The Root Causes of Terrorism: Orthodox Terrorism Theory

Terrorism has been the subject of a vast amount of research especially during the last thirty years.1 The production of which has notably increased since the end of the Cold War and more recently in the shadow of the events of September 11th 2001, and the ‘War on Terrorism’. The reason for this growth is two fold; first is the apparent omnipresence of terrorism, especially in the ambiguous post-Cold War world or Grey Area Phenomenon.2 Second, is the actual study of terrorism, which has become locked in an endless definitional debate, based around the question of legitimacy. Consequently, no clear and universally acknowledged definition exists. As a result terrorism studies has become the source of a constant debate as to what actually constitutes terrorism. Due to this lack of any universally recognised and accepted understanding of what the problem is and the preoccupation within terrorism studies of trying to define and establish what constitutes Terrorism. It is naturally proving difficult to establish a firm basis of research with which to investigate why it actually occurs. As Walter Laqueur has pointed out ‘disputes about a detailed, comprehensive definition of terrorism will continue for a long time and will make no noticeable contribution towards the understanding of terrorism’.3