Strategy of Tension: The Belgian Terrorist Crisis 1982-1986.

Between 1982 and 1986, Belgium suffered a series of terrorist attacks that claimed more than 30 lives making this campaign one u/the most destructive in the recent history of western Europe. Two ma/or groups were involved. One was purportedly a leftist radical sect, the other an anon vinous cell popularly known as the "mad killers,'' whom subsequent investigation has shown to be connected to neo-Nazi organizations. Both groups were apparently seeking to destabilize the Belgian state at a time of intense political conflict, and it was widely suggested that the apparently opposed political extremes were actually allied in a common cause. In addition, official enquiries established connections between the terrorist groups and agents of Belgian state security This paper discusses the use of terrorism in a political "strategy of tension" modeled on that developed in Italy in the late 1960s. It also suggests that the contemporary structure of European terrorist groups readily lends itself to manipulation in the cause of provocateur activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]