ABSTRACT

A computerized data base was developed as a pilot project to permit a more systematic study of the phenomenon of transnational terrorism. The concept of terrorism can be further refined by using location and nature of the perpetrators to identify several kinds of terrorism. Interstate terrorism includes terrorist acts carried out by individuals or groups controlled by the governmental authority of a sovereign state, when these acts involve the nationals or territory of some other country. Conventional wisdom seems to be that most terrorism occurs in the emerging nations of the Third World. The Third World nationals who are victimized are most often ambassadors, or managers of a multinational corporation’s local subsidiary. An appreciation of the way International Terrorism: Attributes of Terrorist Events tool may be used is afforded by the following examples of its use to summarize trends, compare terrorist campaigns cross-nationally and over time, evaluate policy prescriptions for crisis management, and support incident negotiations.