Engineers of Jihad: The Curious Connection between Violent Extremism and Education

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The violent actions of a few extremists can alter the course of history, yet there persists a yawning gap between the potential impact of these individuals and what we understand about them. In Engineers of Jihad, Diego Gambetta and Steffen Hertog uncover two unexpected facts, which they imaginatively leverage to narrow that gap: they find that a d

Reviews

One of Foreign Affairs' Best Books on the Middle East (Terrorism & Counterterrorism) 2016 "This is an important study... The wealth of statistical data they bring to bear provides what was once a hypothesis with solid empirical grounding."--Malise Ruthven, Financial Times "[A]n interesting and important book... Definitely recommended."--Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution "That's really good work, and they deserve credit for that observation... It is thrilling and intriguing as a theoretical issue."--Jeffrey I. Victoroff, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Chronicle of Higher Education "Wonderful."--Jacob N. Shapiro, Princeton University, Chronicle of Higher Education "[They] really help us refine our understanding of what the risk factors are."--Jessica Stern, Boston University Pardee School of Global Studies, Chronicle of Higher Education "Data-driven and carefully constructed."--John Waterbury, Foreign Affairs "Intriguing... There's a clear need to try and understand the motivation for this breed of terrorism that Gambetta and Hertog address in a thorough way that avoids alarmism."--Dominic Lenton, Engineering & Technology "Opening up markedly new perspectives on the motivations of political violence, Engineers of Jihad yields unexpected answers about the nature and emergence of extremism."--Islam and Muslim Societies "This relatively small book breaks significant new ground and should generate many more significant studies in this area. It should prove to be an important waystation on the path to better understanding not only of violent Islamism but of other political and politico-religious phenomena. It deserves a wide readership among those seriously interested in these subjects."--William Shepard, Journal of Global Analysis

Author Bio

Diego Gambetta is professor of social theory at the European University Institute, Florence, and official fellow of Nuffield College at the University of Oxford. His books include The Sicilian Mafia and Codes of the Underworld (Princeton). Steffen Hertog is associate professor of comparative politics at the London School of Economics. He is the author of Princes, Brokers, and Bureaucrats.