Limitations and inconsistencies of using the four waves of modern terrorism to understand Latin America

ABSTRACT

Rapoport’s theory of waves of terrorism has been considered a milestone when studying terrorist movements worldwide. This theory states that terrorism develops due to temporal, ideological and technological trends, which stimulate or diminish expressions of terrorism. More concretely, Rapoport argues that since the 19th century, global events have generated four waves of terrorism: anarchist, anticolonial, New Left, and religious. Using the Latin American experience of terrorist movements, this article explores inconsistencies and two main limitations in Rapoport’s theory. Firstly, it shows how Latin America’s historical and political particularities led to the weakness or absence of the anarchist and religious waves. Secondly, this article evidences that Rapoport ignored state terrorism and narcoterrorism, both extremely relevant to understanding terrorism in the region. Consequently, this study concludes that, despite it constituting a powerful theory for understanding terrorism from a global perspective, it requires a more nuanced regional approach and attention to more exhaustive expressions of the terrorist phenomenon.

KEYWORDS:

• Waves of terrorism
• Latin America
• state terrorism
• narcoterrorism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. In fact, according to Longmire and Longmire paramilitary groups financed 70% of their operational costs with drug-trafficking earnings (2008, 47).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tamir Bar-On

Tamir Bar-On is Assistant Professor in Defense and Security at Rabdan Academy (United Arab Emirates). Bar-On received his Ph.D. in political science from McGill University. He was formerly a Professor-Researcher at the Tec de Monterrey and member of Mexico’s National System of Researchers. Bar-On has also taught at Wilfrid Laurier University, the Royal Military College of Canada, and Yale University. He is the author of seven books, mostly specialising on the radical right, terrorism, and extremism. His latest book with Jeffrey M. Bale is Fighting the Last War: Confusion, Partisanship and Alarmism in the Literature on the Radical Right (Rowman and Littlefield, 2022).

Miguel Paradela-López

Miguel Paradela-López is Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Comillas Pontificial University (Spain) and an assistant Professor in the School and Social Sciences and Governance at Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico). He has a PhD in Political Theory from the University of Salamanca (Spain). He has published in journals like Latin American Research Review, Cambridge Review of International Affairs and Latin American Perspectives. His areas of interest include international conflicts, insurrectionist groups and Just-war theory.