The Future of Terrorism: ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and the Alt-Right

by Walter Laqueur, Christopher Wall Narrated by Christopher Price

Overview

In this fascinating audiobook, an expert on terrorism and an expert on counterterrorism answer the two questions everyone is asking about the rise of terrorism today: why is this happening, and when will it end?

Since the death of bin Laden in 2011, ISIS has risen, al-Qaeda has expanded its reach, and right-wing extremists have surged in the United States for the same simple reason: terrorism works. It's not caused by psychosis or irrationality, as the media often suggests. Instead, it's terrifyingly logical. Violent acts produce political results.

To show why, Walter Laqueur and Christopher Wall explore the history, rationales and precepts of terrorism, from the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, through the terror campaigns by Irish and Indian nationalists, and to the Nazis and Italian Fascists.

To explain why terror is on the rise again, they show how the American invasion of Iraq created the conditions for the emergence of al-Qaeda in Iraq, part of which metastasized into ISIS, while Russia's increasing intervention in Syria allowed both of the organizations to evolve.

The Future of Terrorism brings reason to a topic usually ruled by fear. Laqueur and Wall show the structural features behind contemporary terrorism: how bad governance abets terror; the link between poverty and terrorism; why religious terrorism is more dangerous than secular; and the nature of supposed “lone wolf” terrorists.

Fear alone provides no tools to combat the future of terrorism. This audiobook does.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"A brief, fast-paced historical overview leads to probing and provocative ruminations on the multifarious factors that draw young men toward violence in the service of an ideology ... The authors’ nuanced perspective on a complex phenomenon will appeal to readers interested in what lies beyond the headlines." —Publishers Weekly

"Of considerable interest to the geopolitically inclined, as are all of Laqueur's many books." —Kirkus Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

2018-05-01
The dean of terrorism studies (Putinism: Russia and Its Future with the West, 2015, etc.) examines trends in Islamist and alt-right acts of political violence.There is good news in Laqueur's prognosis, including the absence of another tsunami event like 9/11. For one thing, he notes, most acts of political terrorism occur in just five countries, and the number of victims is some 40 times less than that of heart attack victims. Still, he writes, that's 18,000 people per year—"17,958, to be precise," in 2013. Laqueur looks at his subject through the lens of the overall decline in violence that has so cheered Steven Pinker of late before getting into the meat of the matter: Terrorism is successful where government is faltering. "Terrorism," he writes, "is not an exogenous feature of the modern nation-state but rather a symptom of bad governance." In that light, the growth of alt-right violence has not yet blossomed into full-fledged terrorism in the United States, but the ingredients are there, including dog whistles from the sitting president. As the author notes, the alt-right shares with Islamism the call for "a homogenous society that absolutely rejects outsiders," a view that is wider spread in a time of rampant nationalism; it wouldn't take much to tip a certain element of followers from race-hate rhetoric to armed action. As for Islamism, Laqueur argues that the Trump administration is feeding right into the narrative of the U.S. as a "crusader" power through such blunders as pushing to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel, maligning and discriminating against Muslims with a broad brush, and otherwise subscribing to the discredited "clash of civilizations" thesis. The bad news, then, is that while political violence may be lessening, it won't disappear anytime soon.Of considerable interest to the geopolitically inclined, as are all of Laqueur's many books.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169225723
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	07/03/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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