Sociology of Terrorism Review Questions
Course Introduction
The Sociology of Terrorism explores the social roots, dynamics, and consequences of terrorist acts and organizations within both historical and contemporary contexts. This course examines how sociological theories, such as social movements and collective behavior, help to explain the emergence, development, and persistence of terrorism. Key topics include the social construction of terrorism, pathways to radicalization, state and non-state actors, the role of media, and the societal responses to terrorism. Through case studies and critical analysis, students will gain an understanding of how factors such as ideology, inequality, globalization, and identity contribute to terrorist activity, as well as the broader implications for security, policy, and civil liberties.
Recommended Textbook
Understanding Terrorism Challenges Perspectives and Issues 6th Edition by Gus Martin
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15 Chapters
752 Verified Questions
752 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Terrorism: First Impressions
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following best describes Theodore Kaczynski?
A) He was a famous Bolshevik leader.
B) He is the Unabomber.
C) He is a self-professed right-wing ideologue.
D) All of these.
Answer: B
Q2) Guy Fawkes attempted to bomb Congress.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Al-Qa'ida has a defined ideology.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q4) Guy Fawkes was responsible for which of the following?
A) the Reign of Terror
B) the Gunpowder Plot
C) the Luddites
D) the sicarii
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: The Nature of the Beast: Defining Terrorism
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Sample Questions
Q1) The statement "one man willing to throw away his life is enough to terrorize a thousand" ______.
A) is a rallying slogan used by suicide bombers
B) is an ancient concept concerning the fear that can be created by a dedicated adversary
C) is attributed to the Chinese military philosophers Sun Tzu and Wu Ch'i
D) both "is a very ancient concept concerning the fear that can be created by a dedicated adversary" and "is attributed to the Chinese military philosophers Sun Tzu and Wu Ch'i"
Answer: D
Q2) So-called hate crimes are never acts of terrorism.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Types of terrorism include ______.
A) seasonal terrorism
B) conventional terrorism
C) dissident terrorism
D) all of these
Answer: C
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Chapter 3: Beginnings: the Causes of Terrorism
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Sample Questions
Q1) Differential association theory is used to describe terrorist tendencies within which explanatory discipline?
A) sociological explanations of terrorism
B) criminological explanations of terrorism
C) psychological explanations of terrorism
D) physiological explanations of terrorism
Answer: B
Q2) Leila Khaled, Abu Nidal, and Carlos committed acts of political violence in solidarity with which of the following causes?
A) the oppressed of the world
B) the Vietnamese people and their resistance against the United States
C) the Palestinian people and their resistance against Israel
D) working-class revolution
Answer: C
Q3) Women rarely participate in terrorist movements.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 4: Terror From Above: Terrorism by the State
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48 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Contras fought against the United States in Nicaragua.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Why do some governments engage in domestic terrorism as a matter of policy? Discuss domestic social and political environments that give rise to domestic state terrorism. Is government-sponsored domestic political violence ever justifiable?
Q3) What are "terrorist proxies"? Explain how countries use these proxies. Why do they do so? Discuss potential benefits enjoyed by sponsors who use such proxies. Discuss potential risks.
Q4) International "watchdog" organizations will often engage in which of the following activities?
A) conduct covert surveillance on government officials and activities
B) serve as a counterpoint to official government versions of events
C) impose economic sanctions on rogue governments
D) both "conduct covert surveillance on government officials and activities" and "serve as a counterpoint to official government versions of events"
Q5) Are authoritarian measures sometimes justifiable and necessary?
Q6) In your opinion, what sort of government was that of Muammar el-Qaddafi?
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Chapter 5: Terror From Below: Terrorism by Dissidents
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Sample Questions
Q1) Using the case of Chechen violence against Russian interests, critique the new dissident terrorist morality. Are the Chechens fighting on behalf of a just cause? Is their warfighting methodology morally understandable under the circumstances? Explain your answer.
Q2) Communal dissident terrorism refers to
A) significant degrees of violence between population groups.
B) terrorism in the countryside ("communes").
C) communist-inspired terrorism.
D) uprisings by communities against government oppression.
Q3) "Lone-wolf" acts of political violence refer to
A) eco-terrorism by groups like the Earth Liberation Front.
B) terrorism carried out by members and agents of established terrorist organizations.
C) terrorism that is useful for intimidating neutral and undecided individuals.
D) terrorism carried out by individuals who are not official or formal members or agents of established terrorist organizations.
Q4) In your opinion, is selection of hijackings and other international violence by nationalists necessary from their perspective? Was it justifiable?
Q5) Briefly discuss the motivations behind "lone-wolf" acts of political violence.
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Chapter 6: Violence in the Name of the Faith: Religious Terrorism
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements regarding jihad is most accurate?
A) Jihad is an ideology of world domination.
B) The greater jihad refers to the struggle each person has within themselves to do what is right.
C) Jihad and the Christian Crusades represent identical concepts.
D) None of these.
Q2) Which of the following statements is most accurate about the Thuggees?
A) They were thugs.
B) They represent a case of religious organized crime.
C) They were suppressed by the British in India.
D) Both "they were thugs" and "they represent a case of religious organized crime."
Q3) Cult-like violent extremism arises periodically, as indicated in which of the following?
A) Boko Haram
B) the Lord's Resistance Army
C) the Stern Gang
D) none of these
Q4) Briefly discuss the threat from the international <i>mujahideen</i> and their fellow-believers.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Violent Ideologies: Terrorism From the Left and Right
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Sample Questions
Q1) Prior to the end of the Cold War, left-wing terrorism ______.
A) was rare and random
B) occurred frequently in Western democracies
C) occurred frequently in the Soviet Union
D) was primarily religious in nature
Q2) Briefly discuss the terrorist environment created by Peru's Shining Path.
Q3) Class struggle is at the center of rightist ideology.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What was the general profile of Latin American left-wing terrorism in the latter quarter of the 20th century?
Q5) Which of the following statements best summarizes a central tenet of revolutionary Marxism?
A) Propaganda is best made through violent "propaganda by the deed."
B) Revolution is necessary to build a democratic future.
C) A revolutionary party is necessary for leading the people and the creation of a revolutionary environment.
D) Ideally, there must be a disciplined political party, a charismatic leader, glorification of the military, and an organized elite.
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Chapter 8: Terrorist Spillovers: International Terrorism
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Sample Questions
Q1) During the era of the "Old Terrorism," a persistent pattern of international behavior was characterized by ______.
A) the Cold War rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States
B) a synthesis of nationalism and Marxism by 20th-century revolutionaries in the developing world
C) attempts by former colonial powers to recapture lost colonies
D) both "the Cold War rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States" and "a synthesis of nationalism and Marxism by 20th-century revolutionaries in the developing world"
Q2) The modern era of international terrorism was arguably pioneered by which of the following movements?
A) the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka
B) Al-Qa'ida
C) the Palestinian movement
D) Carlos "the Jackal"
Q3) The March 2004 bombings in Madrid are an example of effective terrorism.
A)True
B)False
Q4) How do "sleeper cells" manage to remain viable?
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Chapter 9: Emerging Terrorist Environments:
Gender-Selective Political Violence and Criminal Dissident
Terrorism
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Sample Questions
Q1) Briefly describe the reasons behind Colombia's FARC and Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers' decisions to participate in criminal enterprises such as the drug and arms trades.
Q2) Which of the following statements most accurately describes traditional criminal enterprises?
A) Traditional criminal enterprises were created to engage in narco-terrorism.
B) Traditional criminal enterprises are highly political.
C) Traditional criminal enterprises form political parties to support their activities.
D) Traditional criminal enterprises are not inherently political.
Q3) How have transnational criminal enterprises been used by terrorists and dissident movements? Why have otherwise revolutionary movements engaged in these enterprises? Explain your answer and give examples of this behavior.
Q4) Drug cartels posed a significant challenge to the Mexican government.
A)True B)False
Q5) In what ways was Lebanon's Beka'a Valley a nexus for terrorism, crime, and revolutionary activity?
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Chapter 10: Tools of the Trade: Tactics and Targets of Terrorists
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Sample Questions
Q1) Discuss how lone-wolf extremists could plausibly obtain explosive compounds.
Q2) Accurate knowledge about the construction of bombs is difficult to obtain.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The purpose of a dirty bomb is to poison water supplies.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The King David Hotel bombing arguably led to events that
A) ended British occupation of Palestine.
B) ended Spain's involvement in the Iraq war.
C) ended the U.S. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.
D) none of these.
Q5) In your opinion, what is the most likely threat scenario for the use of nuclear weapons?
Q6) In your opinion, what lessons were drawn by insurgents from successful bomb attacks and other incidents against the United States in places like Beirut and Mogadishu?
Q7) What is the purpose of "signature methods?"
Q8) What is the threat from cyberterrorism? How can nations defend themselves? Page 12
Q9) In what way is "armed propaganda" a weapon?
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Page 13
Chapter 11: The Information Battleground: Terrorist Violence
and the Role of the Media
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements is most accurate?
A) Violent extremists are indifferent to the attention they receive from the mass media; they are only interested in their revolution.
B) The mass media generally self-censor what they report in order to keep violent extremists from receiving too much attention.
C) Governments generally control how the mass media report news on violent extremists.
D) Violent extremists actively court attention from the mass media.
Q2) Which of the following statements regarding descriptive media language in reporting terrorism is most accurate?
A) Descriptive language often changes over time.
B) Descriptive language has remained largely unchanged for many years.
C) Descriptive language has no relevance for reporting terrorism.
D) Both "descriptive language has remained largely unchanged for many years" and "descriptive language has no relevance for reporting terrorism."
Q3) Discuss what is meant by "the media as a weapon."
Q4) Why are the use of euphemistic language and labeling important facets in the reporting of terrorist incidents?
Page 14
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Chapter 12: The American Case: Terrorism in the United States
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Sample Questions
Q1) In what ways did organizations such as the Weathermen represent examples of vanguard theory?
Q2) The Jewish Defense League was a civil rights group promoting inclusion and tolerance.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In your opinion, why were extremist elements of the New Left able to construct a fairly viable underground movement? Why did this underground not involve itself in the same scale of terrorist violence that emerged at the same time among leftists in Germany and Italy? Explain your answer.
Q4) In your opinion, why has the extremist right in the United States never formed a viable terrorist underground despite pronouncements from some adherents that they are prepared to do so? Explain your answer and give examples.
Q5) The "long hot summer" symbolizes racial tensions in the United States during the 1960s.
A)True
B)False
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Q6) Discuss how religion and mysticism are used by the extreme right wing in the United States.
Chapter 13: Counterterrorism: the Options
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Sample Questions
Q1) Are conciliatory responses an acceptable counterterrorist option? Explain your answer.
Q2) Hostage rescue attempts have resulted in almost no failures.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Counterterrorism most accurately refers to which of the following?
A) government homeland security principles
B) using extreme violence as a counterpoint to terrorist violence
C) proactive policies that seek to eliminate terrorist environments and groups
D) all of these
Q4) A "terrorist profile" is a composite description of a typical terrorist in a given environment.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Among warlike options, which applications of force are most appropriate when combating terrorism? In your opinion, which options are most effective? Which options are least effective? Explain your answer.
Q6) What lessons are to be learned from the example of Force 777?
Q7) Why do you think many people favor the use of force as a counterterrorist option?
Page 16
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Chapter 14: A New Era: Homeland Security
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following agencies was incorporated into the new Department of Homeland Security after the September 11, 2001 organizational crisis?
A) the Central Intelligence Agency
B) the Federal Emergency Management Agency
C) the Federal Bureau of Investigation
D) all of these
Q2) In your opinion, is the reorganization of homeland security a viable counterterrorist option?
Q3) Is torture an acceptable counterterrorist option? Explain your answer.
Q4) The term "homeland security" has a long history in the United States.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Are repressive domestic laws an acceptable counterterrorist option? Explain your answer.
Q6) How are the missions of sector-specific agencies similar? How effective do you think these agencies are in combating terrorism in the United States?
Q7) Are extraordinary renditions an acceptable counterterrorist option? Explain your answer.
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Chapter 15: What Next the Future of Terrorism
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements regarding the challenge of countering extremism is most accurate?
A) Coercive measures alone are only marginally successful.
B) Strong military retaliation is very effective.
C) Repressing adherents of extremist sentiment is a highly effective option.
D) Both "strong military retaliation is very effective" and "repressing adherents of extremist sentiment is a highly effective option."
Q2) How prevalent should surveillance technology be? Why?
Q3) Which of the following trends could serve as counterpoints to the continuation of dissident political violence in the near future?
A) There is no single binding or common ideological foundation for political violence.
B) International counterterrorist cooperation has thwarted numerous terrorist conspiracies.
C) Terrorists are likely to become fatigued and abandon their activities.
D) Both "there is no single binding or common ideological foundation for political violence" and "international counterterrorist cooperation has thwarted numerous terrorist conspiracies."
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