Terrorism at MESA Conference

Martin Kramer, at the start of an interesting post about terrorism, takes a swipe at the Middle East Studies Association's annual conference by linking to the program and saying "not a terrorism paper in sight." Following the link, however, led me to find this panel, Saturday, November 8 at 4:30 p.m.:

(P023) Rescuing Islamic Political Theory from the Jihadist Ideology

Chair: Louis J. Cantori, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Kamran A. Bokhari, University of Texas at Austin
"Jihad & Jihadism: A Rendition of Transnational Militant Non-State Actors"
M. A. Muqtedar Khan, Adrian College, Adrain, MI
"De-Constructing Jihadism: In Quest of a Theology of Global Peace"
Ejaz Akram, Catholic University of America
"Ummah & Jihad: Categories of Analysis in the Transnational International Relations of the Muslim World"
Anas Malik, DePauw University
"Waging Jihads vs. Fighting Wars: A Credible Distinction?"

Without knowing for sure, I would suggest that "jihadism" refers to terrorist ideology, with the terrorists themselves appearing as "transnational militant non-state actors." Several other panels seem like they'd deal with the background to terrorism, such as the Israeli-Palestinian issue. One also notes a number of Iraq and Afghanistan panels. Unfortunately, I will not be making my way to Alaska to hear any of these and report more.