The Roots of Terrorism

by Louise Richardson (Editor), Peter Neumann (Series Editor), Mary Robinson (Foreword)

The Roots of Terrorism is the first volume in the new Democracy and Terrorism series, a three volume project intended to explore one of the most pressing issues of our how to reconcile the need to fight terrorism with our desire to protect and enhance democratic values.

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Louise Richardson is executive dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, a senior lecturer in government at Harvard, and a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School. She lectures widely on terrorism and international security and has appeared on CNN, the BBC, PBS, NPR, and a host of other media outlets. Born in Ireland, she is now an American citizen and a resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Laila · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to study terrorism as a subject this book is a great starting point because it covers multifaceted elements that related to terrorism by experts in the field. In my view the ideal partner for this book is Explaining terrorism: causes, processes and consequences by Martha Crenshaw.
This book is digestible for general readers and scholar alike. Terrorism is the most over-capitalized subject since 9/11, but it doesn't mean that we actually understood the subject as we ought to and this book will shed light on terrorism. Why you need to bother? Politicians pass laws that affect us all (with long-term consequences) and national security is a serious matter. We need to pay attention. If you don't want them to passed dumb laws on the subject, the best defense to reject dumb laws is by studying the subject yourself so you won't shallow it whole when they sell the policy to you.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid collection of essays on terrorism from many different topical angles. The best chapters were: Nasra Hassan's analysis of the psychology and social context of suicide bombers (Ch. 3), Ted Robert Gurr's discussion of the economic causes of- and motivations for- terrorism (Ch. 7), Mark Juergenmeyer's disentangling of the complex relationship between religion and terrorism (Ch. 10), and John Esposito's look at the historical roots of Islamic terrorism (Ch. 11). The book was produced from a conference in 2005, and the shadow of the 9-11 attacks are heavy on this book. However, the book has a broader scope than just Islamic terrorism and the authors draw evidence from many decades and every continent in an attempt to understand this form of political violence.