This superbly researched book reflects the experiences of Colonel Russ Howard and Captain Reid Sawyer in teaching security-related courses in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point. Colonel Howard and Captain Sawyer have refined their thinking on the topic by their experimentation with the curriculum in these national security courses. We suggest that students of national security polity will find this book to be a unique combination of well-known and astute thinkers who have articulated the current and future policy implications of terrorism. The relevant experience of both Howard and Sawyer as editors places them in the best position to "connect the dots" of this wide-ranging material. - General Barry R. McCaffrey (Ret.), on back cover.

In this new edition of Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Understanding the New Security Environment, Readings and Interpretations, Brigadier General (Retired) Russell Howard and Dr. Bruce Hoffman have collected original and previously published seminal articles and essays by political scientists, government officials, and members of the nation's armed forces. The editors and several of the authors write from practical field experience in the nation's war on terrorism. Others have had significant responsibility for planning government policy and responses. The contributors include a majority of the significant names in the field including John Arquilla, Richard Betts, Martha Crenshaw, Rohan Gunaratna, Richard Shultz, and Paul Pillar. Unit I of the book analyzes the philosophical, political, and religious roots of terrorist activities around the world and discusses the national, regional, and global effects of historical and recent acts of terrorism. In addition to material on the threats from suicide bombers, as well as chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons, there are also important contributions analyzing new and growing threats such as genomic terrorism. Unit II deals with past, present, and future national and international responses to--and defenses against--terrorism. Essays and articles in this section analyze and debate the practical, political, ethical, and moral questions raised by military and non-military responses (and pre-emptive actions) outside of the context of declared war. This section has expanded on the previous edition to include expanded strategic and tactical counterterrorism offerings and a final chapter devoted entirely to the post-bin Laden security environment.

Terrorism defined -- Why terrorism? -- The new terrorism model -- Religion -- Weapons of mass destruction -- The threat of other forms of terrorism -- The challenges of terrorism -- Strategies and approaches to combating terrorism -- Organizing to fight terrorism.

'Conceptualising Terrorism' argues that, while there have always been good reasons for striving for a universally agreed definition of terrorism, there are further reasons for doing so in the post-9/11 environment, notwithstanding the formidable challenges that confront such an endeavour.

Recommended online resources p. 476.481

Annotation This work answers questions concerning the length of time that terrorist campaigns last and when targeting leadership finishes a group. It examines a wide range of historical examples to identify the ways in which almost all terrorist groups die out.

This new Handbook provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of current knowledge and debates on terrorism and counterterrorism, as well as providing a benchmark for future research. The attacks of 9/11 and the ‘global war on terror’ and its various legacies have dominated international politics in the opening decades of the 21st century. In response to the dramatic rise of terrorism, within the public eye and the academic world, the need for an accessible and comprehensive overview of these controversial issues remains profound. The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism and Counterterrorism seeks to fulfil this need. The volume is divided into two key parts: Part I: Terrorism: This section provides an overview of terrorism, covering the history of terrorism, its causes and characteristics, major tactics and strategies, major trends and critical contemporary issues such as radicalisation and cyber-terrorism. It concludes with a series of detailed case studies, including the IRA, Hamas and Islamic State. Part II: Counterterrorism: This part draws on the main themes and critical issues surrounding counterterrorism. It covers the major strategies and policies, key events and trends and the impact and effectiveness of different approaches. This section also concludes with a series of case studies focused on major counterterrorism campaigns. This book will be of great interest to all students of terrorism and counterterrorism, political violence, counter-insurgency, criminology, war and conflict studies, security studies and IR more generally.

"Some of the arguments published in this volume were first adumbrated at a joint British Academy/University of St Andrews Symposium ('9/11: Ten Years On') held in London on 2 September 2011."--Page ix.

This handbook comprises essays by leading scholars and practitioners on the topic of U.S. counterterrorism and irregular warfare campaigns and operations around the globe. Terrorist groups have evolved substantially since 9/11, with the Islamic State often described as a pseudo-state, a terrorist group, and insurgency all at the same time. While researchers', analysts', and policymakers’ understanding of terrorism has grown immensely over the past two decades, similar advancements in the understanding of counterterrorism lag. As such, this handbook explains why it is necessary to take a broader view of counterterrorism which can, and often does, include irregular warfare. The volume is divided into three thematic sections: Part I examines modern terrorism in the Islamic world and gives an overview of the major terrorist groups from the past three decades; Part II provides a wide variety of case studies of counterterrorism and irregular warfare operations, spanning from the 1980s to the irregular warfare campaign against the Islamic State in northern Syria in 2018; Part III examines the government instruments used to combat terrorism and wage irregular warfare, such as drones, Theater Special Operations Commands, and Theater Commands. The handbook fills a gap in the traditional counterterrorism literature by its inclusion of irregular warfare and by providing analyses from academic experts as well as practitioners. It will be of much interest to students of counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, U.S. national security, military affairs, and International Relations. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Handbook-of-US-Counterterrorism-and-Irregular-Warfare-Operations/Sheehan-Marquardt-Collins/p/book/9780367758363, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.