Examining the perceptions of new terrorism risk
In recent years, terrorism has been viewed as a new societal threat. As a result, political fear seeps into the realm of daily life and public perception of the risk of terrorism creates an atmosphere of anxiety. Theoretical debate of social and political analysis continues to address the phenomenon of risk and the role it plays. However, there is still a gap when it comes to analysing terrorist risk perception in Europe. The EU-funded project TRIPMAP has developed both a theoretical and a methodological means to address this discrepancy using a detailed comparative analysis. Background work of the project uncovered that accepting the notion of new terrorism rests on two major presumptions. One of them is that the character of global terrorist activity in the late 1990s brought forth a new, more severe form of terrorism. The other is that democracies, which by their very nature respect civil liberties, show increased terrorist activity. Analytical and empirical findings concluded that both of the above presumptions are questionable and distorted when taken at face value. Yet the question of why there is the perception of a risk of terrorism remains. At a fundamental level it is evident that a more historical understanding of terrorism is needed as opposed to rigid labels distinguishing old from new which can be damaging and counterproductive. Furthermore the issue of trust in government proves to be an important one in terms of whether or not citizens are willing to compromise civil liberties in favour of security. This integrated model can be employed for further research linking the impact of terrorism risk on societies to decision-making and emotional responses to terrorism.
