Global Jihad: temi, piste di diffusione e il fenomeno del reducismo ...

1.1 The “Will”
The will denotes the desire, intent and willingness of a sub-state group to pursue,
develop and deploy high impact weapons and devices.
There
are many variables which could affect a sub-state’s group choice as to whether
to pursue the acquisition and use of NR weapons. Commonly cited influences
include group motivations, target audience, structure and organisation, history and
learning behaviour,
the education level of members, the level of state support (or
independent finances), intended targets and the availability of material. 136
Recent reviews have proposed the advent of “new terrorism”, which calls into
question the classical notion that terrorists are more interested in gaining an audience
than in killing their potential audience. Scholars and experts have suggested
that this
model may only be true for secularly motivated terrorist organisations. Proponents
of the “new terrorism” identify a small number
of sub-state actors with a malign
intent which do not appear to fit comfortably into this characterisation,
including
religious fundamentalists or extremist groups. It has been argued that three other
factors coalesce in such groups to separate them from their more traditional
equivalents: a deliberate quest to acquire or develop high impact weapons; a
willingness to accept martyrdom;
and, a perception that the only “audience” of
worth is that of a deity.
Current
analytical literature tends to argue that, within islamist radical groups, a
new
mass-casualty concept has developed. This has been tied to a belief that their
cause is part of a higher plan, either as a battle between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ or as a
precursor to an apocalypse, which detaches them from moral “norms” or other social
constraints.
136 ‘Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Terrorism: The Threat According to the Current Unclassified
Literature’, Report by Centre for Counterproliferation Research, National Defense University, 31 May 2002, p2-3,
[Online]
http://www.ndu.edu/centercounter/CBRN_Annotated_Bib.pdf [Last Accessed 12/04/05]
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