| dc.description.abstract | It would have been ideal to begin a mini-thesis of this nature with a definition of the term
terrorism. This approach will however not be taken for three reasons. Firstly, there are
disagreements inherent in the definition of the term due to the complexity of the issues
involved.ro Secondly, any attempt to define terrorism at this point will limit the ensuing
arguments to such definition. The third reason why this mini thesis does not coilrmence
directly with a definition of terrorism is that it does not intend to dwell on the problem
related to the definition of the term at this stage. The intention here is to show how the
lack thereof impacts on the research question, namely, the conceptual difficulties
surrounding the so-called "War on Terror". To this end, the problems of defining
terrorism and the relevance thereof to the research question will be discussed in a
subsequent chapter.ll To facilitate an understanding of the subject matter and the
challenges it poses today, it will be important to discuss the development of terrorism
from a historical perspective and the early attempts by the international community to
combat this phenomenon. Here again an attempt will not be made to scrutinize the
various terrorist groups that have existed over the centuries. The reason being that they
have been as nlmerous, as their motives have been diversified." Thus it will be an
endless task trying to identify each and every one of them. In this regard, it will be
preferable to focus on the changing face of terrorism over the last century, making
mention only of those terrorist acts that had a significant impact on International Law in
general and International Humanitarian Law in particular. | en_US |
