Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Part One An introduction to political terrorism
- 1 The problem of defining terrorism
- 2 Terrorism: a historical perspective
- 3 The changing nature of terrorism
- 4 The purpose of terrorism
- 5 The development of terrorism as a strategy
- 6 Trends in terrorism
- 7 The effects of terrorism
- Part Two Some selected problems in the response to terrorism
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index
2 - Terrorism: a historical perspective
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Part One An introduction to political terrorism
- 1 The problem of defining terrorism
- 2 Terrorism: a historical perspective
- 3 The changing nature of terrorism
- 4 The purpose of terrorism
- 5 The development of terrorism as a strategy
- 6 Trends in terrorism
- 7 The effects of terrorism
- Part Two Some selected problems in the response to terrorism
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index
Summary
Part of the solution to the question of whether or not contemporary terrorism poses a unique threat to social order lies in an appraisal of its degree of continuity with previous manifestations of political terrorism. The history of terrorism is a full-scale investigation in its own right and it is not intended to pursue such a history here. Nevertheless it is important that some of the landmarks should be pointed out in order to view current terrorist movements in a proper perspective.
As noted earlier, the terms ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorist’ have their roots in the French Revolution. Terrorism was defined in the 1798 supplement of the Dictionnaire of the Academie Francaise as ‘système, régime de la terreur’. Laqueur notes that a French dictionary published in 1796 referred to the fact that the Jacobins used the term in a positive sense when referring to their activities, ‘but after the 9th of Thermidor, “terrorist” became a term of abuse with criminal implications’. Since that time terrorism has been used to denote almost every imaginable form of violence, many forms not in accordance with the broad definitions discussed earlier.
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- Political TerrorismTheory, Tactics and Counter-Measures, pp. 18 - 24Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989
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