The Terrorist Threat: A Postmodern Kind of Threat

Abstract

After a brief sketch of kinds of threat typical respectively for pre-modern and modern societies, an attempt is made to describe and understand the kinds of threat which are typical of post-modern societies in a globalised world. Terrorism, the post-modern threat par excellence, depends on the dangerous mixture and clash of elements characteristic of these societies and of the endeavour of traditional groups inside and outside of them to preserve their identity and prepared and capable to use high tech weaponry for this aim.