ABSTRACT
Forging a universally accepted denition of terrorism has been virtually impossible despite repeated efforts and hundreds of thousands of pages of discussion from literally thousands of experts and researchers globally. There are two fundamental categories of reasons for this failure. One category involves differences among lawyers and practitioners in formulating the most precise wording that would work best with a nation’s laws. The other category concerns the efforts of some countries and some nonstate actors to use political rationales for exempting violence against civilians from any international denition of terrorism.
