Terrorism
In November 2004, a Secretary-General of the United Nations report described terrorism as any act "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act". The international community has been slow to formulate a universally agreed, legally binding definition of this crime. These difficulties arise from the fact that the term "terrorism" is politically and emotionally charged. In this regard, Angus Martyn, briefing the Australian parliament, stated,
The international community has never succeeded in developing an accepted comprehensive definition of terrorism. During the 1970s and 1980s, the United Nations attempts to define the term floundered mainly due to differences of opinion between various members about the use of violence in the context of conflicts over national liberation and self-determination.
Critical terrorism studies
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; there has been a massive increase in research related to terrorism. Terrorism has become one of the most powerful signifiers in contemporary society with the term generating vast amounts of social and political activity. It has also become a cultural taboo which invokes emotions – fear and hatred. CTS takes issue with previous terrorism studies in what it perceives as having methodological and analytical weaknesses, including a reliance on poor research methods and procedures, an overreliance on secondary resources, and a failure to undertake primary research; a failure to come up with an accepted definition of terrorism, and an inability to be cross-disciplinary. According to Jeroen Gunning: "core epistemological, methodological and political-normative problems persist, ranging from lack of conceptual clarity and theoretical sterility to political bias and a continuing dearth of primary research data". CTS is a response to these research problems. With its origins in the Frankfurt School of critical theory, and the Welsh School of critical security studies (in which the primary referent to be secured is individuals not states), CTS is a self-reflective, critical approach to the study of terrorism which challenges the ontological, epistemological and ideological commitments of mainstream terrorism scholars. CTS also looks to attract academics from other disciplines who are uncomfortable with the mainstream discourse around terrorism and looks to engage directly with those who are perceived as 'terrorists' and/or terrorist sympathisers.