Avoiding the Terrorist Trap: Why Respect for Human Rights is the Key to Defeating Terrorism by Tom Parker (review)

I. INTRODUCTION

Throughout history, states have long struggled with how best to address terrorism. From Narodnaya Volya of the nineteenth century to Al-Qaeda in modern times, the question remains: how can terrorism be contained, if not defeated? Avoiding the Terrorist Trap by Tom Parker addresses this question directly and offers a simple answer—by respecting human rights.¹ Any strategy for addressing terrorism must include an affirmation of human rights and must reject framing the struggle against terrorism as one of "might makes right."² This avoids the terrorist trap—an overreaction by states that polarizes opposition and brings legitimacy to a terrorist group. Moreover, fighting terrorism should not devolve to the simple use of brute force, akin to the Ogre in W.H. Auden's masterful poem, August 1968, an excerpt of which opens the book.³ Auden wrote "[t]he Ogre does what ogres can."⁴ But in fighting ogres, Parker argues, "it is not necessary to become one in the process to defeat them."⁵

While it may not be necessary to become an ogre, it can certainly help to study them and, through this process, defeat them. This highlights one of the book's greatest assets. Parker offers countless examples of the writings of terrorists, from leaders to rank-and-file members. Their words appear throughout each chapter, highlighting terrorist groups from around the world. Most of these groups are well-known and caused untold suffering in pursuit of their individual causes: Boko Haram, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN), Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), Irish Republican Army, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Ku Klux Klan, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Red Army Faction, and Sendero Luminoso.⁶ Yet Parker does not limit his source material to terrorist organizations. He includes numerous statements from political theorists and national leaders, including Mikhail Bakunin, Menachem Begin, Fidel Castro, Michael Collins, and Mao Tse-tung.⁷ He also addresses the work of established scholars on terrorism.⁸

Understanding the root causes of terrorism is difficult because terrorism itself is deeply complicated. Even the definition of terrorism remains contested. Parker's approach, while perhaps subject to criticism as legally imprecise, defines terrorism as "repetitive violent acts committed by clandestine non-state actors that deliberately target civilians for political ends."⁹

Avoiding the Terrorist Trap is divided into three sections. Part I addresses the strategies used by terrorists to pursue their ideological and political goals. Part II then addresses the causes of terrorism and the creation of terrorists. Finally, Part III proposes several methods for countering terrorism. Given the causes of terrorism and the strategies terrorists use to promote their goals, a focus on human rights is essential. To be clear, Parker is not writing a book about human rights. This is a book about fighting terrorism.¹⁰ However, Parker argues that fighting terrorism in an effective manner requires an acceptance of human rights.

II. TERRORIST STRATEGIES

To better understand the strategies used by terrorists to promote their causes, Parker considers their own words. As he points out, "[t]errorists and their supporters are surprisingly prolific authors."¹¹ Based on his review of their writings, Parker generates a list of six common strategies used by terrorists to promote their causes.

Terrorist groups have long recognized they cannot match states in pure firepower. As a result, asymmetrical warfare offers terrorists a way to benefit from their smaller size and more limited resources. This includes decentralized systems of command and control as well as the methodologies of attack. "Terrorists typically seek to keep their opponents perpetually off-balance by varying the geographic focus of their actions, the tempo of their attacks, and the type of target selected."¹² Extending the conflict is another common strategy. "Closely allied to the concept of asymmetrical warfare in terrorist operations is the idea that the cumulative effective of consecutive...