ABSTRACT
I. Introduction Within the UN system, the question of terrorism was largely consigned to the General Assem bly prior to 2001,1 reflecting the structural dichotomy between the Assembly as the “soft U N ” and the Council as the “hard U N ”.2 In particular, international discussion of the complex political and legal problems of defining terrorism has historically been centred on the General Assembly. There has been little scrutiny of the breadth of Council resolutions on terrorism before 11 September 2001,3 despite the potential importance of Council measures as evidence of customary international norms regulating terrorism. This article charts the
chequered and sometimes contradictory history of Council efforts to confront terrorism before and after 11 September 2001, and evaluates the extent to which Council measures have con tributed to the formation of customary norms on the definition of terrorism.
