Sacred Violence and Religious Violence examines the place that ideology or political religion plays in legitimizing violence to bring about a purer world. In particular, the book examines Islamism and the western secular, liberal democratic responses to it.

1. History Restarted 2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being British 3. The Commentariat and Discourse Failure 4. Counter insurgency (COIN): The Military Revolution that Failed 5. Non-western terror and counter-insurgency: the case of Jemaah Islamiah 6. Beyond Belief: Islamist Strategic Thinking and International Relations Theory 7. Political Fiction and Jihad - The Novel Response to 9/11 Conclusion Terror the Polis and Political Religion

David Martin Jones is Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Queensland, Australia.
M.L.R. Smith is Professor of Strategic Studies, King's College London, UK.