Symbolic politics definition
Insurgent terrorism, like Italy's Red Brigades or the Provisional IRA in Ireland, attempts to undermine the legitimacy and credibility of a regime through fear and uncertainty. The victim is a means to reach a larger audience, whether a population or a government, through the multiplier effect of the media or the 'rumour mill'. The immediate target and the ultimate target are not the same. However, the political impact of a single terrorist act, for instance the hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship, is far-reaching. The number of terrorist casualties on a global scale averages a few hundred yearly - a tiny fraction of those killed by common crime, not to mention conventional warfare. In fact, most victims are non-combatants symbolically associated with an 'adversary out there'. There is always an enormous discrepancy between the actual military damage resulting from a terrorist outrage and its wider psychological effects. In this sense, doing the unthinkable, committing especially callous and immoral acts, is oriented to achieve maximum effect: 'more bang for the buck'. Terrorism is unique because it is almost entirely in the realm of posturing and theatrics. To a large extent all politics is intended to provoke either mass arousal on one hand or quiescence on the other.
Of course that doesn't imply that only terrorism is symbolic. Likewise, an act of terrorism like a bombing or torture is meant to convey a brutal and immoral symbolism. It is much easier to combat 'terrorists' than justify exploitation by a white minority in South Africa or the occupation of Palestinian lands or 'big stick' international aggression.
When someone is called 'a terrorist', rational discourse can easily be interrupted and replaced by emotive name-calling. It is a form of symbolic politics, a sticky label used to delegitimize and erode an opponents objectives, morals or credibility. The essence of terrorism is that it is always related to semantics and psychological warfare. But there is much more to terrorism than the use of scare tactics as a political technique. It has been employed by nationalists, anarchists, authoritarians by insurgents opposing a particular government and by governments opposing supposed threats to state security.
Terrorism has been used by movements of the right, left and centre. It aims to create obedience (or disobedience) by profoundly altering the political frame of reference and circumstances of human behaviour through acute fear and uncertainty. In its basic sense, terrorism is the management, or politics, of scare-mongering. It connotes both something evil and immoral as well as a feeling of uncontrollable, earthshaking fear. But the word has always been shrouded in discomforting ambiguity. TERRORISM is just one of the weapons available in the arsenal of conflict.