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Globalisation and the Future of Terrorism: Patterns and Predictions
Author(s): Brynjar Lia (Author)
- Publisher: Routledge
- Publication Date: 18 Aug. 2005
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 280 pages
- ISBN-10: 071465261X
- ISBN-13: 9780714652610
Book Description
This new study is devoted to understanding how international terrorism is shaped, how it evolves and what we can expect in the future.
Drawing upon research and methods outside the traditional focus, and by taking both a theoretical approach and a new practical predictive perspective, it delivers a fresh and fascinating contribution to terrorism studies.
While predicting terrorism is a highly speculative business, there are ways of identifying certain long-term causes, driving forces and their links with society. Terrorists are usually integral players in local and sometimes global politics. Hence, when the local, regional and international contexts change, so does terrorism.
Thoroughly reviewing the body of literature on the causes of terrorism, this study also combines predictive and futuristic analyses on globalisation, supported by a range of key case studies. It spans from the transformation of international relations, the globalisation of the market economy, demographic factors, ideological shifts and technological changes. The result is a set of key conclusions about the future patterns of terrorism, which are not simply best guesses, but also backed up by solid research.
This book will be of great interest to all students and scholars of terrorism, globalisation, politics and international relations.
Editorial Reviews
Review
The future is notoriously difficult to predict, especially when it comes to terrorism which thrives on the unexpected. Brynjar Lia’s Globalisation and the Future of Terrorism is probably the best guide available – an impressive tour d’horizon, methodologically sound, well-argued and convincing in its conclusion that, unfortunately, high levels of terrorism are going to be with us for a very long time. –Alex P. Schmid, UN Terrorism Prevention Branch, Vienna
Globalisation has had a profound impact on contemporary terrorist thinking and behaviour. A pre-eminent specialist on the security environment, Brynjar Lia has authored the definitive text on the subject. As terrorist and insurgent groups worldwide harness the forces of globalization, Lia skilfully dissects its enduring impact on security. It must be read by the specialist and the generalist. –Rohan Gunaratna, Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Singapore and US Military Academy, West Point and author, “Inside Al Qaeda, Global Network of Terror” (Columbia University Press)
Dr Brynjar Lia is uniquely qualified to authoritatively speak on terrorism issues. This book provides an extremely useful analytical toolbox as to how globalisation and broader structural causes produce and drive terrorism across the globe in differing contexts. The new global security environment demands new thinking about terrorism. This book provides that critical roadmap towards understanding terrorism strategically as an asymmetric challenge for future generations. –Dr Magnus Ranstorp, St Andrews University
“Lia proposes an analytical framework for predicting future terrorism that is based on the identification and analysis of base causal factors of terrorism at the societal/national and international/world-system levels, rather than simply predicting terrorism based on past patterns. The most important causal relationships he identifies are relative deprivation and inequality, rejection of negotiated peace processes, contagion and spillover effects, paradigmatic shifts in modern mass media, rapid modernization, poverty and weak states, democratization, political legitimacy problems, links to organized crime, hegemonic versus multipolar power, economic and cultural globalization, and war.” —Reference & Research Book News
‘Prediction is a hazardous job, particularly when it comes to the future. So goes a popular wisdom told in a jest. Yet, author Brynjar Lia navigates through this intellectual minefield with aplomb and produces a book, which is by far one of the best works on terrorism this reviewer has read in a while. My enthusiasm for this book rests heavily on the clarity of Lia’s arguments that makes this book so attractive.”
Professor Dipak K. Gupta, Department of Political Science, San Diego State University, USA, Journal of Terrorism and Political Violence 18 (4), p. 603,2006
