ABSTRACT

No handbook of Security Studies would be complete without a chapter on terrorism. In the twenty-first century, the majority of scholars working in the field of Security Studies would agree with this assertion, even though there are many disputes about the underlying causes of terrorism; its impact on nation-states and International Relations; and about the most appropriate and effective responses to terrorist challenges to democratic societies and the international community. This chapter does not attempt to provide a comprehensive history of terrorism or an

assessment of all the uses of terrorism by states and non-state actors at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It rather aims to provide an introduction to the concept of terrorism; a typology of current actors; and an analysis of the most significant recent developments and trends in terrorism. The main body of the chapter highlights some of the major debates that have preoccupied specialists in terrorism studies before and after 11 September 2001, both in relation to terrorism within Western democracies and in front-line states such as Iraq, where terrorism is accompanied by a wider insurgency or internal war. In conclusion, the chapter offers some thoughts on the future of terrorism; the unresolved issues that challenge both academic researchers and policy-makers; and the ways in which academic research and debate has influenced the practice of security.

It is important at the outset to dispel some of the confusion about the concept of terrorism that has hampered the development of the systematic study of the subject (Schmid et al. 1988). Some commentators in the media, some politicians and members of the public continue to use ‘terrorism’ as a synonym for political violence in general, when in reality it is a special form of violence. It is a deliberate attempt by a group or by a government regime to create a climate of extreme fear to intimidate a target social group or government or commercial organization with the aim of forcing it to change its behaviour. It is generally directed at a wider target than the immediate victims and inherently involves attacks on random or symbolic targets, including civilians. It is important to note that the use of the

term ‘terrorism’ came into the English language at the time of the Reign of Terror (179394) during the French Revolution (Greer 1935; Lucas 1972). In their quest to establish a republic based on the principle of ‘virtu’ following Montesquieu (Montesquieu 1965), the revolutionary leaders Robespierre and Saint-Just saw systematic mass terror as an emanation of virtue. It is obvious that governments and regimes have historically frequently used the weapon

of terror, and because they generally command far greater firepower and manpower than non-state groups, state terror has been responsible for far higher levels of death and destruction than have been achieved by non-state groups (Arendt 1958; Walter 1969). The notorious Roman princeps Nero, for example, carried the use of terrorism to such extremes that he engaged in a wholesale massacre of the nobility and wilfully set fire to the city (Suetonius 1957). One of the earliest organized non-state groups (with some parallels to al-Qaida today)

to employ terrorism systematically for a religious cause was the Shi’ite Muslim sect of the Hashshashin (Lewis 1967), who were active in the Middle East from the eleventh century until their suppression by the Mongols in the mid-thirteenth century. Another key stage in the history of non-state terrorism was the campaign of the Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will) group (Avrich 1980; Laqueur 1977), against tsarist autocracy in late-nineteenth century Russia. The tactic it adopted was a series of assassination attempts on senior officials of the regime. In March 1881, Narodnaya Volya succeeded in assassinating Tsar Alexander II. However, although this alarmed the Russian elite, Narodnaya Volya failed to bring about any major change in the tsarist system. The main lesson of Narodnaya Volya’s ultimately futile struggle is that non-state groups using terror are unlikely to succeed in overthrowing a ruthless autocracy or dictatorship that is prepared to use state terror, with all the resources of a secret police and an army of informers. It is often assumed that terrorism today poses the greatest threat to security. This is

perhaps understandable in the light of the attacks carried out in 2001 by al-Qaida terrorists against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon building in Washington, DC, killing nearly 3,000 people (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States 2004). This was the most deadly terrorist assault ever carried out by a non-state terrorist group in a single day. However, it is important to consider the terrorist threat in a wider strategic perspective. There are other, arguably far more serious threats to international security, for example the threat to our environment from climate change and the threat of conflict between nuclear-armed states escalating to nuclear war.