In a relatively short space of time, terrorism studies have expanded from a small niche area within security studies to a major stand-alone field with its own specialized journals, conferences, degree programmes, research centres, scholarly ‘experts’ and core literature. By some estimates, 90 per cent of the terrorism-related literature available today has been published since 2001, much of it by scholars coming to the subject for the first time. Partly as a consequence of this rapid expansion, but also because the 11 September 2001 attacks were interpreted by many as the start of an entirely new form of terrorist violence, much of the literature has failed to engage with the long history of terrorism as a particular form of violent political struggle. As a consequence, much of the mainstream literature exhibits a dangerous level of historical naivety, frequently employing assumptions about contemporary terrorism that do not correspond to what is known from previous episodes. Such dehistoricized research is dangerous because it can lead to the repetition of mistakes in responding to terrorism.

In this context, Terrorism: How to Respond is a much needed attempt to take stock of the state of knowledge about terrorism – its nature and causes and how to avoid disasters in responding to it – from the longer view of history, and to place the issues and challenges of contemporary terrorism within a broader historical and political context. Richard English, an award-winning historian of political violence in Northern Ireland, is ideally placed to undertake this task, not least because he has long personal experience of talking to terrorists in order to try to understand their motivations, aims, strategies and experiences. In other words, unlike most terrorism scholars today, his knowledge is based on direct primary research and meticulous historical analysis. Overall, the book succeeds admirably; it is a highly accessible, incisive and erudite introduction to the nature, morality, causes and responses to contemporary terrorism rooted in a thorough engagement with history.

The book is made up of four chapters which broadly correspond to the primary concerns of the wider current literature. Chapter 1 explores the nature of terrorism, more precisely, the question of defining or conceptualizing this notoriously contested and often heavily politicized concept. In a wide-ranging but always relevant discussion, the chapter makes a number of crucial arguments. First, the term terrorism cannot be treated as purely technical or analytical, as it carries powerful condemnatory and pejorative connotations. Second, ‘any serious definition of the concept will recognise its heterogeneity’ (22), taking into account that it varies in its context, form and objectives, and that it changes over time. It may not therefore, be a single phenomenon, but rather share ‘family resemblances’ with other related violent activities, particularly war. Third, as a violent strategy, states can employ terrorism and ‘historically, the largest-scale terrorizing violence with a political goal has been carried out by state, rather than non-state, actors’ (8). Fourth, terrorism most often occurs as part of ‘a wider violent and political repertoire of complex actions’ (12), including propaganda, political organization, civil mobilization and the like. The chapter concludes with a detailed and comprehensive conceptualization of the term which encompasses its primary characteristics:

Importantly, the book's definition avoids many popular misconceptions about terrorism by not limiting terrorism to attacks on ‘innocent civilians’, restricting it to the actions of non-state actors or implying the recent emergence of a so-called ‘new terrorism’.

On this firm conceptual basis the second chapter tackles the tricky question of why people resort to terrorism, or more broadly: what causes terrorism? Again, the chapter makes a number of incisive arguments. First, although there are important psychological dimensions to the explanation of terrorism, especially in terms of group dynamics, at the level of the individual ‘psychological studies have tended to stress the normality of practitioners of terrorism’ (29). Second, while the religious context of contemporary Islamist terrorism is clearly important, ‘terrorism does not necessarily arise from religious zeal, any more than religious zeal necessarily generates terrorism’ (36). Third, while terrorism cannot be fully explained within a rational-strategic framework, ‘strategic thinking remains a vital part of any proper explanation of terrorist activity’ (43). Instead, the chapter convincingly argues that terrorism has to be understood as ‘strategically chosen violence within a decisively political framework’, most often, a context in which terrorists consider existing political realities to be intolerable and political legitimacy is strongly contested. In addition, the author argues that we need to try to account for particular campaigns of terrorism rather than terrorism per se. That is, we should seek to understand ‘specific terrorisms within their respective local and varied contexts’ (48).

Recognizing the diversity of terrorism and the essential need for sensitivity to local, political and historical context, the third chapter engages directly with history to discern ‘what can we learn from terrorism past?’ Drawing upon his award-winning research on the history of the Republican movement in Northern Ireland, the author illustrates in more detail many of the points made in previous chapters through an analysis of the context in which IRA terrorism emerged, its dynamic interaction with the British state and the conditions under which it subsided. Applying the same contextual and historical sensitivity, he goes on to explore the rise and nature of al Qaeda's violence, and the group's evolution in the context of the war on terror. Both the IRA and al Qaeda, he argues, ‘can be adequately explained only within a particular time and place’ (92).

The last chapter in this excellent little book extrapolates from the previous chapters to summarize seven key lessons in thinking about how we should respond to terrorism. First, he cautions that ‘we are going to have to learn to live with terrorism as part of our political reality’ (120), as it is always likely to be with us. Second, as a practical response, we should ‘where possible, address underlying root problems and causes’ (123). Third, we should ‘avoid the over-militarization of response’ (127), as the outright defeat of terrorism is unlikely and a primarily military response will almost certainly exacerbate the conflict. Fourth, instead of relying primarily on force, previous campaigns suggest that ‘intelligence is the most vital element in successful counter-terrorism’ (131). Fifth, in responding to terrorism, we need to ‘respect legal frameworks and adhere to the democratically established rule of law’ (133); responding harshly further undermines legitimacy and contributes to stimulating rather than suppressing terrorist violence. Sixth, in adhering to the law and taking a more holistic approach, ‘we should coordinate security-related, financial, and technological preventive measures’ (136). The final link in the chain of response is to ‘maintain strong credibility in counter-terrorism public argument’ (140).

Importantly, throughout its dissection of the historical lessons of terrorism, the book never loses sight of the inherent moral and ethical dimensions of political violence, and brings an important but often neglected normative focus to the analysis. There are useful discussions of the legitimacy of terrorist and counter-terrorist violence, the torture question, and the importance of maintaining human rights and civil liberties in responding to terrorism. Intriguingly, English goes so far as to suggest that not only is non-violence a more morally defensible stance, but it might even be ‘the more effective method’ (117) for dealing with campaigns of non-state terrorism.

Of course, the subject of terrorism is highly contested and deeply politicized, and there will undoubtedly be some who take issue with parts of English's argument. For example, the long and rather worried discussion of the threat of nuclear terrorism – a threat that has not materialized despite decades of dire predictions – appears somewhat at odds with the reasoned assessment of the history of terrorism which characterizes the rest of the book. Unless future terrorists plan to abandon their long-standing strategic rationality, their preference for practical and affordable weapons and their sensitivity to their supporters, it is unclear why they would irrationally violate the WMD taboo in the near future.

Nonetheless, as a book ‘intended as a concise, accessible, scholarly, and practical contribution’ to our understanding of this fraught subject, one which aims ‘to stimulate productive debate’, Terrorism: How to Respond more than succeeds in all of these goals. Despite its brevity, the book never loses its analytical depth, its insight and its practical wisdom. I consider this book to be one of the very best little texts on terrorism available today. Anyone coming to the subject for the first time, students, journalists and politicians would benefit greatly from its clarity, erudition and moral rectitude. Even the long-standing terrorism scholar will find in it a fresh and stimulating perspective on the perennial issues of this perplexing form of contemporary political violence.