Crossing the Rubicon: Making a Case for Refining the Classification of Jihadist Terrorism

This paper posits that our current understanding of Jihadist Terrorism as a monolithic sub-type of Political Terrorism is flawed and that as a result our governments counter this threat with inappropriately-adapted methods. The author argues: (A) There is a sub-type of Jihadist Terrorism that is more consistent with Walter’s ‘Military Terrorism ’ or Feldman and Hinojosa’s ‘Guerrilla Warfare ’ than within the typology of Political Terrorism; (B) The author-proposed sub-type of ‘War Terrorism ’ should be accepted, examined, defined, and established; and (C) Establishing the author’s sub-type will allow western democracies to devise better counter-terrorism strategies while protecting the civil liberties of their citizens. Key Words: Jihadist, military, guerrilla, terrorism, typology, counter-terrorism, civil rights, law enforcement, classification, theory, definition The problems begin when the civil society of a democratic nation-state, in seeking to understand a phenomenon of vital interest, discusses the issues and decides on an action plan without agreeing what its definitions, words, and concepts mean.[1