A Case for (more) Historical Research on Terrorism

It is well-known that historical research has never been a strong area in terrorism research. A large part of the research has always concentrated on those movements that have been perceived as the biggest threats of terrorism to western countries. At the same time, historical claims are often made in the terrorism debate. They are particularly prominent in the debate about the changing nature of terrorism that started in the 1990s and is still ongoing. Even though this debate is one of the rare cases when the change and continuity in terrorism has been more systematically discussed, it also painfully illustrates just how scratchy the rear-view mirror tends to be in the terrorism debate. One problem that the excessive focus on contemporary phenomena and ignoring historical research may have is that our understanding of terrorism in the previous decades remains outdated. It is not only because it is difficult to evaluate the significance of developments in the longer term until several years later as well as place them in the context or larger trends. Especially with phenomena like terrorism where both those who perpetrate the attack as well as those who try to counter terrorism prefer high levels of secrecy, it is very difficult to gain access to reliable information. This is all the more so when things are still acute. Like historical research in general, also historical research on terrorism, would be available to offer new interpretations of past events based on a broader set of primary source material. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on these points and generally on why historical research on terrorism is so important. It also explains how historical research can help us better understand today’s terrorism.