Illusions of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism

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.

Richard English's edited collection, Illusions of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism, avoids the usual trap of level-headed banality. It does so by assembling a cast of authors all of whom have a hinterland in other disciplines, including international relations and law.

• Introduction: The Enduring Illusions of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism1: Alia Brahimi: Al-Qaeda and the 9/11 Decade2: Rashmi Singh: Counter-Terrorism in the Post-9/11 Era: Successes, Failures, and Lessons Learned3: David Omand: What Should be the Limits of Western Counter-Terrorism Policy?4: Conor Gearty: No Golden Age: The Deep Origins and Current Utility of Western Counter-Terrorism Policy5: Adrian Guelke: Secrets and Lies: Misinformation and Counter-Terrorism6: Audrey Kurth Cronin: How and Why Do Terrorist Campaigns End?7: Richard English: Why Terrorist Campaigns Do Not End: The Case of Contemporary Irish Dissident Republicanism8: David Lake: The Global Insurgency: Action and Reaction in Contemporary World Politics