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Explaining Terrorism
This volume comprises some of the key essays by Professor Crenshaw, from 1972 to the present-day, on the causes, processes and consequences of terrorism. Since the early 1970s, scholars and practitioners have tried to explain terrorism and to assess the effectiveness of government responses to the threat. From its beginnings in a small handful of analytical studies, the research field has expanded to thousands of entries, with an enormous spike following the 9/11 attacks. The field of terrorism studies is now impressive in terms of quantity, scope, and variety. Professor Crenshaw had studied terrorism since the late 1960s, well before it was topical, and this selection of her work represents the development of her thought over time in four This collection of essays by one of the pioneering thinkers in the field of terrorism studies will be essential reading for all students of political violence and terrorism, security studies and IR/politics in general.
- GenresTerrorism
284 pages, Paperback
First published October 8, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 12, 2013
A clinical, easy-to-read look at terrorism and the motivations of terrorists. Very thorough, and looks at terrorism through three major frameworks, with plenty of case studies. A very good foundation for anyone interested in terrorism studies.
December 15, 2025
This book is not a single theory but a disciplined refusal of monocausal explanations. Crenshaw, one of the most influential scholars in terrorism studies, treats terrorism as a strategic choice shaped by psychological dispositions, political environments, organisational incentives, and structural constraints.
The book’s enduring value lies in its insistence that terrorism cannot be understood through ideology alone.
Crenshaw begins by challenging the tendency to search for terrorist “types” or universal motivations. Instead, she emphasises decision-making processes: why groups choose terrorism over other forms of political action, why individuals join, and why campaigns escalate or decline.
This focus on choice does not imply moral neutrality; rather, it allows Crenshaw to analyse terrorism as a rational — if morally abhorrent — strategy adopted under specific conditions.
One of the book’s central contributions is its integration of psychological and political analysis. Crenshaw does not pathologise terrorists, but she acknowledges the emotional and identity-driven dimensions of radicalisation.
Grievance, humiliation, group solidarity, and perceived injustice all play roles, but they are mediated through political opportunity structures. Terrorism, in her view, emerges when groups perceive conventional political participation as ineffective or illegitimate.
Crenshaw’s structural analysis is particularly compelling. She examines how state repression, weak institutions, foreign occupation, and political exclusion create environments in which terrorism becomes more likely. Crucially, she avoids deterministic claims.
Structural conditions may enable terrorism, but they do not mechanically produce it. Leadership decisions, organisational culture, and strategic calculations remain decisive.
The book also excels in its treatment of escalation and decline. Crenshaw shows how terrorist violence often follows internal logic: competition between factions, responses to state counterterrorism, and the pursuit of publicity can drive increasingly extreme tactics.
At the same time, she explores why terrorist campaigns fail, fragment, or abandon violence—a dimension often neglected in popular discourse.
Stylistically, Explaining Terrorism is dense but precise. It demands intellectual engagement from the reader, rewarding careful attention with conceptual clarity.
Crenshaw’s writing reflects her academic discipline: arguments are carefully qualified, evidence is contextualised, and sweeping generalisations are avoided.
This is not a book for those seeking dramatic narratives or policy prescriptions.
It is a work of analytical architecture, constructing a framework within which terrorism can be studied without distortion.
For readers serious about understanding terrorism as a complex political behaviour rather than a moral abstraction, Crenshaw’s book remains essential.
Recommended.
The book’s enduring value lies in its insistence that terrorism cannot be understood through ideology alone.
Crenshaw begins by challenging the tendency to search for terrorist “types” or universal motivations. Instead, she emphasises decision-making processes: why groups choose terrorism over other forms of political action, why individuals join, and why campaigns escalate or decline.
This focus on choice does not imply moral neutrality; rather, it allows Crenshaw to analyse terrorism as a rational — if morally abhorrent — strategy adopted under specific conditions.
One of the book’s central contributions is its integration of psychological and political analysis. Crenshaw does not pathologise terrorists, but she acknowledges the emotional and identity-driven dimensions of radicalisation.
Grievance, humiliation, group solidarity, and perceived injustice all play roles, but they are mediated through political opportunity structures. Terrorism, in her view, emerges when groups perceive conventional political participation as ineffective or illegitimate.
Crenshaw’s structural analysis is particularly compelling. She examines how state repression, weak institutions, foreign occupation, and political exclusion create environments in which terrorism becomes more likely. Crucially, she avoids deterministic claims.
Structural conditions may enable terrorism, but they do not mechanically produce it. Leadership decisions, organisational culture, and strategic calculations remain decisive.
The book also excels in its treatment of escalation and decline. Crenshaw shows how terrorist violence often follows internal logic: competition between factions, responses to state counterterrorism, and the pursuit of publicity can drive increasingly extreme tactics.
At the same time, she explores why terrorist campaigns fail, fragment, or abandon violence—a dimension often neglected in popular discourse.
Stylistically, Explaining Terrorism is dense but precise. It demands intellectual engagement from the reader, rewarding careful attention with conceptual clarity.
Crenshaw’s writing reflects her academic discipline: arguments are carefully qualified, evidence is contextualised, and sweeping generalisations are avoided.
This is not a book for those seeking dramatic narratives or policy prescriptions.
It is a work of analytical architecture, constructing a framework within which terrorism can be studied without distortion.
For readers serious about understanding terrorism as a complex political behaviour rather than a moral abstraction, Crenshaw’s book remains essential.
Recommended.
January 9, 2022
Profound, rigorous, detailed. All along while reading this book, I could not help but feel impressed by Martha Crenshaw. Who is this woman?
The book presents an honest approach to the study of a field which is so politically controversial. She is careful in her analyses, very thorough in explaining her approach and extremely detailed in looking at a problem from different perspectives. You can see that she is making a sustained and careful effort to leave nothing behind in order to make some fancy theories work. For instance, I was impressed by her ability to look critically at terrorist events and groups and arrive at different conclusions depending on the angle of analysis - political context, organisational developments or psychology of terrorists. She thus shows the way how one can arrive at different interpretations of an event depending on these lenses and information one has (or not) available. Thus, what you think may have been effective in combatting a terrorist organisation in one context, you will soon learn that same approach was ineffective in a different country at a different time.
She does not allow you to make easy conclusions. She keeps the complexity of the topic, despite the general desire to just and simply and fast understand how to deal with terrorist organisations with good outcomes. No easy answers are possible, and she certainly does not appear to be the person to lull one into thinking that it could be so.
The book presents an honest approach to the study of a field which is so politically controversial. She is careful in her analyses, very thorough in explaining her approach and extremely detailed in looking at a problem from different perspectives. You can see that she is making a sustained and careful effort to leave nothing behind in order to make some fancy theories work. For instance, I was impressed by her ability to look critically at terrorist events and groups and arrive at different conclusions depending on the angle of analysis - political context, organisational developments or psychology of terrorists. She thus shows the way how one can arrive at different interpretations of an event depending on these lenses and information one has (or not) available. Thus, what you think may have been effective in combatting a terrorist organisation in one context, you will soon learn that same approach was ineffective in a different country at a different time.
She does not allow you to make easy conclusions. She keeps the complexity of the topic, despite the general desire to just and simply and fast understand how to deal with terrorist organisations with good outcomes. No easy answers are possible, and she certainly does not appear to be the person to lull one into thinking that it could be so.
August 17, 2022
A good overall text that those wanting to take stock of the overall subject will find useful. (The book is made up of Crenshaw’s previously published articles, chapters, works, etc). The vast majority of case studies all pretty much centre pre-9/11 armed groups and this was a little disappointing. She has some interesting and important ideas and theses and there really needed to be an application of them to the post 9/11 environment and groups. Given the text was first published in 2011, there was certainly room to have included something far more up-to-date. She did mention 9/11, Afghanistan, and Iraq but this was all pretty much in the context of “coercive diplomacy”. So, whilst it’s an interesting and important body of work that makes up this book, Crenshaw needed to apply some of her ideas & thinking to the post-9/11 situation to see if and how they apply to transnational armed Muslim groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIL/ISIS.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews