Goals of terrorist attacks in the perspective of the indirect strategy of terrorism

The aim of the publication is diagnosing the nature and multidimensional character of the goals of terrorist attacks from the perspective of the indirect strategy of terrorism. The structure of this article is based on the identification of the essence of a terrorist attack and the analysis of the nature of the goals of terrorist activity. The underlying assumption made by the author was the claim that the goals of terrorist attacks can be divided into instrumental and main goals. This division emphasises the multidimensional character of the phenomenon of terrorism and justifies the validity of using the notion of indirect strategy when referring to the activity of contemporary terrorists. The knowledge of mutual relations between the stages of terrorist activity in the framework of the assumed terrorist strategy can increase the efficiency of antiterrorist actions, which means that the investigated issue acquires particular significance.