Inside Terrorism

only be effected through violence or the threat of violence (e.g., coercive intimidation).

phenomenon of political violence perpetrated by individuals (e.g., “any one who attempts …” rather than “any government” or “any state that attempts …”) belonging to an organization or ideological movement dedicated to revolutionary change—change that they fervently believed can

terrorism: that it is a planned, calculated, and indeed systematic act.

“Any one who attempts to further his views by a system of coercive intimidation.”

Terrorism is thus violence—or, equally important, the threat of violence—used and directed in pursuit of, or in service of, a political aim.

power: the pursuit of power, the acquisition of power, and the use of power to achieve political change.

Terrorism, in the most widely accepted contemporary usage of the term, is fundamentally and inherently political.