The Strategy of Terrorism

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This book describes a comprehensive framework by which to understand terrorism as strategy. The main purpose of the work is to describe the dynamics of terrorism and evaluate its effectiveness, as well as to theorize upon, and clarify the correlation between political ends and terrorist means. The text explains the modus operandi of terrorism, and demonstrates how terrorism relies on manipulating the psychological impact of (usually) relatively small-scale attacks. Using a variety of case studies, the book shows how many campaigns of terrorism end in failure when they lose their power to terrify. The authors spell out what a proper understanding of terrorism as a strategy implies for those who want to make terrorism ineffective, and offer a number of policy recommendations derived directly from their critique.