Synopses & Reviews
Presenting a widely accessible approach to the study of terrorism, this volume combines economic methods with political analysis and realities. It applies economic methodology--theoretical and empirical--with political analysis to the study of domestic and transnational terrorism, to provide a qualitative and quantitative investigation of terrorism in a balanced up-to-date presentation for students, policymakers, researchers, and the general reader. Included are historical aspects of the phenomenon, a discussion of watershed events, the rise of modern-day terrorism, examination of current trends, the dilemma of liberal democracies, evaluation of counterterrorism, and analysis of hostage incidents.
Review
"Those seeking solid analysis instead of the unsupported assumptions, deliberately dire predictions, and partisan prescriptions that comprise much of the current discourse on terrorism will want to read Walter Enders and Todd Sandler's The Political Economy of Terrorism. For policy makers, it should be required fare. Reflecting more than a decade of quantitative research, the authors tackle a range of policy-relevant questions, concluding that terrorists are not mindless fanatics, but rationsal actors with a sound grasp of risks and returns, and that a number of the assumptions upon which our sometimes less-than traditional counter-terrorist policies are based cannot be supported with rigorous analysis." Brian Michael Jenkins, noted terrorism authority and the Senior Advisor to the President of the RAND Corporation
"The Political Economy of Terrorism is the first comprehensive treatment of terrorism that integrates game theory with a statistical analysis of data on terrorists behavior. Enders and Sandler have studied this problem for a number of years and provide a clear and insightful analysis of the challenges that we face in developing policies for addressing terrorism. This book should be of great interest to both researchers and policy makers in the United States and abroad." Geoffrey Heal, Columbia University and Howard Kunreuther, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
"This book is a masterful treatment of the modern scourge of terrorism using the tools of economics, political science, and other disciplines. It contains a wealth of information, both factual and analytical, about terrorism, and it uses a variety of analytical techniques to study the subject from the vantage point of both terrorists and those seeking to contain them, including the rational actor model, game theory, and statistical analysis. It should be of great value to researchers, policy makers, students, and others interested in this most important topic." Michael Intriligator, UCLA and the Milken Institute
"Enders and Sandler are perhaps the best social scientists doing systematic comparative study on terrorism. This is an essential statement of contemporary theory, evidence, and policy implications." Bruce Russett, Dean Acheson Professor of International Relations, Yale UniversityThree cheers for Enders and Sandler whose new book fills a gaping hole in the literature on terrorism. Enders and Sandler have written what is, at least for now, the definitive book on the economic approach to understanding terrorism. Essential.
Choice"Th[is] book is a primer on some of the key national security issues on terrorism that are susceptible to economic analysis. it brings readers up to date on the history of terror, important findings in the social sciences about terror, and relevant policy issues. The book is a cogent brief for the economics perspective aimed at policy makers in the security field, and a good state-of-the-art document for economists who wish to move into this exciting research area." -- David Laitin, Journal of Economic Literature"Enders and Sandlers book presensts a comprehensive and accessible coverage of theoretical models, data, empirical methods and results, institutions and history of terrorism. Other books tend to cover two or three of these areas, but all five are covered in The Political Economy of Terrorism, making the book the first of its kind in the social scientific study of terrorism." -Charles H. Anderton, International Review of Economics and Finance
Review
"Those seeking solid analysis instead of the unsupported assumptions, deliberately dire predictions, and partisan prescriptions that comprise much of the current discourse on terrorism will want to read Walter Enders and Todd Sandler's The Political Economy of Terrorism. For policy makers, it should be required fare. Reflecting more than a decade of quantitative research, the authors tackle a range of policy-relevant questions, concluding that terrorists are not mindless fanatics, but rationsal actors with a sound grasp of risks and returns, and that a number of the assumptions upon which our sometimes less-than traditional counter-terrorist policies are based cannot be supported with rigorous analysis." Brian Michael Jenkins, noted terrorism authority and the Senior Advisor to the President of the RAND Corporation
Review
"The Political Economy of Terrorism is the first comprehensive treatment of terrorism that integrates game theory with a statistical analysis of data on terrorists behavior. Enders and Sandler have studied this problem for a number of years and provide a clear and insightful analysis of the challenges that we face in developing policies for addressing terrorism. This book should be of great interest to both researchers and policy makers in the United States and abroad." Geoffrey Heal, Columbia University and Howard Kunreuther, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Review
"This book is a masterful treatment of the modern scourge of terrorism using the tools of economics, political science, and other disciplines. It contains a wealth of information, both factual and analytical, about terrorism, and it uses a variety of analytical techniques to study the subject from the vantage point of both terrorists and those seeking to contain them, including the rational actor model, game theory, and statistical analysis. It should be of great value to researchers, policy makers, students, and others interested in this most important topic." Michael Intriligator, UCLA and the Milken Institute
Review
"Enders and Sandler are perhaps the best social scientists doing systematic comparative study on terrorism. This is an essential statement of contemporary theory, evidence, and policy implications." Bruce Russett, Dean Acheson Professor of International Relations, Yale University
Review
Three cheers for Enders and Sandler whose new book fills a gaping hole in the literature on terrorism. Enders and Sandler have written what is, at least for now, the definitive book on the economic approach to understanding terrorism. Essential.
Choice
Review
"Th[is] book is a primer on some of the key national security issues on terrorism that are susceptible to economic analysis. it brings readers up to date on the history of terror, important findings in the social sciences about terror, and relevant policy issues. The book is a cogent brief for the economics perspective aimed at policy makers in the security field, and a good state-of-the-art document for economists who wish to move into this exciting research area." -- David Laitin, Journal of Economic Literature
Review
"Enders and Sandlers book presensts a comprehensive and accessible coverage of theoretical models, data, empirical methods and results, institutions and history of terrorism. Other books tend to cover two or three of these areas, but all five are covered in The Political Economy of Terrorism, making the book the first of its kind in the social scientific study of terrorism." -Charles H. Anderton, International Review of Economics and Finance
Review
"The Political Economy of Terrorism is a well-researched book that affirms the validity of new approaches to the study of terrorism....its findings should be read by policy-makers and others who will have to address the present and enduring threat of terrorism."
Stephen Sloan, University of Central Florida and Temple University, Perspectives on Politics
Synopsis
This book analyzes the political, economic, strategic and historical dimensions of terrorism.
About the Author
Walter Enders holds the Bodgood Chair of Economics and Finance at the University of Alabama. He has published numerous research articles in eminent journals such as the Review of Economics and Statistics, Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Economic Review, Journal of Economics Literature, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, and the American Political Science Review. Professor Enders's Applied Econometric Time-Series is a leading book in the field. He is a current holder (along with Todd Sandler) of the National Academy of Sciences' Estes Award for Behavioral Research Relevant to the Prevention of Nuclear War for their pathbreaking work on understanding terrorism.Todd Sandler holds the Robert R. and Katheryn A. Dockson Professorship of International Relations and Economics at the University of Southern California. He has written or edited nineteen books, including Global Collective Action, Economic Concepts for the Social Sciences, The Political Economy of NATO (with Keith Kartley) and Global Challenges: An Approach to Economic, Political, and Environmental Problems, all published by Cambridge University Press, as well as over two hundred journal articles in economics and political science. Professor Sandler's work on terrorism dates back to 1983. In 2003 he was the co-recipient (with Walter Enders) of the National Academy of Sciences Award for Behavioral Research Relevant to the Prevention of Nuclear War.
Table of Contents
1. Terrorism: an introduction; 2. The dilemma of liberal democracies; 3. Statistical studies and terrorist behavior; 4. Counterterrorism; 5. Transference; 6. International cooperation: dilemma and inhibitors; 7. Hostage taking; 8. After 9/11; 9. Economic impact of transnational terrorism; 10. Homeland security; 11. The future of terrorism.