The Age of Terrorism and the International Political System

Is the age of terrorism ending with the century? This stimulating and strongly argued reinterpretation of terrorism argues that it began in the late 1960s and still exists, but that it is fading as the conflicts which gave rise to it begin to be solved, and the expanding application of the term undermines its coherence.

Adrian Guelke discusses the term terrorism as violence without humanitarian restraint; as the lowest level of violent conflict, and as being co-terminous with assaults on the West.

He examines common generalizations in the literature of terrorism, strips away muddled thinking surrounding the use of the term and considers its application in various contexts, for example, in West Germany and Northern Ireland.

He shows that the age of terrorism is a post-colonial phenomenon; demonstrates that various groups sought to legitimize violence as central to their struggle against imperialism; looks at how the label was applied to small groups operating across international boundaries but how political violence within the Third World was not generally characterized as terrorism. He shows how campaigns end and groups disintegrate, considers the effect of the end of the Cold War and how the West's shock discovery of its vulnerability is wearing off.

Guelke uncovers the practical and theoretical mainsprings of the phenomenon and puts the issue into perspective.

He concludes that terrorism is unlikely to remain a central feature of the international political system.