Book Review: Criminal Justice and Political Cultures: National and International Dimensions of Crime Control

• DOI: 10.1177/1057567707299319
• Date: 01 March 2007
• Author: Edmund F. McGarrell
• Published date: 01 March 2007
• Subject Matter: Articles

58 International Criminal Justice Review

tolerance, separation of religion and the state, and nonliteral interpretation of sacred texts that are

otherwise readily available to serve the interests of political zealots. The point gets overwhelmed by

the description of Muslim holy rage that occupies most of the remainder of the chapter, centered on

Osama bin Laden and his extremist inspirations, but this is, after all, a book about terrorism, and ter-

rorist acts in the name of Islam are serious and on the ascent. The danger here is that our deep con-

cerns about the problem may be self-fulfilling, thus empowering the extremists. Protecting ourselves

against poisonous snakes is no justification for annihilating the animal kingdom.

The book’s treatment of instruments of terrorism—discussions of conventional explosive and

nonconventional weapons of mass destruction—is particularly well done. His descriptions of chemi-

cal, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons are clear and thorough. For each type, he lays out

the lethality and toxicity, mode of delivery, advantages and disadvantages to the terrorist, and poten-

tial interventions. He minces no words on the near inevitability of someone, somewhere, eventually

setting off a major biological attack, given the ease of doing so and the considerable corps of

people so inclined. He offers prudent advice on prospects for affluent nations to give gainful employ-

ment to biologists who might otherwise serve the interests of terrorism.

The book is not without flaws. Pearlstein makes needless distinctions outside the standard lexi-

con: “International” terrorist organizations receive funding from nation-state sponsors, whereas

“transnational” terrorist organizations do not. He coins words such as polyplex (hypercomplexity plus

disorder) and superterrorism that do not add useful substance to our vocabulary. He makes excessive

use of lists, many of limited relevance to terrorism, such as the seven types of nonterrorist transna-

tional organizations, with descriptions of each type, on pages 13 and 14. He fails to note that many

of these are instruments for counterterrorism, providing legitimate jobs, building desperately needed

social capital, and bestowing humanitarian aid on places that are breeding grounds for terrorism.

Instead, he lists religious cults such as Aum Shinrikyo alongside organizations such as the

International Olympic Committee, International Red Cross, and Presbyterian Church, making no

critical distinctions with regard to their respective effects on terrorism. In the chapter on superter-

rorism, he dismisses the danger of loose nuclear devices, ignoring National Intelligence Council and

Congressional Research Service reports of significant amounts of unaccounted-for nuclear material,

both weaponized and other, from throughout the former Soviet empire.

He might also have mentioned a widely overlooked fact: Terrorism has a demand side too. The

problem of terrorism is not just about the terrorists. The targets of terrorism could protect themselves

through better management of fear and the encouragement of adaptive behaviors that deprive

terrorists of payoff and that win over neutrals.

These various problems do not eradicate the book’s considerable strengths. Fatal Future? could

serve in a graduate or upper division undergraduate course on terrorism as an effective complement

to any standard textbook on terrorism, such as Jonathan White’s or Gus Martin’s. I recommend it.

Brian Forst

American University, Washington, DC

Newburn, T., & Sparks, R. (Eds.). (2004). Criminal Justice and

Political Cultures:National and International Dimensions of

Crime Control. Cullompton, Devon, UK: Willan.

DOI: 10.1177/1057567707299319

Criminal Justice and Political Cultures is the product of a Keele University Symposium held in

2001 that asked the question, How does crime policy travel? The book includes a number of papers