100 Disruptions: What makes a terrorist?
Generally speaking, terrorism is motivated by two main factors; One of them is history; usually terrorists justify their actions because of some previous injustice. Bin Laden justified 9/11 on the occupation of Palestine and the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, Weather Underground explained their bombings as a reaction to the Vietnam War and racism, etc. Without these, terrorism simply descends into violent nihilism.
The other factor is the terrorists' background; in the case of Islamic terrorism, many of the high-profile perpetrators have first-generation Muslims from Western countries; they have extensive Western education, have lived and/or worked in the West for a number of years, and in some cases are citizens of Western countries (Anwar al-Awlaki, for instance, had U.S. citizenship). The unique problems of being a first-generation immigrant (let alone Muslim) help lay the groundwork for radicalization, namely the awkward situation of being caught between Westernized society and traditions from the home country.
The same factor works for more "domestic" forms of terrorism: Weather Underground mostly consisted of militant SDS veterans from various universities; these were college-educated members of the middle and upper middle class who were reacting against American imperialism and the "imperialist-from-within", as in the case of Patty Hearst.
