ABSTRACT
The international community has witnessed in a growing number of unorthodox political activists and movements. The inability to define the contours and objectives of an "international" approach to the problem of terrorism transcends even the difficulties which customarily attend attempts at developing solutions to transnational problems. The prevalence of transnational violence places the topic once again on the international agenda and revives attempts to seek new and acceptable solutions. Other legal systems have specifically defined political crimes in their domestic codes. The major recognition and discriminative treatment of political offenders, as noted earlier, occurred not in domestic law but in international practice. Since the political-offence exception was first created, newer international grounds for its support have gained world acceptance. Most scholars find the origins of modern terrorism in the "reign of terror" which occurred after the French Revolution and in the anarchist movement of the last century. An examination of international terrorist movements indicates a common striving towards legitimacy.
