ABSTRACT
We have discussed so far various approaches to the definition and understanding of terrorism, and the various ways in which it has been studied by scholars and combated by government. We have thereby taken an analytical perspective and dissected approaches to identify the main theories, concepts, and methods used, and how they could be traced back to earlier, broader theories. In this chapter, we take a historical stance to look back in time at how terrorism has developed empirically and how it has been studied academically. We relate back to the initial chapters of this book to follow the dividing line between positivists and critical scholars. Depending on which paradigm dominates any particular scholarly discourse, there will be different views on these two major questions. In short, positivists would take terrorism as a given, as a phenomenon out there, and inquire to what extent it has changed in time. Whether there is a ‘new’ terrorism at all constitutes a major point of debate for this approach. Historical overviews are quite present here; at the same time, social movement scholars looking at the contextualization of terrorism in time and space—namely, how these variables influence the unfolding of terrorism, would naturally use methods specific to this type of scholarship. Critical scholars, starting with the premise that terrorism is a social construction, will not look into how it has changed in time, but into how it has been ‘constructed’ in time, and also use historical analysis, as well as various types of discourse analysis.
