Revolution or Terror? Unpacking the Roots of Political Violence

“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom-fighter”– so begins the debate about terrorism as a political concept and legal definition. While terrorism has plagued the modern world since the “long nineteenth century,” it remains deeply misunderstood. Seeking to understand terrorism as a sociopolitical phenomenon, this session investigates the full emergence of terrorism in Europe during the second half of the nineteenth century, when anarchist revolutionaries hoped that “propaganda by the deed” would inspire revolutions and create a new and more equitable and peaceful world.