The Rhetoric of Radicalism: The Anti-Colonial Inspiration Behind Osama bin Laden’s Ideology

A current debate in the terrorism studies literature regards the continued value of Rapoport’s famous “wave theory” of modern terrorism and a new alternative known as “strain theory.” Wave theory assumes that international terrorism has occurred in distinct, temporal cycles while strain theory accounts for the learning behavior that occurs between waves by way of tactical adaption and therefore deemphasizes the distinctiveness of temporal waves. The present analysis contributes to the debate by analyzing Osama bin Laden’s ideology and justifications for violence, which are shown to owe a great debt to the anti-colonial rhetorical framework that inspired earlier forms of terrorism. By establishing a rhetorical connection between the works of Frantz Fanon, one of the most important figures of the anti-colonial period, and bin Laden’s written and spoken statements, the article challenges the historicization of modern terrorism as one that has unfolded in distinct waves, makes a cogent defense of strain theory, and contends that advocates of the new approach should extend their analysis beyond strategic and tactical choices to learned ideological and normative justifications for violence as well.