Violence and terror and the extreme right

The author begins by examining Sprinzak's theory of ‘split delegitimization’ and finds that although it provides a persuasive account of why some extreme right groups become so radicalized that they perpetrate acts of terrorism and political violence, its major weakness is that it fails to explain the emergence and long‐term survival of mass parties of the extreme right. The article briefly surveys some of these mass parties and finds that there is no clear correlation between the electoral success of extreme‐right mass parties and the level of terrorism and political violence from small extreme‐right groups. However, the evident ambivalence of mass parties of the far right towards violence, and intensification of the propaganda of violence, racisim and xenophobia are clearly conducive to violence and Terrorism and Political Violence.     

The key role of intelligence

Christopher Andrew, For the President'sEyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush. London: HarperCollins, 1995. Pp.660. £25. ISBN 0–00255–260–0.

Roy Godson, Dirty Tricks or Trump Cards: US Covert Action and Counter‐intelligence. Washington: Brassey's, 1995. Pp.342. $24.95 £21.95. ISBN 1–57488–03433–9.     

An anatomy of loyalist terrorism

Steve Bruce, The Red Hand: Protestant Paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp.311, 10 tables, 1 fig., statistical app., glossary, select biblio., index. £25 (hardback), £7.99 (paperback). ISBN 019–215961–5 and 019 285256–6.     

Review essay: Heroic victims,the hostage memoirs

Terry Anderson, Den of Lions, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1993. Pp.356, index. £9.99 (paperback). ISBN 0–34061736–5.

Brian Keenan, An Evil Cradling, London: Hutchinson 1992 and Vintage, 1993. Pp.296, no index. £16.99/£6.99 (paperback). ISBN 00–917–5208–6 and 0–09999030‐X.

John McCarthy and Jill Morrell, Some Other Rainbow, London: Bantam Press, 1993 and Corgi, 1994. Pp.524, 56 photos, index. £14.99. ISBN 0–593–02729–9 and 0–552–13953‐X.

Terry Waite, Taken on Trust, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1993 and Coronet, 1994. Pp.370, 32 photos, index. £14.99 (hardback) and £5.99 (paperback). ISBN 0–0340–58196–4 and 60969–6.     

Nationalism and its consequences: A review

Anthony D. Smith, Myths and Memories of the Nation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 288, £15.99 (paperback). ISBN 0–19–829684–3 (also published in cloth edition).

Umut Ozkirimli, Theories of Nationalism A Critical Introduction, Houndmills, Basingstoke: Macmillan Press Ltd, 2000, pp 253, £14.50 (paperback). ISBN 0–333–77712–3 (also published in cloth edition).

Hakan Wiberg and Christian P. Scherrer (eds.), Ethnicity and Intra‐State Conflict: Types , Causes and Peace Strategies. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999, pp.327, £42.50 (cloth). ISBN 1–84014713X.

Michael Hechter, Containing Nationalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, pp.256, £19.99. ISBN 0–19829742–4 (cloth).     

Reflections on bloody Sunday

Don Mullan (ed.), Eyewitness Bloody Sunday: The Truth. Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1997. Pp.288. £8.99 (paper). ISBN 0–86327–586–9.