KIDNAPPING AND POLITICS

Kidnapping is universally regarded as a serious crime. Much kidnapping throughout history has no overt political motivation but, since the e arly 1970s, there have been many highly publicized kidnappings for pol itical purposes around the world. This article seeks to demonstrate th e relationship between kidnapping and politics by constructing a class ificatory device to identify different types of kidnapping according t o the motivations of the kidnappers. Also, a sequential model of the c omponent parts of kidnapping episodes is established. This facilitates our understanding of how a kidnapping incident develops, especially h ow a kidnapping may change from one type to another. Of particular con cern is to show that what commences as a non-political kidnapping can become an event of considerable political significance.