There Are Two Causes of Terrorism

All terrorist acts are motivated by two things:

Social and political injustice: People choose terrorism when they are
trying to right what they perceive to be a social or political or historical wrong
when they have been stripped of their land or rights, or denied these.

The belief that violence or its threat will be effective, and usher in
change. Another way of saying this is: the belief that violent means justify the
ends. Many terrorists in history said sincerely that they chose violence after
long deliberation, because they felt they had no choice.
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This explanation of the causes of terrorism may be difficult to swallow. It

sounds too simple, or too theoretical. However, if you look at any group that
is widely understood as a terrorist group, you will find these two elements
are basic to their story.

Zionists who bombed British targets in 1930s mandate Palestine felt

they must do so in order to create a Jewish state.

The IRA (Irish Republican Army) bombed English targets in the 1980s
to make the point that they felt their land was colonized by British imperialists.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine felt that armed attacks in Israel were a justifiable response to the
usurpation of their land.

Osama bin Laden's declaration of war on American interests in the

1990s stemmed from his belief that U.S. troops stationed in Saudi
Arabia represented an abomination to the kind of Islamic state he believed
should exist in the Arabian peninsula.

Uighur separatists in China today feel that Chinese religious

repression (the Uighur Chinese are Muslims) justifies their terrorist tactics.

In some cases, people choose terrorist tactics based on a cause

whose righteousness they believe in to the exclusion of nearly all else.
Abortion clinic bombers in the 1990s and groups such as the Animal
Liberation Front believe zealously in their causes.
People who choose terrorist tactics are also persuaded that violence, or the
threat of violence, is effective.
There is some question about who actually 'chooses' terrorism, and it may be
unfair to think of young recruits, such as some suicide bombers today, who

are seduced by cult-like methods of indoctrination as completely culpable for

their choices.