Political Terrorism

The Author: Jeffrey Ian Ross has researched, written, and lectured on national security, political violence, political crime, violent crime, corrections, and policing for over two decades. He is the author, co-author, editor, and co-editor of several books including The Dynamics of Political Crime (2002), Controlling State Crime (2000), and Varieties of State Crime and Its Control (2000). In 1986, Dr. Ross was the lead expert witness for the Canadian Senate's Special Committee on Terrorism and Public Safety. He created the first database on terrorism in Canada, which was later acquired by the Solicitor General of Canada. From 1995 to 1998, Ross was a social science analyst with the National Institute of Justice, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

"A lack of theoretical underpinning has hampered terrorism research for over a quarter century. 'Political Terrorism' provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary framework from which to examine the etiology of terrorism and its effect upon our daily lives. With this work, teaching students about terrorism finally moves beyond a recapitulation of incidents and groups to an attempt to get students to think critically about the causes of terrorism and the effects of government intervention. Political Terrorism should be required reading among students of terrorism and those of us struggling to teach others about this phenomenon." (Brent Smith, Professor, Criminal Justice, University of Arkansas)
"Jeffrey Ian Ross has written a textbook that stands out among the thicket of recent classroom tomes on the topic. Unlike so much of what is available, Ross eschews the military/security perspective on the topic in favor of a presentation of the scholarly research on the terror. Separate chapters on conceptualization, historical patterns, causes, and effects precede several case studies and a series of topical chapters. The topics are chosen with care and the theories introduced earlier guide the presentation. Faculty teaching courses on terrorism will find this a very useful volume for their students." (Will H. Moore, Professor, Political Science, Florida State University)