テロリズムの原因とそれがもたらすものについては、多くの議論があり、大きな関心事となっています。2001年9月11日の米同時多発テロや2005年7月7日のロンドン同時爆破など、世界を震撼させた事件はその日付で認識されています。しかし、より頻繁に発生している、非西洋諸国を含むその他のテロは、多くの犠牲者を出しているにもかかわらず、あまり大きな注目を集めることはありません。
本書は、テロとは何か、その原因、テロ集団の役割、各国政府のテロ対策、経済的影響など、一般的な疑問を取り上げ、検証します。また、現代に焦点を当て、ナショナリズムや分離主義、左翼や右翼の過激派、宗教的理念など特定の動機と、貧困や不平等、民主主義か権威主義かといった一般的な条件がテロの頻度と経済的コストにどのように影響するかについて検討しています。
テロ集団や攻撃の多様性には圧倒されますが、本書では戦略的相互作用という視点からの洞察を促しています。つまり、テロ集団も他の組織同様に、目標を追求するために組織化し、集団の規模、攻撃の多様性、地域的位置、ホスト国の特性、集団のイデオロギーに影響を与えうる危険な環境に対し、最適な方法で反応しているわけです。強化されるセキュリティに対しても、戦術、ターゲット、場所を変えることで対抗しています。各国政府はこれに対し、損害を最低限にとどめるべく、多くのコストを費やして、テロリストやその資金源、支援者にあらゆる対策を講じています。テロリズムに関する数多くの疑問点を取り上げ、幅広い、理論的・実証的研究に光を当てます。
  

• Addresses one of the most important security questions of the time and summarizes the state of terrorism over the last 50 years
• Puts forward many well-researched views that are against conventional wisdom with respect to terrorism and counterterrorism
• Views terrorists as rational actors, who respond in a predictable fashion to their environment

      
The causes and consequences of terrorism are matters of considerable debate and great interest. Spectacular events are recognized by their dates, including the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington and the 7/7 London bombings. Many other attacks, including those in non-Western countries, receive far less attention even though they may be more frequent and cumulatively cause more casualties.
  
In Terrorism: What Everyone Needs to KnowRG, leading economist Todd Sandler provides a broad overview of a persistently topical topic. The general issues he examines include what terrorism is, its causes, the roles of terrorist groups, how governments seek to counter terrorism, its economic consequences, and the future of terrorism. He focuses on the modern era and how specific motivations, ranging from nationalism/separatism to left- or right-wing extremism or religious ideals, and general conditions, such as poverty and inequality or whether a country is democratic or authoritarian, affect the frequency and costs of terrorism. 
   
The diversity of terrorist groups and type of attacks can be overwhelming, and Sandler provides a unifying framework to generate insight: strategic interaction. That is, like other organizations, terrorist groups organize to pursue goals and respond in an optimal fashion to a risky environment that can influence the group's size, its diversity of attacks, its regional location, its host country's characteristics, and the group's ideology. Terrorists also responded to enhanced security measures by altering their tactics, targets, and location. As such, they are formidable opponents to their stronger government adversaries. Governments, in turn, pursue various costly strategies to prevent terrorism, including passive barriers and active attacks against terrorists, their resources, and those who support them.
    
Terrorism covers numerous questions on the subject and sheds lights on a wide-range of theoretical and empirical research.