Terrorism: How to Respond - Hardcover

English, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199229988 ISBN 13: 9780199229987

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2009

Synopsis

Richard English argues here that the post-9/11 War on Terror has spectacularly failed and that we now need a radically new approach to dealing with international terrorism. Recent policies have ignored the lessons of the past, and Terrorism: How to Respond seeks to remedy this lack of vision by looking at the long history of terrorism and assessing why such violence emerges, how it is sustained, and--most crucially of all--how and why it ends.

Written by an historian who has long studied Irish terrorism and politics, this book argues that we cannot adequately respond to the practical challenge of terrorist violence around the world unless we are more honest about the precise nature of the phenomenon, and about explaining its true and complex causes. Drawing on first-hand research into terrorist organizations, Richard English offers an authoritative and accessible analysis of arguably the most urgent political problem of the twenty-first century--and how we can successfully respond to it.

About this title

About the Author:

Richard English is Professor of Politics at Queen's University. Educated at the Universities of Oxford and Keele, he is a frequent media commentator on terrorism and Irish politics and history, including work for the BBC, NPR, the Times Literary Supplement, Newsweek, and the Financial Times. He is the author of six books and co-editor of a further five, and is the author of over forty journal articles and book chapters. His books include Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA (Winner of the 2003 UK Political Studies Association Politics Book of the Year Award) and Irish Freedom: The History of Nationalism in Ireland (Winner of the 2007 Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, and the 2007 Political Studies Association of Ireland Book Prize).

Review:

Richard English is the author of outstanding histories of the IRA and Irish nationalism. Thoughtful scholarship lies at the heart of this fine analysis of terrorism as both a military and a political problem...In exploring this huge subject, English makes many telling points...while using history to console us with the thought that many terrorist movements eventually atrophy, provided societies have the resilience to see them out. Michael Burleigh, Literary Review The clearest thinking on this scourge to have come along in many years. John Arquilla, Foreign Policy If you want to read one book which explains the phenomenon of terrorism, gives you a good historical grasp of the subject while also providing a dispassionate roadmap to guide you thrpugh the term's complex meanderings and its many intellectual cul-de-sacs, then this is the book for you. It is outstanding: short and beautifully written, it manages also to be thoroughly on top of its subject. Conor Gearty, Irish Times This is a very fine book. It is elegant and persuasively argued from a man who really does know what he is talking about. The long view of Richard English is vital in an age of the knee-jerk. Fergal Keane, BBC Special Correspondant thoughtful, informed meditation on the state of terrorism research. Lawrence Freedman, Foreign Affairs English negotiates a sophisticated path through the questions of definition and explanation that have long dominated this field...[The book] retains a credibility and persuasiveness lacked by many of its competitors [and] advances our understanding of terrorism, its costs and its consequences considerablu. International Affairs a useful and accessible text for scholars and policymakers alike...English's book brings much needed attention to the state and the central role it plays in sustaining and ending terrorism...[it] explores both the analytical and practical problems associated with terrorism. Terrorism and Political Violence This is a very sensible, well-written and well-reasoned book, based not only on the author's own area of expertise but also on wide reading in the literature...Almost uniquely among those who write about terrorism, he has done many years of archival and textual research, talked to many people described as "terrorists", and lived in a city where campaigns of violence were actually being waged. Critical Studies on Terrorism a sober corrective to some dangerous recent misconceptions Prospect a thought-provoking primer for politicians seeking something to stimulate them. The American Conservative provocative...controversial. Publishers Weekly Richard English is an academic at Queen's Universiy, Belfast who has been studying terror, and especially for the IRA, for serveral decades///western governments continue to need constant admonitions, such as English provides, to adopt proportionate rather than draconian responses. Max Hastings, Sunday Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0199229988
• ISBN 13: 9780199229987
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 175