The Study of Terrorism

Our intention in this chapter is not to summarize the broad findings of the field (something that is being done across the volume). Rather, our attempt is to briefly reflect on the analytical advancements and challenges that remain since the evolution of the field in the early 1970s. In terms of achievements, we identify three: the post-9/11 enrichment of the field with a considerable number of impressive and committed scholars, the rejection of poor research standards, and a commitment to multi-disciplinarity. In terms of failures, or enduring challenges, we identify seven: lack of cross-fertilization between scholarship on different forms of political violence; a tendency towards de-historicization of terrorism; lack of engagement between hermeneutical and nomothetic approaches; lack of integration between micro- and macro-approaches; a skewed set of research priorities; the rarity of primary research; and lack of variation in the geo-cultural production of knowledge.