One would think that in the age of electronic data retrieval the compilation and publication of a bibliography like the present one is out of date. Everyone in possession of a network computer accessing the World Wide Web through the Internet can, after all, directly reach into the catalogues of the great libraries of the academic world and produce within hours if not minutes a tailor-made bibliography for his or her own special research purposes. The same take would take days if not weeks for the human bibliographer working without powerful eclectic search engines. However, bibliographic search engines can only assist and supplement human judgement as to what is likely to be a worthwhile title and what is not. This is especially true for unpublished "grey" literature that does not appear in Books in Print - type compilations. Academic Masters Theses are rarely published and even most PhD Theses never make it into the commercial market. This special bibliography on "Academic These on Terrorism and Related Forms of Violence", containing nearly 800 titles, is therefore particularly welcome and fills a void. I was pleased to learn that it took the structure of my own bibliography on terrorism as framework to fit in the titles since this adds to cumulativeness and comparability in the field. Scanning through the titles makes one realizes that many of the seminal turns in the study of terrorism were initiated - or are at least reflected - in the choice of topics of these young scholars. There is also a university index at the end which indicates to the user which universities devote most attention to the study of terrorism and political violence. For both students and experts of terrorism this bibliography offers a door to a wealth of knowledge which will - as things now stand - be bitterly needed for years to come. Prof A. P. Schmid - Leiden University

In this paper, a two-fold strategy is carried out for gaining conceptual clarity in response to the question: What is terrorism? The first stage is to defend a broad working definition of terrorism that emphasizes the instrumental employment of terror or fear to obtain any number of possible ends. As proposed in this paper, Terrorism is an act or threat of violence to persons or property that elicits terror, fear, or anxiety regarding the security of human life or fundamental rights and that functions as an instrument to obtain further ends. This instrumentality relies upon either an explicit or implicit threat of separate acts of future violence. It is argued that such a functionalist approach to defining terrorism captures the core qualities that unite the broad family of both political and nonpolitical terrorist actions. At the same time, the proposed definition avoids the problems associated with other approaches that either focus upon the terrorist’s ‘unconventional’ tactics, or the ‘innocence’ of their targets, or their coercive intentions. The breadth of the proposed definition allows for the more nuanced typological analysis in the second stage. The typology is primarily an analysis of the modes of terrorism’s instrumentality. Thus, the broad phenomenon of terrorism is divided according to factors of targets, the degree of force employed, agency, and the geographic context of the action. It is only by drawing out the diverse types of terrorism that the projects of morally evaluating terrorism and formulating a just response to terrorism can take place in a concrete and meaningful way.

"In the years since 9/11, terrorism has been transformed into an issue of global significance. Terrorism and the war on terror has affected virtually every aspect of modern life, and a precise understanding of terrorism is now more important – and contentious – than ever. This innovative text provides a much-needed critical introduction to terrorism. Cutting-edge research on contemporary issues is combined with new insights into long-debated issues such as the definition of terrorism, the nature of the terrorist threat and counter-terrorism strategies. Showing that the methods we adopt as well as the material we study are vital for a clear understanding of the subject, this text goes beyond traditional IR approaches to rethink popular beliefs and assumptions about terrorism. Taking a genuinely global and integrated approach, this book is an ideal entry into the study of terrorism. The text is supported by: • International case studies from around the world • A detailed glossary introducing key actors, events and concepts relating to terrorism • Learning aids to stimulate critical thinking, including discussion questions, further readings and selected web resources."