The Foundations of Modern Terrorism: State, Society and the Dynamics of Political Violence

Why is it that terrorism has become such a central factor in our lives despite all the efforts to eradicate it? Ranging from early modern Europe to the contemporary Middle East, Martin Miller reveals the foundations of modern terrorism. He argues that the French Revolution was a watershed moment as it was then that ordinary citizens first claimed the right to govern. The traditional notion of state legitimacy was forever altered and terrorism became part of a violent contest over control of state power between officials in government and insurgents in society. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries terrorism evolved into a way of seeing the world and a way of life for both insurgents and state security forces with the two sides drawn ever closer in their behaviour and tactics. This is a groundbreaking history of terrorism which, for the first time, integrates the violence of governments and insurgencies.

Author: Martin A. Miller
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 11/29/2012
Pages: 306
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781107621084

Review Citation(s):
Choice 11/01/2013

About the Author
Miller, Martin A.: - Martin Miller is Professor in the Department of History and the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies at Duke University, North Carolina. A specialist in Russian revolutionary movements, his earlier books include Freud and the Bolsheviks (1998) and The Russian Revolution (2001).