Explaining Terrorism: Causes, Processes and Consequences

by Crenshaw; Martha

• ISBN13: 9780415780513
• ISBN10: 0415780519
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-11-22
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This volume comprises some of the key essays on the causes, processes and consequences of terrorism by Professor Crenshaw, from 1972 to the present-day.Since the early 1970s, scholars and practitioners have tried to explain terrorism and to assess the effectiveness of government responses to the threat. From its beginnings in a small handful of analytical studies, the research field has expanded to thousands of entries, with an enormous spike following the 9/11 attacks. The field of terrorism studies is now impressive in terms of quantity, scope, and variety. Professor Crenshaw had studied terrorism since the late 1960s, well before it was topical, and this selection of her work represents the development of her thought over time in four areas:Defining terrorism and identifying its causesThe different methods used to explain terrorism, including strategic, organisational and psychological approachesHow campaigns of terrorism endHow governments can effectively contribute to the ending of terrorism.This collection of essays by one of the pioneering thinkers in the field of terrorism studies will be essential reading for all students of political violence and terrorism, security studies and IR/politics in general.

Author Biography

Martha Crenshaw is a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and Professor of Political Science, by courtesy, at Stanford University, USA. She is also Professor of Government Emerita at Wesleyan University, USA. She is a lead investigator with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland, USA.

Table of Contents

Preface and acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: definitions, approaches, responses, and trajectories	p. 1
What and why?	p. 19
The concept of terrorism	p. 21
The causes of terrorism	p. 34
ôOldö vs. ônewö terrorism	p. 51
Explaining terrorism: organizations, strategies, and psychology	p. 67
The organizational approach	p. 69
Subjective realities	p. 88
The logic of terrorism	p. 111
Psychological constraints on instrumental reasoning	p. 124
Responding to terrorism	p. 135
Coercive diplomacy	p. 137
Strategies and grand strategies	p. 167
Counterterrorism policy and the political process	p. 183
How terrorism ends	p. 191
How terrorism declines	p. 193
Why terrorism is rejected or renounced	p. 206
Notes	p. 223
Index	p. 259
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