Underground Violence: On the Nature of Terrorism

What makes terrorism a unique form of political violence is its underground nature. According to the conceptualization of the phenomenon offered in this book, terrorism is the kind of violence carried out when the perpetrators lack territorial control. There is a strong link between terrorism and secret, clandestine operations, making terrorists attacks ephemeral, as opposed to battles and assaults.

The book offers a comprehensive conceptual analysis of terrorism, comparing it with competing theories and views on the subject, such as terrorism is killing civilians, or terrorism is a form of violence that relies on the distinction between direct and indirect targets. The conceptualization advanced here makes sense of some peculiar traits of terrorism, from international attacks (in which the underground constraint is most obvious), to lone-actor ones (in which a single individual commits a deed). It also delimits the possibility of state terrorism as covert operations by security forces, normally abroad.

Approaching terrorism in terms of the underground not only makes sense of how we talk about terrorism, but it also generates testable consequences. Through a combination of statistical and comparative analyses, it is shown that the use of terrorism is driven by the degree of asymmetry between the contending parties.

Luis de la Calle, University of Sheffield, Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca, Carlos III University

Luis De la Calle is Lecturer in Quantitative Methods at the University of Sheffield and Associate Professor at Centro de InvestigaciÃ3n y Docencia EconÃ3micas (CIDE) in Mexico City (on leave). His work focuses on conflict and state building. His articles have appeared in journals such as Annual Review of Political Science, The Journal of Politics, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and Journal of Peace Research. His last book is Nationalist Violence in Postwar Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2015).

Ignacio Sànchez-Cuenca is Professor of Political Science at the Carlos III-Juan March Institute of Social Sciences (Madrid). His work focuses on conflict and comparative politics. His articles have appeared in journals such as Annual Review of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and Journal of Peace Research. His last book is The Historical Roots of Political Violence. Revolutionary Terrorism in Affluent Countries (Cambridge University Press, 2019). He co-edited (with J.M. Maravall) Controlling Governments. Voters, Institutions, and Accountability (Cambridge University Press, 2008). He has also published several books in Spanish on Spain’s politics.