Counterterror Offensives for the Ghost War World: The Rudiments of Counterterrorism Policy

"Rigorous measurement of the effectiveness of counterterrorist measures has so far been elusive. Nolonger thanks to Professor Richard J. Chasdi's innovative empirical study we now know what works and what doesn't. A remarkable breakthrough with profound policy implications." Alex P. Schmid, Terrorism Research Initiative. Vienna Austria

"Chasdi's books identifies critical issues for consideration and provides previously unavailable empirical support for integrated counterterrorist policy initiatives. It is full of unexpected insights regarding the success of less aggressive counterterrorist actions, the importance of context-specific explanatory factors in different operational environments, and the broader link between political reform and collaborative counterterror policy efforts. Policy makers should heed his advice on the importance of tailoring counterterrorist policies to the specific geographical locations at issue." Richard Weitz. Center for Political Military Analysis Hudson Institute

In Counterterror Offensives for the Ghost War World: The Rudiments of Counterterrorism Policy. Richard J. Chasdi has written a groundbreaking quantitative analysis that provides new insight into which types of counterterror practices work best and which types perform poorly in particular operational environments and circumstances. For Chasdi. "effectiveness" is defined as the capacity of counterterror practices to work with "stealth" namely, without eliciting high amounts of related follow up terrorist assaults. He moves beyond individual country analyses to tackle an analysis of counterterror practice effectiveness based on the type of political system of the country carrying out counterterror offensives and the power level of that country within the international political system. Chasdi furthermore provides essential qualitiative descriptions of national security institutions, stakeholders and processes to frame his quantitative results in ways that tie those findings to historical and contemporary political developments.

Richard J. Chasdi is an adjunct assistant professor at the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies and the Center of Academic Excellence in National Security Intelligence Studies at Wayne State University.