**2. Methodology**

The goal of the paper is to provide a narrative, based on interdisciplinary research, review on the topic of eco-terrorism. The study was carried out on the philosophical, political, sociological, and historical level. The basis of the entire research process was, of course, analysis and synthesis. The analytical method was deployed to examine original source texts, and all types of other studies (scientific and non-scientific). The purpose of the analysis of the source texts was to extract the truth about a given document, and to ascertain on its basis, as well as on the previously acquired knowledge, what the actual facts were. The goal of the analysis of the secondary literature was to, apart from expanding knowledge about the phenomenon, extract "alternative truths" and confront them with the author's own research intuitions. With the use of synthesis in the research process, the author intends to go beyond the mere merging of reconstructed fragments of the studied phenomenon, and to create a complete, and most importantly, meaningful and rich picture of the whole.

The paper is based on many sources that can be classified into a few groups. The first one are scientific works. Some concern the phenomenon of eco-extremism, others broadly understood security. The second group of sources includes reports of analytical centers and statistical materials. Some reports come from governmen<sup>t</sup> agencies, some from private agencies. The third group of sources consists of propaganda materials of the discussed groups and the so-called narrative sources, namely "testimonies" (i.e., confessions of environmental radicals). These materials are posted on websites or published in a traditional form. The fourth group consists of documentary sources (o fficial documents, court records, trial transcripts, o fficial letters). The fifth group of sources includes press releases and news agencies reports. There are di fficulties related to all those sources because, as it happens, various sources often give contradictory information (sometimes it is due to the imperfection of human memory, and sometimes it stems from a deliberate bending of facts in the sake of one's own, usually ideological,

interests). It also happens that the authors are not neutral in their approach, which often leads to a distortion of the image of a given phenomenon. Therefore, in my research, I had to place grea<sup>t</sup> emphasis on identifying the most reliable data and distinguishing between facts and ideological propaganda, which I did by relying on my knowledge about the authors, the source of materials, and socio-political context.
