Reviews
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-5899.2010.00043.x |
| Published date | 01 October 2010 |
| Date | 01 October 2010 |
Reviews
How Terrorism Ends: Understanding the Decline and
Demise of Terrorist Campaigns by Audrey Kurth Cronin.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009. 330 pp.,
£20.95 hardcover, 978 0691139487
A counterterrorism (CT) strategy that lacks perspective will
not work. An awareness of local and historical trends and
contexts, the ability to incorporate lessons of the past and
familiarity with the bigger picture are all essential compo-
nents of an effective CT toolkit. Perspective allows govern-
ments to disaggregate actors and issues and nuance their
interventions in order to meet the difficult challenge of
understanding terrorism threats and formulating effective
counterterrorism responses.
By writing How Terrorism Ends, Audrey Kurth Cronin,
who is currently Professor of Strategy at the US National
War College and erstwhile researcher at the US Library of
Congress, has provided a service to everyone with an inter-
est in counterterrorism by providing much-needed perspec-
tive. As the title suggests, Professor Cronin focuses on how
past terrorist campaigns have ended, but with the current
and future al-Qa’eda threat very much in mind. According
to Cronin, al-Qa’eda’s is a novel token but not a different
type of terrorism campaign; like those before it, al-Qa’eda’s
will come to an end.
Cronin points out six ways in which past terrorism
campaigns have ended: decapitation; negotiation; success;
failure; repression; and reorientation. According to Cronin,
only negotiation, failure and reorientation offer realistic
scenarios for al-Qa’eda’s demise.
Firstly, the use of negotiation to promote al-Qa’eda’s
engagement in legitimate political processes could facilitate
a transition from violence to nonviolent practices; however,
for practical and moral reasons, negotiation should be with
al-Qa’eda’s affiliate groups operating in various regions
around the world, rather than al-Qa’eda’s core itself. In
Cronin’s view, the prospect of reaching a mutually agreed
settlement with Osama bin Laden is neither realistic (given
his demand for a pan-Islamic caliphate) nor ethical (given
the blood already on his hands). Secondly, tactical and stra-
tegic mistakes that embarrass al-Qa’eda and the ideological
schisms at the heart of the al-Qa’eda movement provide us
with opportunities to highlight al-Qa’eda’s failures that
have the potential to dent their credibility and appeal.
Thirdly, there is the possibility of al-Qa’eda going in dif-
ferent directions – including insurgency and crime – that
would prompt the end of its terrorism campaign and the
emergence of different agendas.
Cronin’s analysis is textured, challenging and insightful.
And, as with all good analyses, the assertions at the heart
of the argument prompt further lines of inquiry for scholars
and practitioners to explore. For example, Cronin’s
assertion that decapitation will not end al-Qa’eda prompts
one to ask what effect Osama bin Laden’s death would
have on the respective agendas of al-Qa’eda’s regional
affiliates and their prospective negotiating positions (if, as
Cronin suggests, efforts are made to talk to them). Simi-
larly, Cronin’s claim that repression will not end al-Qa’eda
begs an assessment of the kind of impact a more con-
strained al-Qa’eda would have on the credibility of the
al-Qa’eda brand, and its power to guide and inspire others
to launch attacks. As for the suggestion that a transition to
crime could mark the beginning of the end of al-Qa’eda’s
terrorism campaign, the potential for groups with terrorist
intent to bolster their capabilities through ransom pay-
ments, piracy and drug running requires constant evalua-
tion. How Terrorism Ends shines a light on the key issues
that relate to an al-Qa’eda threat that is becoming increas-
ingly diffuse, diverse and devolved – and, even with the
benefit of Cronin’s perspective, difficult to predict.
Christopher Mackmurdo
Dr Christopher Mackmurdo is Research Analyst at the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This review expresses the
personal views of the reviewer and in no way reflects the
official position of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO):
Global Governance through Voluntary Consensus (Global
Institutions) by Craig Murphy and JoAnne Yates. Lon-
don: Routledge, 2009. 160 pp., £16.99 paperback, 978
0415774284
This excellent book by Craig Murphy and JoAnne Yates
offers a long overdue introduction to and an overview of a
key organization in global governance, the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO). The book is com-
pact – yet its narrative is highly informative and thorough.
Little known until the mid-1980s, the ISO has become
prominent in part due to the Agreement on Technical Bar-
riers to Trade, negotiated during the Uruguay Round trade
negotiations, from 1987 to 1994. This Agreement obliges
all member states of the World Trade Organization
(WTO) to use international standards as the technical basis
of domestic laws and regulations unless international stan-
dards are ineffective or inappropriate for achieving the
specified public policy objectives. Regulations that use
international standards are arguably presumed to be consis-
tent with the country’s WTO obligations, whereas the use
of a standard that differs from the pertinent international
standard may be challenged through the WTO dispute
mechanism as an unnecessary non-tariff barrier to trade
and thus a violation of international trade law.
Global Policy Volume 1 . Issue 3 . October 2010
Global Policy (2010) 1:3 doi: 10.1111/j.1758-5899.2010.00043.x Copyright 2010 London School of Economics and Political Science and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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