The Roots of Terrorism (PDF)

The Roots of Terrorism is the first volume in the new Democracy and Terrorism series, a three volume project intended to explore one of the most pressing issues of our time: how to reconcile the need to fight terrorism with our desire to protect and enhance democratic values.

This first volume, The Roots of Terrorism, examines the underlying causes of terrorism and details concrete measures for addressing them. The study of these roots and risk factors of terrorism needs to be an essential component of any counter-terrorist strategy. If we do not understand the challenge we face, how can we ever hope to thwart it? The essays-written by some of the world's leading experts on terrorism-will cover the psychological, political, religious, economic and cultural factors that can contribute to the rise of terrorist movements and motivate individual terrorists.

Analyzing the threat and where it comes from, The Roots of Terrorism not only
examines what makes terrorists tick, but also what can be done to prevent their emergence. While many have explored the conscious and sub-conscious motivations of terrorists, few have spelled out what policymakers in liberal democracies can do to address these concerns. These essay, thus, represent not only the state of the art in the study of the causes of terrorism, but are uniquely practical in their approach.

Contributors include: Jerrold Post, Martha Crenshaw, Tedd Gurr, Mark Jeurgensmeyer, John Esposito, and Jessica Stern and many others.