The Protracted Conflict

The perplexities that enmesh the problem of terrorism begin with the matter of definition. What exactly do we mean by “terrorism”? How does it differ from “violence”? Just who is a “terrorist”? Is there a specifiable difference between a terrorist and a gangster, or between a terrorist and a criminal who uses or threatens violence in conjunction with a mugging, robbery or kidnaping? Does terrorism always include physical violence or is there such a thing as “psychological terror”? Is a distinction to be drawn between terrorist acts by an outlaw group and acts similar in nature done by a government?

The use of the words “terror,” “terrorism” and “terrorist” in the sense we have presumably in mind when applying them to the Black September Olympics incident dates back only to the French Revolution. “Terrorism: A system of terror. 1. Government by intimidation, as directed and carried out by the party in power in France during the Revolution of 1789-1794; the system of the ‘terror’ (1793-1794). 2. gen. A policy intended to strike with terror those against whom it is adopted; the employment of methods of intimidation. . . . Terrorist. 1. As a political term: a. Applied to the Jacobins and their agents and partisans in the French Revolution, esp. to those connected with the Revolutionary tribunals during the ‘Reign of Terror.’ ” For these definitions, OED’s earliest examples are 1795, and for the extension of the meaning of “terrorist,” the earliest is 1886: “b. Anyone who attempts to further his views by a system of coercive intimidation.”

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James Burnham

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The perplexities that enmesh the problem of terrorism begin with the matter of definition. What exactly do we mean by “terrorism”? How does it differ from “violence”? Just who is a “terrorist”? Is there a specifiable difference between a terrorist and a gangster, or between a terrorist and a criminal who uses or threatens violence in conjunction with a mugging, robbery or kidnaping? Does terrorism always include physical violence or is there such a thing as “psychological terror”? Is a distinction to be drawn between terrorist acts by an outlaw group and acts similar in nature done by a government?

The use of the words “terror,” “terrorism” and “terrorist” in the sense we have presumably in mind when applying them to the Black September Olympics incident dates back only to the French Revolution. “Terrorism: A system of terror. 1. Government by intimidation, as directed and carried out by the party in power in France during the Revolution of 1789-1794; the system of the ‘terror’ (1793-1794). 2. gen. A policy intended to strike with terror those against whom it is adopted; the employment of methods of intimidation. . . . Terrorist. 1. As a political term: a. Applied to the Jacobins and their agents and partisans in the French Revolution, esp. to those connected with the Revolutionary tribunals during the ‘Reign of Terror.’ ” For these definitions, OED’s earliest examples are 1795, and for the extension of the meaning of “terrorist,” the earliest is 1886: “b. Anyone who attempts to further his views by a system of coercive intimidation.”