Asymmetric warfare and international terrorism will likely remain defining features of conflict in the 21st century. These are not new phenomena, as both have been part of the international system since at least the late 19th century. However, the current geopolitical order, combined with a variety of technological developments, has given them extraordinary prominence in the last decade of the 20th century and the first two decades of the 21st. Understanding asymmetric warfare and international terrorism is therefore vital to understanding the future of both inter- and intra-state violence.

This paper examines asymmetric warfare and international terrorism from the perspective of both state and non-state actors. It begins by defining and clarifying the two terms in the context of the early 21st century. Next it describes why asymmetric warfare and international terrorism will likely be so central to violence in the 21st century. It then focuses on two cases that lie at the intersection of these two issues. The first is the diffusion of techniques of rebellion and terrorism across North Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia. The second is the evolution of one of the premiere asymmetric warfare techniques of the 21st century – the US drone operations in Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Southwest Asia – which has been driven heavily by the asymmetric techniques of the first case. The result has been a duel between increasingly asymmetric techniques.