ABSTRACT
The postwar wave of urban terrorism began in the late 1960s and has now continued, on and off, for about a decade. Latin American urban terrorists developed a doctrine, but more by instinct than on the basis of sociopolitical analysis. The small New Left groups withered away or were absorbed in the new multinational terrorism. The other two main strands of terrorism, the Latin American and the nationalist-separatist, were, on balance and more successful. The link between religious fanaticism in Ulster, the Basque regions, the Middle East and Croatia is too obvious to be ignored; fanaticism persisted even when the belief in religion had been eroded and when the terrorists had been excommunicated. When traditional religion is discarded, its place is taken by a new faith, be it nationalism or Communism — but the underlying intensity of belief is still deeply religious in character.
