From Amy Zalman, Ph.D.,
Your Guide to Terrorism Issues.
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Pre-Modern Terrorist Groups

Terrorism is best understood as a modern phenomenon: as violent struggle between non-state organizations and modern states, and because it relies on mass media to spread terror among as many people as possible. However, there are some pre-modern groups who used terror to achieve political ends, and who are often considered pre-cursors to modern terrorists:

• Hashhashin
• Sicarii
• Thugees

Socialist/ Communist

Many groups committed to socialist revolution or the establishment of socialist or communist states arose in the last half of the 20th century, and many are now defunct. The most prominent included:

• Baader-Meinhof Group (renamed Red Army Faction, defunct as of 1998) (Germany)
• Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
• Red Brigades (Italy)
• Revolutionary Struggle (Greece)
• Shining Path (Peru)
• Weather Underground Organization (United States)

National Liberation

National liberation is historically among the most potent reasons that extremist groups turn to violence to achieve their aims. There are many of these groups, but they have included:

• ETA (Basque)
• Fatah (PLO) (Palestinian)
• Irgun (Zionist)
• IRA (Irish)
• PKK (Kurdish)
• Tamil Tigers (Sri Lankan Tamils)

Religious-Political

There has been a rise in religiosity globally since the 1970s and with it, a rise in what many analysts call religious terrorism. It would be more accurate to call groups such as Al Qaeda religious-political, or religious-nationalist. We call them religious because they use a religious idiom and shape their 'mandate' in divine terms. Their goals however, are political: recognition, power, territory, concessions from states, and the like. Historically, such groups have included:

• Al Qaeda (transnational, Islamist)
• Aum Shinrikyo (renamed Aleph)(Japanese; various influences, including Hindu and Buddhist)
• Klu Klux Klan (U.S.; Christian)
• Abu Sayyaf(Philippines; Islamist)
• Egyptian Islamic Jihad
• Hamas (Palestinian; Islamist) (Hamas is designated by the U.S. and other governments as a terrorist group, but it is also the elected government of the Palestinian Authority)
• Hezbollah (Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and other governments, but others argue it should be considered a movement, rather than a terrorist group)
• Palestinian Islamic Jihad
• Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (Algeria, Islamist)

State Terrorism

Most states and transnational organizations (like the United Nations) define terrorists as non-state actors. This is often a highly contentious issue, and there are long standing debates in the international sphere over a few states in particular, including the United States. There are some states or state actions in history over which there's no dispute, though, such as in Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia.