PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF POLITICAL TERRORISM

Abstract

The concept of terrorism and, political terrorism is defined. Psychological peculiarities of political terrorism are highlighted – it is a form of organized violence; the exercise of pressure, coercion of social groups and individuals through innocent, direct victims of terrorist acts; calculation of the effect of suddenness, unexpectedness; the desire to provoke paralysis of power, society against resistance.
The objective and subjective causes of political terrorism include: unresolved national-religious problems, war or military conflict, unfair social inequality, declining living standards, inability of state authorities to prevent and combat terrorism, gross violation of citizens’ rights and freedoms , the presence of secret terrorist groups, the choice of violence as a way of solving public problems, the substitution of the concepts of order and justice, the creation of an enemy’s image – guilty of certain problems, repression, rejection of social innovation, errors in national policy, promoting terrorism at the national level. The following types of contemporary political terrorism are distinguished: ethnic, religious-political, oppositional, revolutionary, national-political, military, individual, sabotage, technological, criminal, etc. Modern political terrorism has certain psychological features: quantitative growth of human victims, cynicism and cruelty of execution, scale of destructive consequences, professionalism and preparedness of terrorists, international character of terrorist groups, their usage by individual states, etc.
The tendencies of modern political terrorism include: the growth of the destructive nature of terrorist actions, the internationalization of terrorism, its activation in democratic countries, the growth of organized crime, the use of mercenarism, professionalism, widespread use of the media, the spread of political-technological terrorism, etc.