Mitigating the Citizenry or the Threat? Madrid and Responses to the Evolving Terror Movement.

This paper revolves around the central thesis that the context in which a terrorist incident takes place can have a more significant effect on the ways in which a government and its constituencies respond to the threat than does the actual nature of the threat itself. This research outlines political context in Spain at the time of and immediately following the Madrid train bombings of March 2004. I explain that the issue of terrorism became a salient issue for the country driven by this very political context in which the major crisis occurred. Beyond the consideration that in Europe terrorism is thought about as a crime, I argue that apprehension and public trial of the accused was fitting because it helped the new Spanish government to satisfy the calls from the public for clarity of information. I also expose how the decision for a trial was, in effect, a reasonable method for dealing with the threat posed by the phenomenon referred to by Sageman (2008) as the 'Al Qaeda Social Movement.' ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]