In 2008, Louise Richardson was taken ill with an ME type illness and a cerebral aneurysm. Her world came to an abrupt stop and everything she had worked hard for came crashing down around her. Louise thought that she had nothing to look forward to and felt very stuck in a situation, not of her choosing. She had a responsible job, money, lovely home and was studying for a degree. Just the previous month she had been travelling and had no indication of what was to come. Having spent a number of years within the confines of her home, Louise decided to take back control of her life and began, very slowly, to find things that she was able to attempt. Louise used poetry to escape her confines and to release her emotions and to finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. Along with poetry, Louise also paints and has revived her love of singing and dancing. She hopes that you find this book both interesting and helpful. Perhaps you are in a dark place at the moment and cannot see a way out, you just need some motivation or the knowledge that someone has the understanding and way forward for how you are feeling at this time. Whatever the reason, please enjoy the read

Why are women so frequently targeted with hate speech online and what can we do about it? Psychological explanations for the problem of woman-hating overlook important features of our social world that encourage latent feelings of hostility toward women, even despite our consciously-held ideals of equality. Louise Richardson-Self investigates the woman-hostile norms of the English-speaking internet, the 'rules' of engagement in these social spaces, and the narratives we tell ourselves about who gets to inhabit such spaces. It examines the dominant imaginings (images, impressions, stereotypes, and ideas) of women that are shared in acts of hate speech, highlighting their 'emotional stickiness'. But offering strategies through which we may reimagine our norms of online engagement, the stories that justify those norms, and the logic that makes sense of it all, this book shows how we can create alternative visions of what it means to take up online space as a woman and to ensure that women are seen as entitled to be there. By exploring aspects of 'social imaginaries' theory and applying it to the problem of hate speech against women online, this book illuminates why woman-hating has become such a prominent feature of this environment and how we can make these spaces safer for women.

Few topics can be of greater importance to political scientists or practising politicians than international alliances. The political science literature contains many successful studies on the subject of alliances, including those that deal with the idea that an external threat provides cohesion to an alliance while the removal of such a threat causes its disintegration. A strong ally, such as the US, cannot rely on the proponderance of its power to have its views prevail, because the structure of the international system affords options to the weaker ally.;When Allies Differ concentrates on the specifics of two cases, the Suez crisis of 1956 and the Falklands war of 1982, in which the interests of two of the closest allies, namely Britain and the US, clashed. In both cases the elements of a peaceful resolution existed. Nevertheless the two countries singularly failed to manage these crises to their mutual advantage. This book explains why. In each case, Britain took military action against a country with which the US was developing ties, and in both cases these ties were jeopardized by the British action. Richardson's analysis of these two cases reveals the importance to policy ou

The Roots of Terrorism is the first volume in the new Democracy and Terrorism series, a three volume project intended to explore one of the most pressing issues of our time: how to reconcile the need to fight terrorism with our desire to protect and enhance democratic values.

There is massive public interest in same-sex marriage, a controversial topic that is rarely out of the media. This book investigates the extent to which legalizing same-sex marriage can contribute to ending the discrimination and social stigma faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender men and women (LGBT) in the Western world. This issue breaks down into several further questions: can marriage equality be defended without reinforcing the idea that marriage is the most/only valuable form of intimate relationship? Can marriage equality be defended without further marginalizing non-conforming LGBT people? What kind of equality should LGBT people strive for? What critical agency might they lose when this equality is achieved? What institutional legacies should we embrace? The book focuses on human rights arguments supporting same-sex marriage and questions whether they are likely to both justify legal change and encourage shifts in the sociopolitical reception of LGBT people. After critically analyzing various arguments in favor of same-sex marriage, the author puts forward a justification that allows for marriage equality and does not result in the assimilation of queer identities into heteronormative identity.

The Roots of Terrorism is the first volume in the new Democracy and Terrorism series, a three volume project intended to explore one of the most pressing issues of our time: how to reconcile the need to fight terrorism with our desire to protect and enhance democratic values.

There is massive public interest in same-sex marriage, a controversial topic that is rarely out of the media. This book investigates the extent to which legalizing same-sex marriage can contribute to ending the discrimination and social stigma faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender men and women (LGBT) in the Western world. This issue breaks down into several further questions: can marriage equality be defended without reinforcing the idea that marriage is the most/only valuable form of intimate relationship? Can marriage equality be defended without further marginalizing non-conforming LGBT people? What kind of equality should LGBT people strive for? What critical agency might they lose when this equality is achieved? What institutional legacies should we embrace? The book focuses on human rights arguments supporting same-sex marriage and questions whether they are likely to both justify legal change and encourage shifts in the sociopolitical reception of LGBT people. After critically analyzing various arguments in favor of same-sex marriage, the author puts forward a justification that allows for marriage equality and does not result in the assimilation of queer identities into heteronormative identity.

Contemporary philosophy of perception is dominated by highly polarized debates. The polarization is particularly acute in the debate between naive realist disjunctivists and their opponents, but divisions seem almost as stark in other areas of dispute, for example, the debate over whether we experience so-called 'high-level' properties, and the debate concerning individuation of the senses. The guiding hypothesis underlying this volume is that such polarization stems from insufficient attention to how we should go about settling these debates. In general, there is widespread, largely implicit disagreement concerning what philosophical theories of perception are supposed to explain, the claims that we should hold fixed in the course of theorizing, and the methods that such theorizing should employ. The goal of this volume is to move such methodological questions from the background to the front of the debate, in the hope of facilitating progress. The contributions constitute an initial effort to spur more explicit, systematic discussion of methodology in philosophy of perception, covering a wide range of relevant topics, from the relation between scientific and philosophical theorizing about perception, to lessons we can learn from the history of philosophy of perception.

In 2008, Louise Richardson was taken ill with an ME type illness and a cerebral aneurysm. Her world came to an abrupt stop and everything she had worked hard for came crashing down around her. Louise thought that she had nothing to look forward to and felt very stuck in a situation, not of her choosing. She had a responsible job, money, lovely home and was studying for a degree. Just the previous month she had been travelling and had no indication of what was to come. Having spent a number of years within the confines of her home, Louise decided to take back control of her life and began, very slowly, to find things that she was able to attempt. Louise used poetry to escape her confines and to release her emotions and to finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. Along with poetry, Louise also paints and has revived her love of singing and dancing. She hopes that you find this book both interesting and helpful. Perhaps you are in a dark place at the moment and cannot see a way out, you just need some motivation or the knowledge that someone has the understanding and way forward for how you are feeling at this time. Whatever the reason, please enjoy the read

"What role should religion play in shaping and implementing U.S. foreign policy? The dominant attitude over the last half century on the subject of religion and international relations was expressed well by Dean Acheson, Harry Truman's secretary of state: ""Moral Talk was fine preaching for the Final Day of Judgment, but it was not a view I would entertain as a public servant."" Was Acheson right? How a nation ""commits itself to freedom"" has long been at the heart of debates about foreign aid, economic sanctions, and military intervention. Moral and faith traditions have much to say about what is required to achieve this end. And after September 11, no one can doubt the importance of religious beliefs in influencing relations among peoples and nations. The contributors to this volume come at the issue from very different perspectives and offer exceptional and unexpected insights on a question now at the forefront of American foreign policy. "

"This is at the top of my list for best books on terrorism."
-Jessica Stern, author of "Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill"
How can the most powerful country in the world feel so threatened by an enemy infinitely weaker than we are? How can loving parents and otherwise responsible citizens join terrorist movements? How can anyone possibly believe that the cause of Islam can be advanced by murdering passengers on a bus or an airplane? In this important new book, groundbreaking scholar Louise Richardson answers these questions and more, providing an indispensable guide to the greatest challenge of our age.
After defining-once and for all-what terrorism is, Richardson explores its origins, its goals, what's to come, and what is to be done about it. Having grown up in rural Ireland and watched her friends join the Irish Republican Army, Richardson knows from firsthand experience how terrorism can both unite and destroy a community. As a professor at Harvard, she has devoted her career to explaining terrorist movements throughout history and around the globe. From the biblical Zealots to the medieval Islamic Assassins to the anarchists who infiltrated the cities of Europe and North America at the turn of the last century, terrorists have struck at enemies far more powerful than themselves with targeted acts of violence. Yet Richardson understands that terrorists are neither insane nor immoral. Rather, they are rational political actors who often deploy carefully calibrated tactics in a measured and reasoned way. What is more, they invariably go to great lengths to justify their actions to themselves, their followers, and, often, the world.
Richardson shows that the nature of terrorism did not change after the attacks of September 11, 2001; what changed was our response. She argues that the Bush administration's "global war on terror" was doomed to fail because of an ignorance of history, a refusal to learn from the experience of other governments, and a fundamental misconception about how and why terrorists act. As an alternative, Richardson offers a feasible strategy for containing the terrorist threat and cutting off its grassroots support.
The most comprehensive and intellectually rigorous account of terrorism yet, " What Terrorists Want "is a daring intellectual tour de force that allows us, at last, to reckon fully with this major threat to today's global order.
KIRKUS- starred review
"The short answer? Fame and payback, perhaps even a thrill. The long answer? Read this essential, important primer.
Terrorist groups have many motives and ideologies, notes Richardson (Executive Dean/Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study), but they tend to similar paths: They are founded by mature, well-educated men but staffed by less learned and certainly more pliable youths; they are fueled by a sense of injustice and the conviction that only they are morally equipped to combat it; they see themselves as defenders and not aggressors; they often define the terms of battle. And, of course, this commonality: "Terrorists have elevated practices that are normally seen as the excesses of warfare to routine practice, striking noncombatants not as an unintended side effect but as a deliberate strategy." Thus massacres, suicide bombings and assassinations are all in a day's work. Richardson argues against Karl Rove, who after 9/11 mocked those who tried to understand the enemy, by noting that only when authorities make efforts to get inside the minds of their terrorist enemies do they succeed in defeating them, as with the leadership of the Shining Path movement in Peru. Still, as Rove knows, if terrorists share a pathology, then so do at least some of their victims: Once attacked, people in democratic societies are more than willing to trade freedom for security. Richardson closes by offering a set of guidelines for combating terrorism, with such easily remembered rules as "Live by your principles" and "Engage others in countering terrorists with you"-observing, in passing, that the Bush administration's attack on Iraq and subsequent occupation will likely be remembered as serving as a recruiting poster for still more terrorists.
How to win? Develop communities, settle grievances, exercise patience and intelligence. That said, watch for more terrorism to come: "We are going to have to learn to live with it and to accept it as a price of living in a complex world."
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"Louise Richardson . . . has now produced the overdue and essential primer on terrorism and how to tackle it. "What Terrorists Want" is the book many have been waiting for."--"The New York Times Book Review "(Editor's Choice)
"Lucid and powerful, Richardson's book refutes the dangerous idea that there's no point in trying to understand terrorists. . . . rich, readable."--"Los Angeles Times Book Review"
"The kind of brisk and accessible survey of terrorism-as-"modus operandi" that has been sorely missing for the past five years . . . ["What Terrorists Want"] ought to be required reading as the rhetoric mounts this campaign season."--"The American Prospect"
"Richardson is one of the relative handful of experts who have been studying the history and practice of terrorism since the Cold War. . . . This book is a welcome source of information. It's written by a true expert, giving her measured thoughts."--"Christian Science Monitor"
"Richardson's clear language and deep humanity make "What Terrorists Want "the one book that must be read by everyone who cares about why people resort to the tactic of terrorism."-Desmond M. Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus
"This is a book of hope. Terrorism, like the poor, will always be with us in one form or another. But given sensible policies, we can contain it without destroying what we hold dear."-"Financial Times "
"A passionate, incisive, and groundbreaking argument that provocatively overturns the myths surrounding terrorism."-Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
"In its lucid analysis and summary, ["What Terrorists Want"] is simply the best thing of its kind available now in this highly crowded area."-"The Evening Standard "
"If a reader has the time to read only one book on terrorism, "What Terrorists Want" is that book. Extensive historical knowledge, personal contacts, enormous analytic skills, common sense, and a fine mix of lucidity and clarity, make of this work a most satisfying dissection of terrorists' motives and goals, and of the effects of September 11, 2001. Richardson also offers a sharp critique of American counterterrorism policies, and a sensible plan for better ones."-Stanley Hoffmann, Buttenwieser University Professor, Harvard University
"An astonishingly insightful analysis by one of the world's leading authorities on terrorism, this book is filled with wisdom-based not only on the author's extensive and long-term study of terrorism but also on her experience growing up in a divided Ireland."-Jessica Stern, author of T"error in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill
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"A wide-ranging, clear headed, crisply written, cogently argued anatomy of terrorist groups around the world."-Peter Bergen, senior fellow, New America Foundation, and author of "The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader
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"Among the numerous books published on terrorism after the 9/11 attacks, Louise Richardson's stands out as an unusually wise, sensible, and humane treatise. An engrossing and lucid book, which hopefully will be read by many and spread its unique spirit of realistic optimism."
-Ariel Merari, Professor of Psychology, Tel Aviv University
"Thoughtful and stimulating . . . Controversially, and indeed courageously, [Richardson] argues that, instead of regarding the terrorists-even al-Qaeda types-as mindless and irrational creatures motivated by dark forces of evil, it would be more constructive to examine and seek to moderate some of the grievances that drive previously normal and even nondescript characters to kill and maim innocent people they don't even know."-"The" "Irish Times"
"A textbook and a myth-buster . . . [Richardson] is calling for nothing less than a total re-evaluation of how we consider, and react to, terrorism. . . . "What Terrorists Want" ought to be on the bookshelf in every government office. Certainly, for any student of international affairs it is an essential reading."
-"The Atlantic Affairs
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"From the Hardcover edition."