Conceptualizing Terrorism

Conceptualizing Terrorism argues that, while there have always been good reasons for striving for a universally agreed definition of terrorism, there are further reasons for doing so in the post-9/11 environment, notwithstanding the formidable challenges that confront such an endeavour. Indeed, in a global context, where the term is often applied selectively and pejoratively according to where one's interests lie, and where the 'one person's freedom fighter is another's terrorist' mantra (which confuses the goal with the activity) still retains so much purchase, there is a great need to instil some analytical quality into the concept of terrorism, not least in order to prevent the concept being manipulated to justify all manner of counter-terrorism responses. Not only is this important for the policymaking context but it is also an imperative task within terrorism studies - in order to strengthen the theoretical foundation of terrorism studies, for all other terrorism related theories rest on what one means by terrorism in the first place.

Arguing that the essence of terrorism lies in its intent to generate a psychological impact beyond the immediate victims, the book proposes three preliminary assumptions when approaching the definitional issue: that there is no such thing as an act of violence that is in and of itself inherently terrorist, that terrorism is best conceptualized as a particular method of political violence rather than defined as inherent to any particular ideology or perpetrator, and that non-civilians and combatants can also be victims of terrorism. It then outlines the implications that these assumptions have for the definitional debate, before concluding with its own conceptualization of terrorism.

Anthony Richards is a Reader in Terrorism Studies in the School of Business and Law at the University of East London, where he teaches on the MSc Critical Perspectives on Terrorism and Critical Perspectives on Counter-Terrorism modules. He is the lead editor for the volume Terrorism and the Olympics: Major Event Security and Lessons for the Future (London: Routledge, 2011), and has published on a wide variety of other terrorist related themes including radicalisation and extremism, UK counter-terrorism, British public and Muslim attitudes towards both terrorism and UK counter-terrorism, homeland security, and terrorism in Northern Ireland.