The impact of global terrorism on the international system is probably the most significant topic of discussion and analysis in contemporary social science. This edited collection of essays is an interesting contribution to this growing literature on global terrorism and it addresses a number of important issues related to global terror ranging from the impact it has had on state actors, how it is facilitated through globalization, and what kind of policies should be put in place to deal with it. The overarching objective of the book is to offer an understanding of how global terror has changed the international system and, conversely, how changes on the international scene might have facilitated its rise. The book is not simply an academic enterprise; all the contributions directly address significant policy issues.

The objective of understanding global terror, its nature and its consequences, is however not fully achieved. As in most edited collections, the common thread running through all contributions is quite weak and it is difficult to see how they can be held together in a coherent form. This is particularly true in two respects. First of all, there is no clear theoretical structure underpinning this work. While contributors should indeed be free to link their respective chapters to the theories they see as most useful, there should nevertheless be an overarching theoretical framework within which global terror should be examined. The introductory chapter fails to set the “theoretical stage” and the reader does not know what the volume then contributes to a better understanding of terrorism. Second, there is very little in terms of the relationship between global terror and the worldwide rise in “religiosity.” No discussion of contemporary terrorism, particularly in its global form, can be fully satisfactory if the religious element, namely religious radicalism, is not analyzed. This does not mean that religion, and Islam in particular, should be seen as the source of political violence, but it seems rather difficult to talk about global terror without making references to the mobilizing and justificatory role that religion plays. The absence of this discussion is quite surprising because the issue of religiosity could have provided the linkage for all the chapters.

These two shortcomings should not however detract from the strength of each contribution. When each chapter is analyzed in isolation, the content is both relevant and stimulating even though, taken together, the volume fails to provide a clear explanation for global terror. (Such a difficult question might be better explained in a single-authored book.) Thus, the collection offers an in-depth analysis of a range of phenomena that are not necessarily linked with each other. Some contributors focus exclusively on how countries reacted and used the war on terror to pursue specific national objectives, others examine the relationship between terrorism and specific aspects of globalization, others still simply use the “war on terror” to highlight issues not necessarily linked to it. From the title of the book, one would have expected a more thorough engagement with the root causes of terrorism, but this is surprisingly lacking as most authors prefer to treat terrorism in different contexts.

There is however one common element that emerges in the majority of contributions and that provides the only linkage between the chapters, making for provocative reading. All contributors discuss the “winnability” of the war on terror and offer discordant accounts of where the war has taken the international system. Chris Brown is quite upbeat about the positive results of the war on terror, including the invasion of Iraq, and emphasizes the existential necessity to fight such war. While the data he uses to back up his argument are demonstrably wrong (the war in Iraq did displace four million Iraqis and killed 100,000 people), the underlying notion that the international system and the West in particular are facing an enemy with radical anti-Enlightenment values is correct. Other contributors such as Ankersen and Lawrence Freedman have a much more negative view of the way the war on terror has been framed and is being conducted. This is particularly true if we look at the grievances of terrorists in the context of the imperial behavior of the United States, as detailed in Michael Cox's analysis. William Wallace, relying on the European experience with terrorism, is also unconvinced of the ways the United States are tackling the problem of global terror, which countries such as Russia have embraced in order to deal with the domestic problem of Chechnya, as Margot Light argues.

This collection of writings by a number of excellent authors offers a provocative account of how we can try to understand global terror and what we are doing and can do in order to fight it. Despite a number of shortcomings, including the fact that some contributions are outdated, the book is a useful addition to the scholarship.