Why do terrorists resort to spectacular - and often futile - acts of violence? For some thirty years after the Second World War, popular movements fought for liberation from colonial rule. But since the late 1960s, terrorism has increasingly become a substitute for popular struggle. Its aims: blackmailing the state and capturing media attention. How are terrorists organized? What is their social base? What are their strategies - and the strategies used against them? In answering such questions, Gerard Chaliand draws on a wealth of examples, from the Red Brigades and the IRA to the Armenians and the Afghan Mujahidin.