ABSTRACT
The analysis of terrorism data, mainly gathered from the Global Terrorism Database has allowed us to debunk seven myths on terrorism. This work has brought clarity about the extent and magnitude of terrorism perpetrated by non-states across the world. In sum, it helped us distinguish what is known from what is unknown about terrorism. This chapter shows that classifying terrorism into sub-categories (e.g. civilian versus non-civilian targets) may affect the results and their interpretation. It recommends scholars to clearly state what definitions are used and acknowledge the limitations of their results accordingly. Europe, the Americas, and Oceania have been far less impacted by terrorism than Asia, and to a lesser extent Africa. The realization of terrorist attacks results from complex interactions between terrorist groups and counterterrorism forces, which vary in both space and time and remain largely opaque for academic researchers and the public.
