ABSTRACT
What is the public view in the democracies of Western Europe and particularly the opinion of its intellectuals, on terrorism? This opinion is characterized by a large degree of uncertainty, perplexity, confusion — in short, by a wait-and-see policy, a kind of fence-sitting. It cannot be said that it resolutely disapproves and condemns terrorism in its various manifestations, or that it is openly satisfied with it, celebrates it, or finds great virtue in it. One could observe this relative silence on the part of intellectuals during two recent events which attracted the attention of French public opinion: The appearance of Corsican terrorists before the State Court of Security, and the threats which Basque terrorists have begun to put into practice towards French tourists in Spain. The confused phenomena which fall under the rubric of modern terrorism are so various that all distinctions introduced to make clear the specific nature of each concrete case are legitimate.
