This book represents a concerted attempt to bring the resources of political theory, political science and history to bear on modern terrorism. It provides the general assumptions about man and society which inspire terrorist activity, focusing on the continuity of violence in human affairs.

This book represents a concerted attempt to bring the resources of political theory, political science and history to bear on modern terrorism. It provides the general assumptions about man and society which inspire terrorist activity, focusing on the continuity of violence in human affairs.

This book represents a concerted attempt to bring the resources of political theory, political science and history to bear on modern terrorism. It provides the general assumptions about man and society which inspire terrorist activity, focusing on the continuity of violence in human affairs.

"Is terrorism crime or war? Can there be a 'war against terrorism'? In this fully updated edition, Charles Townshend unravels the questions at the heart of the problem of terrorism - its causes, methods, effects, and limitations - suggesting that it must be understood as a political strategy whose threat can be rationally grasped and answered"--Publisher's description.

Offers the first comprehensive analysis of the wave of revolutionary terrorism in affluent countries.

A study of the use of violence and the role played by ideology in the building of the new revolutionary state. The importance of revolutionary reigns of terror is stressed and, through broad comparison of a number of revolutions, the significance of civil war is highlighted.