Playing Politics with Terrorism: A User*s Guide (Columbia/Hurst)

Today more than ever, governments are determined to protect the public by rooting out terrorists and bringing them to justice, but in dealing with extremism, governments often violate citizens' individual civil liberties. In their zeal to attack terrorism and preserve domestic security, governments pass laws that violate basic freedoms and privacies and undermine the support of the public.

To avoid hysteria and unwise policymaking, both citizens and officials need to rely on fact and sound judgment and remain skeptical of political propaganda. In this collection, scholars demonstrate that the realities of our post-9/11 world are not necessarily new. Many governments, from Putin's Russia and Fujimori's Peru to Italy in the 1970s have at times repressed the very liberty and democratic freedoms terrorists seek to destroy. Essays address the use of terrorist threat to sustain a credible anti-terrorist narrative, sway public opinion, and push through draconian legislation. For the most part, the contributors remain sympathetic to the efforts made by states to protect their citizenry; however, they encourage awareness and vigilance to prevent the wholesale exploitation of the fundamental rights of a democracy.

George Kassimeris is senior research fellow in conflict and terrorism at the University of Wolverhampton and is the author of Europe's Last Red Terrorists: The Revolutionary Organization 17 November and editor of The Barbarisation of Warfare.