Some useful distinctions between violence and terror:
from Vincent Micelli, The Roots of Violence (1989):
"Violence is distinguished from terror as being a universal phenomenon, not a sporadic one. We will always have violence with us; terror arises against certain specialized political situations.

For the most part violence assaults enemies; terror assaults innocents perhaps even more than enemies. Violence will negotiate terms with its victims, allowing them an opportunity to obtain freedom from captivity and injury; terror does not negotiate with its victims, using them merely to wrest demands from its enemies.

Violence is ordered in its attacks; terror is sudden, arbitrary and indiscriminate. Violence seeks secrecy; terror seeks the limelight and worldwide publicity. Violence has particularized, localized enemies; terror will choose the whole world as its victim.

Violence still regards its victims as persons; terror reduces its victims, innocent or otherwise, to being pawns, instruments, objects, symbols, animals, agents of corruption. Violence works to obtain practical needs; terror aims to instill insecurity, dread, fear, shock in the whole world.

Violence is usually fueled by greed, material and power goals; terror is fueled by a burning ideology, seeking utopia or paradise through the gates of hell. Violence is usually practical and political; terror is often messianically religious.

Violence aims to justify, to get even and punish; terror aims to obliterate, torture and degrade its enemies. Violence seeks personal satisfaction; terror aims to provoke, enrage the whole world. Violence observes some accepted rules; terror rejects all bourgeoisie laws in seeking reprisals.

Violence makes limited use of technological means to attain its evil goals; terror puts no restrictions on the use of technological means to attain its wicked goals. Violence is often restrained by natural and state laws; violence is unrestrained by such laws, but is guided by the will of its people." *

*Easily available online are brief essays by the late Father Vincent Miceli S.J., "The Fascination with Violence"(1972); and "The Taproot of Violence" (1982). Rigorous reasoning arguing from the premises of a traditional (ultra conservative) Jesuit.
Notes on terrorism:
A.J.Gregor, in The Morality of Terrorism
(ed. Rapoport & Alexander,1982) writes:

"Any individual, or individuals, irrespective of anything they may or may not choose to do, can become the objects of terror. Nor is there any compliance behavior that would reduce the probability of their falling victim to terror. The object of terroristic violence is not a select and proper object.

Terroristic violence has as its purpose not coercive sanction directed against culpable parties, but some proximate end. Instrumental terror is employed to impair the functioning of some system or institution. Demonstrative terror is used to bend entire populations to the purpose of others. Prophylactic terror is employed in anticipation of resistance or rebellion. Incidental terror involves those criminal acts - assaults, armed robbery, kidnapping, and so on - that impact upon innocent victims in the service of the perpetrators' pathology, profit or advantage.

One of the most salient traits of terrorism is its indiscriminate and arbitrary character, in the sense that there is no piece of voluntary behavior that would increase or decrease the probability of finding oneself the object of terror. Terrorist acts are like natural catastrophes - they strike anyone, the guilty and the innocent alike. There are few precautions that one might take to avoid becoming the object of terror. Its onset is incalculable, and its termination unpredictable for those who are its victims."

For current writing on terrorism see Bruce Hoffman's Inside Terrorism and the links there.

Amazon notes: "Bruce Hoffman, the director of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, has written a clear summary of some of the major historical trends in international terrorism. He makes careful distinctions between the motivations that drive political (or ethno-nationalist) terrorism and religious terrorism, and he also shows why the rise of religious terrorism, coupled with the increased availability of weapons of mass destruction, may foretell an era of even greater violence. In the past, Hoffman argues, the main goal of the terrorist was not to kill, but to attract media attention to his cause in the hope of initiating reform.

"For the religious terrorist," however, "violence is first and foremost a sacramental act or divine duty executed in direct response to some theological demand or imperative ... religious terrorists see themselves not as components of a system worth preserving but as 'outsiders,' seeking fundamental changes in the existing order."

For insight into how terrorists see the world, see:

Library of Congress Selected Bibliography on Terrorism (A good starting point, many links to reputable sources.)

Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why (The US Government 1999 Report)

Mark Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Terrorism
From Publishers Weekly
"This dark, enthralling book not only documents the global rise of religious terrorism but seeks to understand the "odd attraction of religion and violence." Juergensmeyer bases his study on scholarly sources, media accounts and personal interviews with convicted terrorists. He exercises caution with the term "terrorist," preferring to emphasize the large religious community of supporters who make violent acts possible rather than the relatively small number who carry them out. Juergensmeyer identifies certain "cultures of violence" via case studies along the spectrum of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism. Such religious communities often perceive themselves and their way of life as under attack...."

Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam & the Future of America.
Amazon notes:
"In order to win the war against terrorism, the author argues that we must first stop dismissing militant Muslims as "extremists" or "religious fanatics." Formulating a successful military strategy requires that we must see the enemy as they perceive themselves—highly trained and motivated soldiers who fervently believe their cause is righteous. The author describes how militants throughout the Islamic world are enraged by what they believe is Western aggression against their people, religion, and culture."

Syllabus of a college course with many links, "Rhetoric, War, and Terrorism"(2004) Univ of Texas, Instructor Cynthia Haynes

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