ABSTRACT
The prominence of counterterrorism in recent years and especially during the past decade obscures how old the underlying challenges are. Terrorism dates back to ancient times. Counterterrorism, as a concerted and cooperative effort by governments to combat this tactic, is not that old, but it long predates any ‘war on terror’ aimed at the Islamist variety of international terrorism that is
the most recent focus of attention. What could be called the first international conference on counterterrorism took place in Rome in 1898, to deal with a wave of anarchist assassinations that had been going on worldwide for several years.
