Constructing the Terrorist: The Threat from Within

Abstract

In its descriptions of the practice of terrorism and the delineation of the threat it apparently poses to social order, dominant discourse tends to focus attention on the individual terrorist as causative of terrorism. This conflation of terrorism with terrorists has two important consequences for the construction of terrorism within Western cultures.

Domestic terrorism is the unlawful use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual based and operating entirely within the United States or its territories without foreign direction committed against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

1999 FBI report on terrorism¹