Legitimacy and Support

Cambridge University Press eBooks, pp. 157–173

Abstract

Chapter eight tackles the question of legitimacy and public support. The cases of the Front de Libération de Québec in Canada and the Colombian M-19 demonstrate the detrimental effect of losing public support, especially when the loss is caused by strategic mistakes of the group itself. The Canadian case points to the idea, important for policy and practice in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency, that sometimes group legitimacy is beyond the control of any wilful action but the result of coincidence and (bad) luck. This also forms the first hypothesis on de-escalation.

Authors 1

1. Isabelle Duyvesteyn corresponding Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Universiteit Leiden