General Trends in Present-Day Terrorism The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 marked the start of a new period in modern history. This period is one characterized by instability, unpredictability, and the reshaping of complex systems, including both traditional and new types of challenges and threats. Of particular significance in the last and most dangerous category is, beyond any doubt, the emergence of terrorism as a truly global threat. It has to be kept in mind that terrorism, as an independent and self-reproducing socio-political phenomenon of violence, can be seen throughout the history of human civilization. However, in the twenty-first century, terrorism has evolved into a major geopolitical factor, capable of causing a systemic crisis at the global level. Some of the distinctive (albeit not unique) characteristics of modern terrorism—also labeled “international terrorism,” “new wave terrorism,” “mega-terrorism,” “fourth-generation terrorism”—are as follows : • Qualitative change of content; • Shift to a strategic approach and a particular type of warfare; • Perpetual reproduction and build-up; • Transformation into mass movements; • Permanent dynamics; • Fluid, mutable nature—convergence; • Increasing importance of non-state actors; • Growing professionalization; • Escalation of technological sophistication; • Weapons of mass effect, techno-terrorism; • Increasing reliance on information technologies and networks; • Cyber-terrorism, psycho-terrorism. The above-mentioned elements make it possible to identify the overall scope of a modern global process that some politicians and experts in terrorism are referring to as