ABSTRACT
Why groups might want to form to undertake terrorist acts against repressive dictatorships and terror regimes is easy to imagine. Without means for political participation, and without the protections afforded by a legal system in which guilt and innocence are meaningful, and through which human rights are protected, to engage in mass protests would be to take huge risks. In such circumstances there would be obvious advantages in keeping opposition clandestine, and the use of terror would be in keeping with the violent nature of the regime. In liberal democracies, however, quite the contrary conditions apply. There are legal means for changing governments in which free and fair elections play an important part. There are legitimate opportunities for expression of opinions and for active participation and there is legal protection for protest – strikes, demonstrations and the like. It follows that there are no simple answers to why terrorist groups develop within liberal democracies.
