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into countries opposing the United States and their followers economic and military hegemony (FRIEDRICHS, 2006).

It is also important to note how definitions over time have changed in order to suit the time in the states dealing with terror, as any definition would not be useful without a contemporary analysis of the threat of the day. This would certainly be a demonstration of why pre-1968 terrorism was not of much of a concern as it has been post-1968: Why worry about a definition of terrorism when your concerns are of conventional threats from neighbouring states?

The first attempts at defining terror came through the League of Nations after numerous assassination attempts were made in the mid 1930's, with King Alexander I of Yugoslavia assassinated by Croatian separatists while on a state visit to France (WALTERS, 1969). As the murder was found to be political, the escaped separatists hiding in Italy could not be extradited under a treaty made in 1870, which excluded political acts. It is important to note at this time, which would be a theme to follow other attempts at definition, that the final resolution by the League of Nations showed terrorism to be of a political angle: '(3) to punish terrorist outrages which 'have an international character' (SAUL, 2005). The treaty was signed by a small number of signatories, ratified by only India and never brought into law. With the advent of the Second World War and the end of the League of Nations, the resolution was quickly forgotten. It did however, set a number of important precedents:

1. That a universal definition of Terrorism needs to be reached through multilateral consensus through a forum of a worldwide organisation (in modern terms, the United Nations or possibly on a limited scale, the European Union).

2. That Terrorism was a political act.

3. That states should 'refrain from any act designed to encourage terrorist activities directed against another State and to prevent acts in which such activities take shape' (1937, LEAGUE CONVENTION).. In effect, this banned state sponsored terrorism.

4. Finally, that acts of terrorism are 'acts directed against a State and intended or calculated to create a state of terror in the minds of particular persons, or a group of persons or the general public' (1937, LEAGUE CONVENTION). This eliminates the possibility of a State using terror against its own population but does allow Terrorism to be committed by a state against another state.

Terrorism researches would be sharp to note that political understanding is the key aspect to understanding terror. It is also quite important to note such a resolution, should it have been enforced by signatories had it been ratified on a wider scale, would most likely have prevented state intervention on humanitarian grounds as states were not classed as being able to be terrorists. The use of the armed forces in foreign and civil wars was not included in the resolution to prevent their use being defined as an act of terror (SAUL, 2005).

The agenda has, after a number of starts and stops since the 1937 resolution, returned to the United Nations. Since almost all international action into other states in this last 10 years has some way been connected or has been implied to be connected to terrorist actions, it is of little surprise (PETERSON, 2004). The growth of international conventions w