Ariel Center for
Policy Research

A JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND THE ARTS

NATIV   ■   Volume Twelve   ■   Number 3 (68)  ■  May 1999   ■  Ariel Center for Policy Research

SYNOPSIS

The Conceptual Difficulties in Defining Terrorism

Boaz Ganor 

Issues of definition and conceptualization are usually theoretical matters, designed to allow scholars to agree on the appropriate set of parameters for the research they intend to undertake. Unlike the case in other topics, however, the implications of defining terrorism and guerrilla warfare tend to exceed the confines of theoretical discussions. In the struggle against terrorism, definition problems are a crucial element in the attempts to organize international cooperation.

Other issues related to the definition of terrorism include:

•   The boundary between terrorism and other forms of political violence.

•   Whether government terrorism and resistance terrorism are part of the same phenomenon.

•   Separating "terrorism" from simple criminal acts, from open war between "consenting" groups, and from acts that arise out of clear mental illness.

•     Is terrorism a sub-category of coercion? Violence? Power? Influence?

•     Can terrorism be legitimate? What gains justify its use?

•     The relationship between guerilla warfare and terrorism.

•     The relationship between crime and terrorism.

The prevalent definitions of terrorism entail conceptual difficulties and many problems of wording. It is thus not surprising that alternative concepts with more positive connotations - guerrilla movements, underground movements, national liberation movements, commandos, etc. - are often used to describe and analyze the activity of terrorist organizations. Generally, these concepts are used without undue attention to the implications of the definition, but at times, the use of these definitions is tendentious and originates in a particular political viewpoint. By resorting to tendentious definitions of terrorism, terrorist organizations and their supporters seek to blur the uniqueness of terrorism, establishing their activities on more positive and legitimate foundations (relying on terms reflecting basic values of liberal democracies, such as "revolutionary violence", "national liberation", etc.).

This article tries to inform the reader about the latest developments in this field.