Countering Terrorism

A substantial contribution to the literature on terrorism and counterterrorism.--Paul Pillar, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Center for Security Studies, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Services, Georgetown University
A corrective to oversimplified analysis. The scholarship is sound and the book is a welcome offering from two scholars whose knowledge and credentials are superlative. --Audrey Kurth Cronin, Professor of International Relations, American University, and author of How Terrorism Ends: Understanding the Decline and Demise of Terrorist Campaigns --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Can America construct a grand strategy to counter terrorism?

Years after September 11, the United States still faces terror threats--both domestic and foreign. Undeterred by wars, ever more intensive and pervasive surveillance, enhanced security measures at major transportation centers, and many attempts to explain whom we are fighting, and why, and how to push back, the threats continue to multiply. So, too, do our attempts to understand just what terrorism is and ways to counter it.

Two leaders in the field of terrorism studies provide a critical look at responses to the terror threat over the years--and make clear why the task is so difficult. The foes are multiple and often amorphous, the study of the field dogged by disagreement about definitions and methodology, and the creation of policy hobbled by an exacting standard: the counterterrorist must succeed all the time; the terrorist only once.

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Martha Crenshaw is a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, as well as professor of political science by courtesy, at Stanford University. She is also professor of government emerita at Wesleyan University and a lead investigator with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and the Response to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland.

Gary Lafree is professor of criminology and criminal justice and director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland. He has written over 80 articles and book chapters and five books, mostly looking at criminal and political violence. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Can America construct a grand strategy to counter terrorism?

Years after September 11, the United States still faces terror threats--both domestic and foreign. Undeterred by wars, ever more intensive and pervasive surveillance, enhanced security measures at major transportation centers, and many attempts to explain whom we are fighting, and why, and how to push back, the threats continue to multiply. So, too, do our attempts to understand just what terrorism is and ways to counter it.

Two leaders in the field of terrorism studies provide a critical look at responses to the terror threat over the years--and make clear why the task is so difficult. The foes are multiple and often amorphous, the study of the field dogged by disagreement about definitions and methodology, and the creation of policy hobbled by an exacting standard: the counterterrorist must succeed all the time; the terrorist only once.