ABSTRACT
The term terrorism has become so widely used in so many contexts as to become almost meaningless. The only universally understood connotation of the term is that it is pejorative. Even terrorists don't admit to being terrorists any more ! A glance at current usage will reveal child abuse, racism and gang warfare all described as terrorism, but none of them are. If terrorism is to be analyzed in any meaningful way it must be readily distinguishable from other forms of violence and particularly from other forms of political violence. Without attempting a lengthy rationalization for the definition I employ, let me simply assert that I see terrorism as politically motivated violence directed against non-combatant or symbolic targets which is designed to communicate a message to a broader audience. The critical feature of terrorism is the deliberate targeting of innocents in an effort to convey a message to another party. This is thus essentially different from the most proximate form of political violence, the irregular warfare of the guerrilla. While it could certainly be argued that states engage in terrorism as I have defined it, my focus is on non-state actors, terrorist movements, and their relationships with states and with each other.
