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 The Case of Anders Breivik

In 2011, a mass-shooting was carried out by the man named Anders Behring

Breivik in s!o, "orway# $0 casua!ties and 20% wounded were re&orted after a

car bomb e'&!osion (which was the )rst attack carried out by Breivik- and a

shooting on the is!and of *t+ya (on!y two hours after the )rst assau!t occurred#

 This te't seeks to ana!ye the way Breiviks tria! unfo!ded, the ro!e &!ayed bymedia and if his acts can actua!!y be !abe!ed as terrorist actions#

.uring the tria!, it was certain that Breivik had a strategy, he sought attention#

/e was aware that a tria! wou!d serve him as a &ro&aganda &!atform to the

entire wor!d#1 And the !atter can be seen as the u!timate e'am&!e of the &ivota!

ro!e &!ayed by media in todays wor!d if it werent for Breiviks faith in medias

&ower, he wou!d have not been ca&tured (either dead or a!ive# or he wanted

the wor!d to know about his strugg!e and cause# or instance, the ten-week

tria! was one of the biggest tria!s for terrorism in the history of modern 3uro&e,

according to the research &a&er made by .r# .e 4raaf, 5iesbeth van der /eide,

6abine 7anmaker and .aan 7eggemans, 89: of the interviewed &o&u!ationthought that Breiviks case received much attention (regarding media

coverage#

 This case in s&eci)c, meant a great cha!!enge for the "orwegian government,

because unti! that time, the war on terror had been waged (main!y by the *6-

on ;us!im stereoty&es of terrorists, but facing a situation where a non-;us!im

individua! shared these radica! ideas that unti! then had a!!eged!y been &ro&er

of radica! Is!amists, and was ca&ab!e of actua!!y murdering its own co-nationa!s,

meant that some &arts of counterterrorism strategies had to be reviewed and

&robab!y modi)ed#

At the beginning Breivik was to be &ut in a &sychiatric faci!ity, but as wementioned before he had a strategy (he did not wish to be seen as a cray

man, for he had an agenda of his own# I be!ieve that in the end he was

righteous!y (but not easi!y- !abe!!ed as a terrorist, for his acts had a &o!itica!

background (for instance he wanted to generate a change in "orwegian &o!itics

and wanted fu!! &o!itica! &ro&aganda, as abovementioned#

In <rofessor 6chmids research we read severa! e!ements that cou!d easi!y be

!inked to this case, such as= Terrorism is &redominant!y &o!itica! it is about a

doctrine and>or &ractice of vio!ent action that it shou!d contain the conce&t of 

&hysica! vio!ence or threat thereof# /owever, Id suggest that the e!ement= that

it shou!d mention that terrorism insti!!s fear> dread> &anic or mere an'iety,

wou!d not )t in this case, for the &rosecutors o?ce were very aware that thiscase in s&eci)c if treated di@erent!y wou!d certain!y have more terrorists

s&ringing u& in the future, so they were very carefu! with the way they hand!ed

it#

1 Internationa! Centre for Counter-terrorism ( The /ague# The Anders Behring

Breivik Trial: Performing Justice, Defending Democracy # une 2018#

Ty&e here

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I be!ieve that as a brief conc!usion, this case (a!ong with some others-

demonstrated the reason why there is no g!oba!!y acce&ted de)nition of 

terrorism, this case showed us that terrorists and radica! ideas arent uniDue to

a region or re!igion, and this is actua!!y what makes the study of terrorism such

a variab!e and hard to dea! with )e!d# Therefore, counterterrorism measures are

better o@ without &o!ariation tendencies, and serve better through a more

ho!istic a&&roach#

Ty&e here