Although the terrorism debate has been particularly heated in recent decades, terrorism is not a new phenomenon and has been used since the beginning of recorded history. However, it is quite difficult to define terrorism. Depending on which side you evaluate, terrorism can be defined as a tactic or a strategy, a crime or a sacred duty, a brutality or a justified reaction to oppression. Terrorism uses coercive power with many of the advantages of military force, but with only a fraction of the cost and because of their small-scale covert operations, it is difficult for governments to effectively deter or defend against terrorist organizations. Terrorism has therefore become one of the most threatening phenomena for citizens around the world and a concern for many governments and international organizations. Numerous important debates have therefore arisen about the effectiveness of terrorism, and there are a number of essays and studies that attempt to determine whether terrorism actually existed. whether it was a successful or unsuccessful coercion strategy. Among political scientists there are currently two conflicting opinions on this topic. Some scholars argue that terrorism is on the rise around the world because it works and is particularly effective against democracies since the electorate is usually very sensitive to civilian casualties of terrorist attacks which can lead its leaders to make concessions to terrorist groups. Authoritarian governments, on the other hand, respond only to the preferences of the ruling elite, and are therefore less likely to give in to terrorist demands in response to civilian casualties. Other scholars argue that, when considering the number of terrorist attacks and the underlying objectives, there is actually little... middle of paper... either public support or military capacity to defeat governments. In the long term, today's terrorist organizations will therefore fail to achieve their goals. This is especially true when these organizations target civilians and civilian locations. Cases such as the 1999 apartment building bombings in Russia (or other cases such as the September 11 attacks or terrorist attacks during the first and second intifadas) demonstrate that countries derive the political objectives of the terrorist groups responsible for such acts from consequences of these attacks and not from the declared objectives. Targeted countries will view the deaths of their citizens as evidence that terrorists want to harm society and public opinion, even though there may be ulterior motives, and are therefore unlikely to cooperate or make concessions...