When I am hit with news of yet
another terrorist attack, I often wonder what these people hope to
achieve. In a depressingly timely book, Richard English tries to answer
that question for a number of important cases, in order to address the
broader question of his title. First, he has to specify what would count
as ‘working’, and then he has to look at the historical facts to
determine what the groups he studies have actually achieved. He devotes a
chapter each to al-Qaida, the Provisional IRA, Hamas and the Basque
separatist group ETA, and in a final chapter runs quickly through a
score of other examples. While he emphasises that terrorism is also
practised by states, his subject here is terrorism by non-state actors –
specifically, non-state organisations that have pursued a campaign of
terrorism over a significant period of time.
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