Does Terrorism Work?

Abstract

In the literature on terrorism, far more scholarly attention has been devoted to issues of definition or to organisational dynamics than to questions of efficacy. Yet the central question of whether - or to what extent, or how, or why, or when - terrorism works, represents an enduringly vital debate. This talk will consider the question's importance, its difficulties, the appropriate frameworks within which to approach it, and the implications of our eventual answering of one of the most significant questions of the twenty-first century.