"Terror at Midday" - The Cosa Nostra as a terrorist organisation

Seminar paper from the year 1999 in the subject Politics - Political Theory and the History of Ideas Journal, grade: 98, erg International School - Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (Department for Political Science), course: Seminar 'Terrorism', language: English, abstract: In this paper I make the claim that the Cosa Nostra is not only an organised crime syndicate, but in deed a terrorist organisation; an organisation who's acts are aimed to safeguard a political system which is beneficial to them for reasons of power accumulation in more than just the criminal or financial sense. Even though I refer specifically to the Cosa Nostra of Sicily, I will try and formulate a definition of this type of terrorism that might help us understand the actions of other organisations, called 'Mafia' in various places around the world.I feel strongly that only when we understand the political side of 'Organised Crime' will we stand a chance to counter this ever rising threat to democracy.Italy, as an extreme case, can help clarify tendencies already observed in Post-Cold War Russia, and other places.