Defining, Conceptualizing, and Theorizing Terrorism

Abstract

This chapter explains the impossibility of adequately defining, conceptualizing, and theorizing, as well as understanding, all forms of terrorism without recognizing that it has been an integral part of the global capitalist system since the late fifteenth century However, terrorism as a “technique is as old as warfare contrary to the widespread notion that [it] was the offspring of nineteenth-century nationalist movements. The confusion may be a result of the late [emergence] of the term in the French Revolution and its Terror” (Chaliand and Blin 2007: 5–6). For instance, the Mongols, between 1206 and 1400 under the leadership of Genghis Khan and his sons and generals, practiced terrorism, slavery, and conquest on Asian and Eastern European peoples to plunder their economic resources, exploit their labor by enslaving them, and dominate trade (Gabriel 2004; Turnbull 2003; Weatherford 2004). The invading Mongols had burned villages and cities frequently and used unbridled terror and surprise attacks to impose fear on the targeted population groups so that they would submit with little or no resistance² (Weatherford 2004:8,146).

A major aspect of this chapter was published as “Conceptualizing and Theorizing Terrorism in the Historical and Global Context” in Humanity and Society 34, no. 4 (November 2010): 317–349. its improved version is published here with permission.