Terrorism: Home

Though the history of terrorism stretches back to the ancient world, today it is often understood as a recent development. Comprehensive enough to serve as a survey for students or newcomers to the field, yet with enough depth to engage the specialist, The Routledge History of Terrorismis the first single-volume authoritative reference text to place terrorism firmly into its historical context. Terrorism is a transnational phenomenon with a convoluted history that defies easy periodization and narrative treatment. Over the course of 32 chapters, experts in the field analyze its historical significance and explore how and why terrorism emerged as a set of distinct strategies, tactics, and mindsets across time and space. Chapters address not only familiar topics such as the Northern Irish Troubles, the Palestine Liberation Organization, international terrorism, and the rise of al-Qaeda, but also lesser-explored issues such as: American racial terrorism state terror and terrorism in the Middle Ages tyrannicide from Ancient Greece and Rome to the seventeenth century the roots of Islamist violence the urban guerrilla, terrorism, and state terror in Latin America literary treatments of terrorism. With an introduction by the editor explaining the book's rationale and organization, as well as a guide to the definition of terrorism, an historiographical chapter analysing the historical approach to terrorism studies, and an eight-chapter section that explores critical themes in the history of terrorism, this book is essential reading for all those interested in the past, present, and future of terrorism.

The U.S. government's power to categorize individuals as terrorist suspects and therefore ineligible for certain long-standing constitutional protections has expanded exponentially since 9/11, all the while remaining resistant to oversight. Crimes of Terror: The Legal and PoliticalImplications of Federal Terrorism Prosecutions provides a comprehensive and uniquely up-to-date dissection of the government's advantages over suspects in criminal prosecutions of terrorism, which are driven by a preventive mindset that purports to stop plots before they can come to fruition. Itestablishes the background for these controversial policies and practices and then demonstrates how they have impeded the normal goals of criminal prosecution, even in light of a competing military tribunal model. Proceeding in a linear manner from the investigatory stage of a prosecution on throughto sentencing, the book documents the emergence of a "terrorist exceptionalism" to normal rules of criminal law and procedure and questions whether the government has overstated the threat posed by the individuals it charges with these crimes. Included is a discussion of the large-scale spying and use of informants rooted in the questionable "radicalization" theory; the material support statute - the government's chief legal tool in bringing criminal prosecutions; the new rules regarding generation of evidence and the broad constructionof that evidence as relevant at trial; and a look at the special sentencing and confinement regimes for those convicted of terrorist crimes. In this critical examination of terrorism prosecutions in federal court, Professor Said reveals a phenomenon at odds with basic constitutional protections forcriminal defendants.

This anthology provides readers a portal to new and interesting research on one of the most important and disturbing aspects of repression by modern states: the use of torture.

In the last 50 years, terrorists have committed hundreds of horrific acts of violence to further their causes. This accessible, single-volume text covers the most significant terrorist acts across contemporary history worldwide. * Provides a chronological treatment of all major terrorist attacks in the last 50 years worldwide, enabling readers to grasp how terrorist acts have changed over time * Clearly explains the importance of each attack in terms of how the event spawned new types of attacks or targets, elicited new government responses, resulted in increased media coverage, or otherwise served as a turning point in the history of terrorism * Provides a readable review of representative attacks that illustrates the differences in terrorists' thinking, goals, milieu and reach, and attack styles; and the differences in responses and their effectiveness * Documents terrorists' targeting of U.S. citizens and interests in the United States and abroad * Reflects the economic impact of increasing security measures in response to terrorist attacks and threats, both at home and internationally

The United States Department of Defense defines terrorism as 'the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.' While terrorism has been around for centuries, it was the al Qa'eda attacks of September 11, 2001, that brought home to the world, and most particularly the United States, just how dangerous terrorism can be. The third edition of the Historical Dictionary of Terrorism presents the full spectrum of forms of political violence through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on major terrorist groups and their leaders, significant terrorist events, cyber-terrorism, counterterrorism, and social science concepts regarding the motivations and group dynamics of terrorist groups. Authors Sean K. Anderson and Stephen Sloan move beyond the gut reaction we have to this volatile and divisive topic by providing a reliable and objective reference on terrorism.