Chapter 3: The Past as Prologue: History of Terrorism

Clauset, Young, and Gleditsch report and discuss research on the frequency and severity of terrorist events since 1968. A longitudinal historical dataset on domestic terrorism in Europe is presented and discussed by Jan Oskar Engene. Antony Field analyzes the concept of “New Terrorism” and argues that many of the features have been seen throughout the history of terrorism. Dick Howard explains the importance of discovering the history of political thought. Brian Levin discusses the origin and current state of Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism in the U.S. Smith and Zeigler assess the differences in terrorist environments before and after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

 

Journal Article 3.1: Clauset, Aaron, Maxwell Young, and Kristian Skrede Gleditsch. “On the Frequency of Severe Terrorist Events.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 51:1 (February 2007).

Journal Article 3.2: Engene, Jan Oskar. “Five Decades of Terrorism in Europe: The TWEED Dataset.” Journal of Peace Research 44:1 (2007).

Journal Article 3.3: Field, Antony. “The ‘New Terrorism’: Revolution or Evolution?” Political Studies Review 7:2 (2009): 195-207.

Journal Article 3.4: Howard, Dick. “Why Study the History of Political Thought?Philosophy Social Criticism 37 (June 2011).

Journal Article 3.5: Levin, Brian. “History as a Weapon: How Extremists Deny the Holocaust in North America.” American Behavioral Scientist 44:6 (February 2001).

Journal Article 3.6: Smith, Meagan and Sean M. Zeigler. “Terrorism Before and After 9/11 – A More Dangerous World?” Research and Politics (October–December 2017).