An argument that the use of terror in cases of national separatism, particularly for the cases of the IRA in Northern Ireland and the FLQ in Quebec, is not indiscriminant or mindless, but part of an overall strategy used by groups based on societal determinants and the long term and short term goals of the terrorist group. The main societal determinants appear to be the past use of violence in the area under question and the ability for the nationalist community to effectively control its situation through political representation. For the terrorist group, while separation is the obvious long term goal, other goals for the group, the community it represents, the system in which it acts and the government from which it wishes independence also play an important role in the choice of violence and its possible effects on interfering with accomplishment of other goals.