Introduction

In the context of America's "War on Terror" there has been a tremendous amount of literature produced which attempts to explain the causes and appropriate responses to deal with the threat of international terrorism. For the most part these articles and books have been so incredibly soaked in personal and cultural bias as to remove any shred of academic value. I am speaking specifically of those texts which focus specifically on the phenomena of Islamic terrorist organizations and attempt to explain their existence through appeal to, widely held, essentialist' perspectives. From this position one observes text within the Koran which calls for jihad', it notes the rhetoric of terrorist leaders and with having successfully completed a superficial reading of the context of Islamic terrorist organizations, generally falls in line with Samuel Huntington and his notion of an international "clash of civilizations".

Other, equally objectionable approaches attempt to expand the parameters classical social movement theories and point to the social alienation of individuals who turn to terrorist organizations. Jessica Stern in her book, Terror in the Name of God, states that, "I have come to see terrorism as a kind of virus, which spreads as a result of risk factors at various levels: global, interstate, national and personal" (Stern, 283). This particular statement illuminates the flaw that is plaguing the study of terrorism. In taking as a starting point the flawed personal character, socio-economic context, or religious affiliation of a terrorist or terrorist organizations one completely removes the problem of terrorism from the realm of rational human activity. Instead of examining the tactical political merit of violence these authors do little more than prop up the almost racist justifications for an international "War on Terror".

A Productive Approach

Productive approaches towards understanding Islamic terrorist organizations begin with an understanding of terrorism in the many forms it has taken in recent history. I contend that in doing this, one is able to overcome two significant obstacles in understanding terrorism. Firstly, one must accept that terrorism may be conducted by states. This was seen consistently in the 1980's in the United States of America's covert operations within South America. Secondly terrorism has and does occur in both advanced democracies and authoritarian states. We simply need to recall organizations

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