In the past decade terrorism has become a household word, a spectacle played out before a worldwide audience as violent images are beamed into our homes by the mass media. But the advent of the ‘terrorist phenomenon’ has obscured both the real nature and the degree of threat of this form of political violence. An important factor is that we have lost sight of the historical continuity of terrorism. This defect of long-term analysis makes contemporary terrorism seem a particularly novel and dangerous threat. While it may be argued, as it will be in this book, that contemporary terrorism does indeed possess attributes which set it apart from its historical forebears the lack of appreciation of its continuity increases the probability of over-reaction.

Since some of the potential responses to terrorism pose an equal, if not a greater, threat to democratic freedoms than does terrorism itself, it is important that scholars and analysts in this field strive to provide a sense of perspective which can contribute to a balanced response to terrorist activity. This book has been written with the intention of providing such a balance. It is predicated on the belief that some potential forms of terrorism could pose a threat to democractic societies which would be inimical to their survival in their present form or which could contribute to a greatly destabilised political milieu in which danger and uncertainty (with their corresponding political and psychological costs) would come to characterise world affairs to a greater extent than is already the case.