Conclusions

This edited compilation provides a wide-ranging discussion about the links between terrorism and contemporary international and national security challenges. Those contemporary security challenges can be conceptualized in two different ways. For Waltz, with his “three level analysis,” international security challenges fall in the domain of “3rd image” or “international systems level” explanatory factors for conflict (e.g., terrorism), where three or more nation-states are affected. In contrast, ‘2nd image’ factors, such as population composition and ethnic conflict potential, are found at the nation-state level. In comparison, Williams describes terrorism and many of the terrorism related security activities described in this book as “wicked challenges” or “wicked problems.”