Terrorismo e tecnologias

: tecnologia numa dupla perspectiva ao serviço e contra o terrorismo

Abstract

The attacks of September 11 highlighted the character of transnational terrorism and alerted democratic societies for a new type of threat by putting into perspective the potential of destruction and lethality that characterizes it. Transnational terrorism is a product of technological developments operated in modern societies. Technologies have enormously increased the capabilities terrorist organizations at all levels and, consequently these actors are today, much more difficult to defeat than ever. Understanding the role of technologies to terrorist organizations is a crucial subject, not only to comprehend the current threat of terrorism to democracies, but mainly to understand how democratic states ought to respond, by taking advantage of the technological superiority against these adversaries. The aim of this thesis is to examine the dual function of technology for different purposes: on the one hand, technology as an instrument of terror, i.e., the way the continuous adaptation of terrorist groups across the technological spectrum has altered its configuration, range and modus operandi, as well as the dimension of its acts and violence; on the other hand, technology as an instrument in the fight against terror, i.e., in what ways it can contribute to the success of the Government in all its fronts of action within the framework of a multidisciplinary and multipronged strategy.

Date of Award	5 Sept 2012
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Nuno Vieira Matias (Supervisor)