HOSTAGE-TAKING AS A POLITICAL CHALLENGE: SPECIFICS, THREATS, AND RESPONSES

Abstract

This article looks into hostage-taking as a phenomenon which poses particular political difficulties for authorities dealing with terrorist organizations. Seizing hostages does not attract much academic attention as a source of specific political challenges. Researches prefer to focus on practical, tactical dimensions of hostage crises. Narrow applied research tries to figure out in which tone to negotiate with hostage-takers, which psychological means to use to prevent terrorists from hurting or killing their victims, or how to plan and carry out an assault on hostage-takers, etc. Viewed in this skewed light, hostage-taking loses in academic understanding much of its political significance and complexity. Both stem from the fact that terrorist hostage-taking forces governmental authorities to act within the framework of open-ended situations unfolding in the real-time mode around victims who are still alive and suffering badly and whose fate has not been decided yet (contrary to terrorist attacks already committed). The ongoing tormentous incompleteness of hostage situations generates acute political tension and pressures authorities to maneuver and balance tactical exigencies against general public’s expectations or political considerations against the unquestionable value of a human life. Although authorities and terrorists naturally remain at the forefront of any hostage situation, some other actors add to the political burden of a crisis. As a result, authorities face additional reputational risks, feel the pull-and-push impulses of public opinion, have to prevent informational leakages and unwanted turns in media’s covering the events of crises. The article provides a succinct analysis of the roles played during hostage crises by various groups of actors (mass media, victims’ relatives, hostages themselves). At the conclusion, certain measures are suggested as a means to decrease or neutralize political challenges of hostage-taking presented collectively as «minimization», i.e. steps aimed at avoiding authorities’ unnecessary involvement, setting the rules for media coverage, and refraining from emotionally driven promises to free hostages which may be interpreted – and not in authorities’ favor – as a solemn pledge (which is far from being easily fulfilled in the unpredictable reality of counter-terrorism).