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Fighting an Antaean Enemy: How Democratic States Unintentionally Sustain the Terrorist Movements They Oppose TOM PARKER Department of Political Science, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA Terrorist groups have yet to attract the same level of... More

Fighting an Antaean Enemy: How Democratic States Unintentionally Sustain the Terrorist Movements They Oppose TOM PARKER Department of Political Science, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA Terrorist groups have yet to attract the same level of academic interest as other social movement organizations (SMOs), although they are well suited to the analytical approach pioneered by Ted Gurr, Doug McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, and Charles Tilly. Social constructivism offers a valuable frame with which to assess state responses to terrorism. Carlos Marighela argued that one of the principal goals of the urban guerrilla was to goad the state into a spasm of overreaction that would undermine its legitimacy in the eyes of the public. This article takes Marighela’s concept one step further, arguing that by adopting repressive counterterrorism policies, democratic states ‘‘socially construct’’ more resilient, more aggressive terrorist organizations. Like Hercules’ antagonist Antaeas in Gre Less