Legislating foreign policy

Why do terrorists act? How do victims and society react? What methods should be used in hostage negotiations? What are the best government policies for responding to or preventing terrorism? This collection of essays explores these and other questions, presenting the views of seventeen authorities from the fields of psychiatry, political science, criminology, and law. It offers a full overview of current theory and research on terrorism, useful to both students of the phenomenon and professionals who must deal with it

"Taken together, the essays in this volume represent one of the best collections on the subject. Drawing for the most part on papers delivered at a conference on Psychopathology and Political Violence sponsored by the Institute of Social and Behavioral Pathology and the University of Chicago, Department of Psy chiatry, the editors have put together a set of readings that exhibit a coherent and logical approach to the analysis of terrorism. Beginning with an overview of the phenomenon, the editors proceed to offer the reader perspectives on the psychological and social attributes of terrorists as well as the internal structure of terrorist organizations. These accounts are followed by essays on the terror ists' victims and unwitting accomplices: hostages and the mass media. The book concludes with a series of commentaries on appropriate ways in which relevant pari should respond to acts of hostage-taking. In a final essay one of the ederspeculates about the future, i.e., the likelihood of terrorists resorting to weapons of mass destruction. In sum, a book that all those seriously interest ed in the subject should have at their disposal."