Many in the social, academic and political disciplines consider the assignment of the “terrorism” label a controversial act that has never been riper for debate than in the modern discourse. The term was first mentioned after the French Revolution, but in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, terrorism has kindled new research to try to understand what terrorism is, and what it isn’t. Although to date there are several systematic reviews, this paper aims to group, specify and distill the different theories and concepts developed by the authors who have worked on the concept of terrorism. The contribution of this paper is a review of 56 articles published between 1985 and 2013, 10 secondary sources of news and articles from newspapers for the years 1995-2013 and methodological review of 10 studies whose results will contribute to the understanding the subject matter. The search was limited to the historical development of terrorism, its different dimensions and the social concept of the reality of terrorism. The findings demonstrate that terrorism as a linguistic vehicle can be used as a political mechanism through discourse and stereotypes. As a malleable concept, terrorism can be deployed intentionally or unintentionally to generate barriers and prejudices between nations, peoples and cultures.
