AFRICAN STATES PROVIDE A VARIETY OF CONTEXTS WITHIN WHICH TERRORISM HAS OCCURRED AND CONTINUES TO OCCUR. MOST SUB-SAHARA COUNTRIES ARE INDEPENDENT STATES RULED BY INDIGENOUS BLACKS, ALTHOUGH MINORITY WHITES OF EUROPEAN ORIGIN RULE BLACK POPULATIONS IN RHODESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA. NATIONALIST MOVEMENTS THAT DEVELOPED IN OPPOSITION TO COLONIAL DOMINATION WERE ASSOCIATED WITH LITTLE TERRORISM, AND THE TRANSITION TO INDEPENDENCE WAS GENERALLY PEACEFUL. TERRORISM WAS THE EXCEPTION RATHER THAN THE RULE. INDEPENDENT BLACK AFRICAN STATES ARE RANKED IN TERMS OF THREE FORMS OF CONFLICT BEHAVIOR (TURMOIL, COMMUNAL INSTABILITY, AND ELITE INSTABILITY). TURMOIL INVOLVES RIOTS, STRIKES, AND DEMONSTRATIONS AND IS OFTEN IN THE FORM OF SPONTANEOUS POLITICAL EXPRESSION. COMMUNAL INSTABILITY IS A FORM OF MASS CONFLICT BUT INVOLVES ETHNIC GROUPS. TERRORISM IS VIEWED AS AN ELITE FORM OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION, GIVEN THE SMALL ORGANIZED BASE OF TERRORISM. TWO PROPOSITIONS ARE SET FORTH TO EXPLAIN PATTERNS OF VIOLENCE IN AFRICA AND, PARTICULARLY, THE MINIMAL ROLE OF TERRORISM: (1) WITH GREATER ETHNIC OR OTHER INEQUALITY, A GREATER ELITE-MASS GAP, AND A MORE COERCIVE AND REPRESSIVE POLITICAL REGIME, THE LIKELIHOOD OF CONFLICT WILL BE GREATER AND CONFLICT WILL PROBABLY BE MOST PREVALENT WHEN ALL THREE CONDITIONS OVERLAP; AND (2) IF THE POPULATION IS LESS POLITICALLY-MOBILIZED, CONFLICT WILL MOST LIKELY BE OF AN ELITE FORM. THE INVESTIGATION OF TERRORISM IN SPECIFIC CASE STUDIES LENDS SUPPORT TO THESE PROPOSITIONS. POLITICAL EXCLUSION RATHER THAN SOCIAL DISADVANTAGE IS THE PRIMARY SOURCE OF TERRORISM THAT DOES OCCUR IN AFRICA, AND TERRORIST EVENTS IN AFRICAN COUNTRIES UNDERSCORE THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL FACTORS IN THE STUDY OF TERRORISM. SUPPORTING DATA AND NOTES ARE INCLUDED. (DEP)