"The End of the Waves of Modern Terrorism? A Revisionist Analysis on a Fluid Concept"

Abstract

Benito Olmos, Martina Abstract Terrorism is a resilient phenomenon that has fascinated policy-makers and academics for centuries and gained particular attention after the events of 9/11 in the United States. The 21st century has seen significant changes in society that have equally impacted terrorism. The ignition of the post-modern era changes the way people think, behave, and communicate with one another, influencing terrorist trends as well. Examining the latest tendencies in society and their effects on terrorism, the thesis explores David C. Rapoport's influential Wave Theory on Modern Terrorism to evaluate its validity in representing the current post-modern reality. Rapoport provided a highly acclaimed model to understand modern terrorism according to a set of characteristics. Operationalising these factors, the author organised transnational terrorism into four consecutive waves. The Wave Theory has inspired other academics to speculate on the possibility of future waves. Providing an extensive literature review analysis and secondary data description on this topic, this thesis interlinks social trends with terrorist patterns. Furthermore, it attempts to introduce new measuring factors to better analyse and represent post-modern terrorism. Concluding from the mix-methods of qualitative secondary...