The triviality of terrorism

This article finds that the Australian government's perception of the threat of terrorism continues to be fundamentally flawed. Suggesting that it is imperative to clearly identify the sources and targets of the terrorist threat, the article concludes that terrorism does not pose an existential or even major objective threat to Western liberal democracies like Australia. At the same time, the political and psychological sensibilities surrounding terrorism, in combination with public demands for action, may require democratic governments to respond. Any response, however, needs to be carefully calibrated to meet the requirements of proportionality and (potential) effectiveness. Keywords: AustraliacounterterrorismsecurityterrorismWhite Paper Notes 1. For the purposes of this article, it is imperative to differentiate between the threat of terrorism to stable Western democracies and the threat to states with unstable governments or failing/failed states. The article was first submitted on 19 February 2010 and accepted for publication on 10 October 2010; it was updated on 30 April 2012. 2. Similar findings were made by Olivia Jackson (Citation2008) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF Citation2001). Additional informationNotes on contributorsChristopher Michaelsen Christopher Michaelsen is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales. Prior to joining the University of New South Wales, he served as an Adviser on Anti-Terrorism and Human Rights at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, in Warsaw, Poland