Illusions of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism
Proceedings of the British Academy Series, Vol. Vol. 203

Terrorism and counter-terrorism represent enduringly and globally important phenomena, and the mutually shaping relationship between non-state terrorism and state counter-terrorism continues to influence world politics. Illusions of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism brings together leading scholars in the field to analyse this relationship, and to do so in distinctive manner. The book sustainedly assesses the interaction of terrorism and counter-terrorism through drawing on a range of academic disciplines in dialogue with one another. It addresses the dynamics of counter-terrorism more interrogatively and concentratedly than is common in much of the scholarly literature, and it highlights a theme that is all too rarely considered in the field: namely, the shared and mutually-echoing failings and illusions involved in the politics of terrorism and counter-terrorism alike. Chapters analyse post-9/11 counter-terrorism, the ongoing evolution of al-Qaida, the imperatives and challenges and global context of western counter-terrorist efforts, and the reasons why terrorist campaigns sometimes endure and sometimes come to an end. Candid and wide-ranging, Illusions of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism offers rigorous and original argument on a subject of the highest significance.

Richard English is Wardlaw Professor of Politics in the School of International Relations, and Director of the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV), at the University of St Andrews. He was born in 1963 in Belfast, where he worked at Queen's University between 1989 and 2011. He is the author of seven books, including the award-winning studies Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA (2003) and Irish Freedom: The History of Nationalism in Ireland (2006). His most recent book, Modern War: A Very Short Introduction, was published in 2013 by Oxford University Press. He is a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE), a Member of the Royal Irish Academy (MRIA), a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), and an Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford.