Terrorism: A Very Short Introduction Very Short Introductions are for anyone wanting a stimulating and accessible way in to a new subject. They are written by experts, and have been published in 25 languages worldwide. The series began in 1995, and now represents a wide variety of topics in history, philosophy, religion, science, and the humanities. Over the next few years it will grow to a library of around 200 volumes – a Very Short Introduction to everything from ancient Egypt and Indian philosophy to conceptual art and cosmology. Very Short Introductions available now: ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY EMPIRE Stephen Howe Julia Annas The European Union THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE John Pinder John Blair FASCISM Kevin Passmore ANIMAL RIGHTS THE FRENCH REVOLUTION David DeGrazia William Doyle ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn Freud Anthony Storr ARCHITECTURE Galileo Stillman Drake Andrew Ballantyne Gandhi Bhikhu Parekh ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes HEGEL Peter Singer Augustine Henry Chadwick HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood BARTHES Jonathan Culler HINDUISM Kim Knott THE BIBLE John Riches HISTORY John H. Arnold Buddha Michael Carrithers HOBBES Richard Tuck BUDDHISM Damien Keown HUME A. J. Ayer CHOICE THEORY Indian Philosophy Michael Allingham Sue Hamilton CLASSICS Mary Beard and Intelligence Ian J. Deary John Henderson ISLAM Malise Ruthven CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard JUDAISM Norman Solomon Continental Philosophy Jung Anthony Stevens Simon Critchley KANT Roger Scruton COSMOLOGY Peter Coles KIERKEGAARD CRYPTOGRAPHY Patrick Gardiner Fred Piper and Sean Murphy THE KORAN Michael Cook Darwin Jonathan Howard LITERARY THEORY Democracy Bernard Crick Jonathan Culler DESCARTES Tom Sorell LOGIC Graham Priest DRUGS Leslie Iversen MACHIAVELLI EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY Quentin Skinner BRITAIN Paul Langford MARX Peter Singer MATHEMATICS Timothy Gowers ROUSSEAU Robert Wokler MEDIEVAL BRITAIN RUSSELL A. C. Grayling John Gillingham and RUSSIAN LITERATURE Ralph A. Griffiths Catriona Kelly MUSIC Nicholas Cook THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION NIETZSCHE Michael Tanner S. A. Smith NINETEENTH-CENTURY SCHOPENHAUER BRITAIN Christopher Harvie and Christopher Janaway H. C. G. Matthew SHAKESPEARE Germaine Greer paul E. P. Sanders SOCIAL AND CULTURAL Philosophy Edward Craig ANTHROPOLOGY PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE John Monaghan and Peter Just Samir Okasha SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce POLITICS Kenneth Minogue Socrates C. C. W. Taylor POSTMODERNISM SPINOZA Roger Scruton Christopher Butler STUART BRITAIN John Morrill POSTSTRUCTURALISM TERRORISM Charles Townshend Catherine Belsey THEOLOGY David F. Ford Psychology Gillian Butler and THE TUDORS John Guy Freda McManus TWENTIETH-CENTURY QUANTUM THEORY BRITAIN Kenneth O. Morgan John Polkinghorne Wittgenstein A. C. Grayling ROMAN BRITAIN Peter Salway WORLD MUSIC Philip Bohlman Available soon: AFRICAN HISTORY CITIZENSHIP Richard Bellamy John Parker and Richard Rathbone CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE ANCIENT EGYPT Ian Shaw Robert Tavernor ART HISTORY Dana Arnold CLONING Arlene Judith Klotzko ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland THE COLD WAR Robert McMahon ASTRONOMY Michael Hoskin CONTEMPORARY ART Atheism Julian Baggini Julian Stallabrass THE BRAIN Michael O’Shea THE CRUSADES BRITISH POLITICS Christopher Tyerman Anthony Wright DADA AND SURREALISM BUDDHIST ETHICS David Hopkins Damien Keown Derrida Simon Glendinning CAPITALISM James Fulcher DESIGN John Heskett THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe Dinosaurs David Norman CHAOS Leonard Smith DREAMING J. Allan Hobson CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson THE EARTH Martin Redfern CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY MODERN IRELAND Geraldine Pinch Senia Pasˇeta THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball MOLECULES Philip Ball THE END OF THE WORLD Myth Robert Segal Bill McGuire NATIONALISM Steven Grosby EVOLUTION NORTHERN IRELAND Brian and Deborah Charlesworth Marc Mulholland EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn PERCEPTION Richard Gregory THE FIRST WORLD WAR PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION Michael Howard Jack Copeland and Diane Proudfoot FREE WILL Thomas Pink PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Edwards FUNDAMENTALISM PLATO Julia Annas Malise Ruthven POSTCOLONIALISM GLOBALIZATION Robert Young Manfred Steger PREHISTORY Chris Gosden Habermas Gordon Finlayson THE PRESOCRATICS HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson Catherine Osborne HIROSHIMA B. R. Tomlinson THE RAJ Denis Judd HUMAN EVOLUTION THE RENAISSANCE Jerry Brotton Bernard Wood RENAISSANCE ART IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden Geraldine Johnson INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SARTRE Christina Howells Paul Wilkinson SCHIZOPHRENIA JAZZ Brian Morton Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR LOCKE John Dunn Helen Graham MANDELA Tom Lodge TRAGEDY Adrian Poole MEDICAL ETHICS Tony Hope THE TWENTIETH CENTURY THE MIND Martin Davies Martin Conway For more information visit our web site www.oup.co.uk/vsi Charles Townshend Terrorism A Very Short Introduction 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland BangkokBuenos AiresCape TownChennai Dar es SalaamDelhiHong KongIstanbulKarachiKolkata Kuala LumpurMadridMelbourneMexico CityMumbaiNairobi São PauloShanghai SingaporeTaipei TokyoToronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Charles Townshend 2002 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published as a Very Short Introduction 2002 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available ISBN 0–19–280168–6 13579108642 Typeset by RefineCatch Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in Spain by Book Print S. L., Barcelona Contents List of illustrations ix 1 The trouble with terrorism 1 2 Crusaders and conspirators 20 3 The reign of terror 36 4 Revolutionary terrorism 53 5 Nationalism and terror 74 6 Religious terror 96 7 Counterterrorism and democracy 114 References 141 Further reading 146 Index 151 This page intentionally left blank List of illustrations 1 11 September attacks on 7 Car bomb in South New York’s World Trade Leinster Street, Center 4 Dublin 51 © Michael Sofronski/Frank © The Irish Times Spooner Pictures/Gamma Presse Images 8 Hanns-Martin Schleyer 71 2 Oklahoma bombing 14 © Hulton Archive © Popperfoto/Reuters 9 Enniskillen explosion 82 3 Female Palestinian © Pacemaker Press International ‘suicide bomber’ 17 © Sipa Press/Rex Features 10 ETA giving a press conference 85 4 Chicago martyrs 24 © Frank Spooner Pictures/ © Bettman/Corbis Gamma Presse Images 5 Hijacked British 11 King David Hotel aeroplane 29 explosion 90 © Hulton Archive © Illustrated London News picture library 6 French Revolution, the first execution 12 Bus bomb in by guillotine 39 Jerusalem 93 © Bridgeman Giraudon/ © Popperfoto/Reuters Lauros/Musée Carnavalet 13 Hezbollah 105 © Sipa Press/Rex Features