By Joseph Young
Is terrorism the domain of a group of specialists in violence? Or is terrorism a tactic (or strategy)[i] that any group or individual may select from a menu of many other tactics? For some social movement scholars, such as the late Charles Tilly, the answer is simple:
[S]ocial scientists who attempt to explain sudden attacks on civilian targets should doubt the existence of a distinct, coherent class of actors (terrorists) who specialize in a unitary form of political action (terror) and thus should establish a separate variety of politics (terrorism).[ii] Continue reading
