/approach This research depends on the main theories of psychology and of social psychology and adopts a comparative approach to assess the effectiveness of both disciplines in providing political scientists with the knowledge they lack. Findings In spite of being a well-established and consolidated discipline, psychology is not the perfect discipline that can help political scientists know who a terrorist is. Social psychological theories of aggression provide political scientists with greater ability to understand what psychological and sociological factors motivate a person to turn to aggression and terrorism. Moreover, social psychology developed the “terror management theory” which clarifies various aspects of the phenomenon. Originality/value This research paper calls the attention of scholars of terrorism to the importance of adopting an interdisciplinary approach to understand the various aspects of a complex phenomenon such as terrorism. The interdisciplinary field adopted will differ according to the research question that a researcher needs to answer.
Highlights
Terrorism is known to be a political phenomenon which is intriguing to many political scientists
This research paper started from a dilemma that faced political scientists
When they studied a political phenomenon such as terrorism, they found themselves obliged to seek the help of scholars of other disciplines of knowledge
Summary
Terrorism is known to be a political phenomenon which is intriguing to many political scientists. Franz Fanon’s work was accused of pushing ordinary people, especially leftist highly educated people in western countries, to commit violent activities Those who adopted this viewpoint believed that Fanon’s writings “instilled that sense of guilt, that feeling that the Third World of ex-colonies had right on its side, which has provided so much support for international terrorism” Starting from Morf’s contribution (1970), psychologists paid attention to the correlation between being a narcissist and engaging in terrorist attacks; believing that turning to this violent behavior could be a result of “a personality defect that produced a damaged sense of self”. The paranoid individual always felt threatened (Kissane, 1989) This was a sample of the most prominent psychological theories that represented the contributions of psychologists who tried to answer the question: How did ordinary individuals become terrorists?
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