Countering terrorist propaganda: mapping a propaganda model using TamilNet and the LTTE.

112 p.Countering terrorism has many strategies. Operationally and tactically, government armed forces, private security firms and legislation are commonly used strategies. In addition to these strategies counter terrorism also considers the media aspect. Much has been written on the complexity of countering terrorist propaganda in democratic and liberal states, as the curtailing of such speech is a violation of the principles these states are founded on. This study has taken the issue of countering terrorist propaganda within a liberal and democratic state. The study's objective is to device a model that can be used to counter terrorist propaganda based on the organizational structure of the terrorist group, the type of propaganda used and the period of conflict, i.e. low and high conflict. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was utilized in this study due to the author's familiarity with the group and due to the length of their struggle. The LTTE waged a secessionist insurgent and terrorist struggle against the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) for three decades. During this time the LTTE were capable of garnering support both operationally and physically through the propaganda they produced. This study utilizes the propaganda produced on the main Internet news source of the LTTE, TamilNet.com for its data and analysis.Master of Science (Strategic Studies