The New Geopolitics of Terror: Demons and Dragons

The New Geopolitics of Terror examines the impact of global reach terror on states. This book surveys the current crises and tensions in the Middle East, focussing primarily on the upheavals in Syria and Iraq, and the interaction between groups, such as Al Qaeda and ISIS state actors and Western security. It explains the threat to Western interests and states from wide-reaching Islamic terrorism, geopolitical intervention by outside actors and regional power struggles. It critiques the inadequate political, military and diplomatic responses from Western powers, and the lack of effective leadership, highlighting the potential dangers should the West fail to remedy these. The book also identifies the difficulties and dangers of continued Western involvement in the Middle East, and proposes specific actions and interventions in order to prevent further deterioration in the region and in Western societies. Specifically, the book calls for a grand strategy underpinned by political ambition that combines diplomatic, political, economic and military measures, calls for effective counter-terrorism measures in more resilient Western societies, and highlights the importance of the role that global players outside those regions can and must play if peace is to be restored. Written by two leading scholars, this book will be of much interest to students of terrorism studies, strategic studies, defence studies, Middle Eastern politics and IR in general.