...Provide[s] stimulating new directions in the study of terror and radicalization

Douglas Cremer, The European Legacy

Too often, social movement scholars treat violence as a fixed property of organizations: social movements are either violent or not. This dichotomous approach has only become more prevalent in the post 9-11 era, as scholars of terrorism examine which social or psychological characteristics of individuals make them more or less likely to join violent groups, but seldom question the existence of violent groups in the first place. The Dynamics of Radicalization provides a powerful corrective to such thinking. Through their carefully researched case studies, Alimi, Demetriou and Bosi demonstrate time and again that many of today's most famously violent groups including al-Qaeda actually started out as resistance movements engaged in nonviolent tactics. It was only over time, and through interactions with other entities, that these movements evolved into violent organizations.

Jocelyn Viterna, Harvard University