Defining Terrorism: The Present Situation

The statement, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter,”
has become not only a cliché, but also one of the most difficult obstacles
in coping with terrorism. The matter of definition and
conceptualization is usually a purely theoretical issue—a mechanism
for scholars to work out the appropriate set of parameters for the
research they intend to undertake. However, when dealing with terrorism
and guerrilla warfare, implications of defining our terms tend to
transcend the boundaries of theoretical discussions.
In the struggle against terrorism, the problem of definition is a
crucial element in the attempt to coordinate international
collaboration, based on the currently accepted rules of traditional warfare.