ABSTRACT
One reason for a fresh look at the possibilities of strengthened international cooperation against terrorism is that, since Gorbachev's accession to power, the Soviet Union has expressed a new and specific interest in reducing international terrorism. Although the international community appears to recognize the need for cooperation against terrorism, national interests have dominated the treatment of the issue and unanimity has been rhetorical rather than practical. As oppositional terrorism came to threaten more and more states, a body of international law developed in specific and limited areas. Its approach was not to make "terrorism" a crime, given the imprecision and ambiguity of the term, but to outlaw the specific actions that are the components of terrorist strategies, such as hijackings or attacks on diplomatic agents. The diplomatic coordination among Western states that has occurred at the seven-power economic summits has become much more meaningful as a symbol of cooperation than international treaties, even though the summit statements are not binding in international law.
