ABSTRACT
The term terrorism is, though, an unhelpful one to use in describing this phenomenon since it is so value-laden. Terrorism, clearly, is a pejorative word. It is a word bandied about in conflict situations in order to contrast one side’s legitimate killing to another side’s illegitimate killing. Most frequently this will be by state forces against non-state forces since, in international law, state violence can be legal whereas non-state violence never can. Clearly, however, ‘terror’ is something that can be inflicted on people by governments as well as by non-state actors. Nazi genocide, Stalin’s purges and the ‘killing fields’ of the Khmer Rouge are among the numerous examples of this. At the same time, violent non-state struggles often come to be seen by states as legitimate, such as the African National Congress (ANC)’s democratic revolution in South Africa. Hence the oft-quoted maxim, ‘one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter’.
