Terrorism breeds in any environment it can. Thus, it is hard to identify one specific cause or few that result in terrorism. Different types of terrorism in different cases can derive from different causes. Despite the difficulty in identifying causes of terrorism, a comprehensive approach towards the political, social and economic environment where terrorism is likely to flourish may result in fruitful outcomes for combating terrorism. Within this context, this article aims to provide a general framework for understanding the causes of terrorism rather than proposing methods to cope with them.