Understanding Terrorism
Understanding Terrorism brings the many resources of psychological science and practice to bear on the problem of terrorism by providing empirically based theory and interventions for understanding, intervening, and preventing this challenge to international security.
The volume addresses many of the conceptual and definitional issues associated with terrorism, especially those arising from the complex historical and cultural variations in its meaning, motives, and consequences. Terrorism, by definition, attempts to change the psychological state of its targets, so psychologists are well positioned to cast light on this phenomenon. In this volume, leading international experts offer an incisive analysis of the psychosocial basis of terrorism and suggest ways to prevent it, including both strategies to eliminate the conditions that give rise to terrorism as well as effective ways to treat victims of terrorism.
Social and clinical psychologists, social scientists, social workers, and lawmakers will find this volume to be indispensable.
Contributors
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
—Fathali M. Moghaddam and Anthony J. Marsella
I. Foundations and Context
- Reflections on International Terrorism: Issues, Concepts, and Directions
—Anthony J. Marsella - Dishonest Crimes, Dishonest Language: An Argument About Terrorism
—Brien Hallett - Peace and War in the Middle East: A Psychopolitical and Sociocultural Perspective
—Naji Abi-Hashem - The Social Construction of Terrorism
—Rom Harré - Cultural Preconditions for Potential Terrorist Groups: Terrorism and Societal Change
—Fathali Moghaddam
II. Psychosocial Context
- The Role of Selective Moral Disengagement in Terrorism and Counterterrorism
—Albert Bandura - Understanding and Responding to Group Violence: Genocide, Mass Killing, and Terrorism
—Erwin Staub - Terrorism and the Quest for Identity
—Donald M. Taylor and Winnifred Louis - Malevolent Minds: The Teleology of Terrorism
—Thomas F. Ditzler - Terrorism From a Peace Psychology Perspective
—Richard V. Wagner and Katherine R. Long
III. Consequences of Terrorism
- The Psychosocial Aftermath of Terrorism
—Yael Danieli, Brian Engdahl, and William E. Schlenger - Terrorism and the Mental Health and Well-Being of Refugees and Displaced People
—Michael G. Wessells - Psychology's Response to Terrorism
—Ronald F. Levant, Laura Barbanel, and Patrick H. DeLeon
References
Author Index
Subject Index
About the Editors
A Choice Outstanding Academic Title!
The authors should be congratulated for bringing a much-needed psychological perspective to explaining and responding to acts of political violence. Highly recommended.
—CHOICE Magazine
