Introduction

Abstract

While both terrorism and the state have ancient antecedents, the emergence of both the concepts in their modern form dates to the French Revolution. Terrorism in its modern articulation has more often than not been a tool of the state, and yet in contemporary usage, it more often than not refers to non-state actors, in particular those who use violence to coerce the state. Not only is state terrorism more common than non-state terrorism, it is more deadly and more difficult to prevent. Yet, it is non-state terrorism that is at the forefront of media discussions of the phenomenon, and thus terrorism in the popular imagination is frequently considered to be solely the preserve of non-state actors. It is the most spectacularly dreadful of these non-state terrorist attacks that comes to mind when we consider terrorism. When we think of terrorism, we are likely to recall images such as the smoking piles of rubble left in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in the United States or the mangled wreckage of buses and panicked commuters of the 7/7 attacks in the United Kingdom, or other such attacks, usually relatively recent, usually committed in the global north.