THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF TERRORISM RESEARCH
Edited by Alex Schmid
Routledge, $195, 718 pages
The threat of terrorism by insurgent groups such as al Qaeda is at the top of many of the world’s governments’ national security concerns because of the frequency and lethality of their attacks. Even in a country such as Israel, after a long period of relative calm, a major bombing recently took place at a crowded Jerusalem bus stop, reminding nations of the ongoing severity of the threat. In response, the study of terrorism and counterterrorism continues apace and has become a major scholarly discipline at many universities.
Almost every university features at least one course on terrorism, with many providing certificates in terrorism studies. Although an extensive literature has existed since the early 1970s, when terrorism was primarily a region-based threat, it grew to avalanche proportions of literally hundreds of books and thousands of articles published on these topics after Sept. 11, when al Qaeda transformed it into a threat of transnational proportion.
The government agencies that conduct counterterrorism depend on the academic community to provide them fresh insights and analysis to better understand the worldwide terrorist threat and its triggers.
How does one begin to make sense of this vast and ever growing subject? Readers are fortunate to have Alex Schmid’s “The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research.” It captures many of the findings produced by the myriad studies on terrorism and counterterrorism and outlines them in an easy to follow chapter framework. It is a big book with a price tag to match, but its depth of detail merits its cost.
Considered one of the world’s pre-eminent academic scholars on terrorism, Mr. Schmid is director of the Terrorism Research Initiative, which publishes the online journal Perspectives on Terrorism. In his long and varied career, he has served as director of the University of St. Andrews’ Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence as well as officer-in-charge at a United Nations branch on these issues in Vienna, Austria. The volume’s most substantive chapters are written by Mr. Schmid, with a team of 10 European researchers writing the other chapters and appendices.
A spectrum of topics is covered in the book, ranging from an introductory overview of terrorism, types of terrorist groups (such as secular or religious, politically left or right) terrorism’s root causes, databases on terrorist incidents, leading theories to study terrorism and a lengthy bibliography on terrorism and a glossary. One noteworthy feature is a directory of terrorist groups currently active compiled by Albert J. Jongman, a Dutch terrorism expert.
Among the volume’s interesting innovations is the findings of a detailed questionnaire that Mr. Schmid sent to more than 100 terrorism experts around the world (including this reviewer) beginning in 2006. In the book, he highlights responses in order to illustrate the latest developments in the field of terrorism studies.
It is interesting to note that some of the respondents disagree with one another. How to respond to terrorists remains a contentious enterprise. For example, there are at least 26 different theories that seek to explain terrorism, many relying on historical or psychological analyses. For Mr. Schmid the key to understanding terrorist activity is finding terrorism’s root causes, those features that shed light on the forces that drive terrorism and that need to be resolved. Understanding the fundamental problems behind terrorism helps to forecast where an insurgency may surface next and where it is headed.
According to Mr. Schmid’s respondents and an insightful follow-up chapter by Brynjar Lia, a Norwegian terrorism expert, root causes include poverty, feelings of hopelessness, social inequality and injustice to a rejection of the West in all its political and cultural dimensions. The presence of a charismatic leader in an insurgency who addresses insurgent concerns, however misguidedly, is the glue that binds followers to extreme loyalty, including the sacrifice of their lives.
What is terrorism? This, Mr. Schmid cautions, is “treacherous territory,” because of the lack of consensus in the way academics, governments and international organizations such as the United Nations go about defining it. The U.N.’s definition, he points out, is too vague, failing, for example, to distinguish between terrorism as a political act and ordinary criminal offenses such as murder or sabotage of private property. His proposed solution is worth noting because it identifies as terrorists the groups that actually conduct such operations and itemizes the types of intentions, motivations and targeting characterizing their attacks.
How do terrorist campaigns weaken? Once terrorist groups fail to increase the number of civilian and security personnel fatalities in their attacks, or realize a decline in their ability to raise funds, inability to secure a safe haven for their headquarters or a corresponding increase in terrorist fatalities (including defections among leaders and members and the arrest, death or loss of a group’s charismatic leader) weakening is detectable.
In this comprehensive overview, Mr. Schmid’s critique of terrorism analyses stands out. He champions greater use of evidence-based empirical research, such as compiling biographies of terrorist operatives in order to generate insight into what types of individuals become terrorists. This is essential because of the nature of terrorism itself, which Mr. Schmid describes as an underground “war in the shadows,” that makes it difficult to ferret out all the information needed to thwart terrorist endeavors.
Readers will benefit from the volume’s authoritative approach to analyzing the unremitting terrorist threat. While terrorism does not seem to be abating, this comprehensive volume proves it is not beyond understanding or, ultimately, disabling.
Joshua Sinai is an associate professor for research, specializing in counterterrorism studies, at Virginia Tech (National Capital Region) in Alexandria.
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