Diplomats on the Front Line; Research paper

摘要

International terrorism is the name we give to a low-level, world- wide war waged by many groups against many nations on behalf of many causes. It is a war in which diplomats are on the front line. More than 25 percent of all international terrorist incidents are directed against diplomats, embassies, and consulates. This review of terrorism against diplomats and related targets is based on the Rand chronology of terrorist incidents, which lists 574 attacks against diplomats since 1968. To get an idea of how improved international cooperation could help solve the problem, the author considers five types of terrorist activity that are directed against the diplomatic community and possible international remedies for each of them: (1) terrorist attacks on diplomats that are associated with guerrilla warfare, insurgency, or ongoing terrorist activity; (2) attacks by ethnic, emigre, or exile groups against the diplomatic representatives of a nation or regime they oppose; (3) worldwide attacks on foreign diplomats by terrorists operating abroad as part of a larger campaign against a government; (4) isolated terrorist attacks against diplomats by indigenous groups to protest the actions of a foreign government; and (5) government use of terrorist tactics or employment of terrorist groups to attack foreign diplomats abroad as a continuation of a local armed conflict or as a mode of surrogate warfare against a foreign foe. The paper also discusses the number of attacks on diplomatic targets, their geographic distribution, the number of nations attacked, tactics used, the diplomats (nations) most frequently attacked, the most prominent terrorist groups, the locations (nations) most frequently attacked, and the costs and risks of protection.