Terrorism
Patterns of Internationalization
- Jaideep Saikia - Security and Terrorism Analyst, India
- Ekaterina Stepanova - Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Terrorism
The book challenges a number of conventional patterns of analysis and underlines the importance of visualizing terrorism as an act driven by political motivation, notwithstanding the fact that it is manifested through ideological or religious sentiments. It also analyzes the various tactics used by different terrorist organizations in different regions and distinguishes terrorists from other non-state actors. It dwells on the dangerous implications of the internationalization of terrorism and emphasizes the need to develop a research methodology which can help understand the current conceptualization of the phenomenon and bring forward analytical solutions.
This will be an important sourcebook for the military, the police, law enforcement agencies, and government training institutes. In addition, it will also benefit political analysts and professionals such as counter-insurgency and anti-terrorism experts.
This book...is a well-timed endeavour to dissect international terrorism as well as its regional variants.... Terrorism: Patterns of Internationalization would serve as a ready reckoner for policy practitioners and the general readership for its methodical research and exhaustive bibliography.
Although a great deal of literature has come to the fore post 9/11, an objective and realistic analysis of the phenomenon has not quite been done. [This book] fills the void. The book’s strength lies in its ability to problematise terrorism and elevates the concepts to an academic domain. The closely written introduction by Saikia-Stepnova, both internationally renowned terrorism experts, is testimonial to this…. Apart from the robust analytical content…this book is a work by theatre experts, specialists who dissects terrorist organisations in whose areas of operation they live and work. It is a rare recipe for conflict experts.
The book is targeted at people in all walks of life – policy making community, international affairs, anti-terrorism and other security professionals, journalists, the students of international affairs, security and political science. The book presents a beeline of contributors from the terrorism infested heartland across the globe to let out their pent-up perceptions about the genesis and nemesis of terrorism.
This timely book could be a ‘first’ of its kind for a variety of reasons. To begin with, we have here a lucid, precise and comprehensive definition of the term ‘terrorism’. In consideration of the fact that the term has defied definition and befuddled the best of minds over the decades, this is indeed a huge plus in the work. Besides, the scope of the book is extremely wide-ranging in that almost every currently operative militant organization, deploying violence against civilians for the achievement of political aims, is subject to scrutiny and discussion by an international panel of well known political scientists.
