This book improves our understanding of terrorists' motivations and rationality and may
ultimately also indicate how to respond to the phenomenon of terrorism. In his research
studies Eric van Um explores the political rationality of terrorist groups. The political
rationality model builds on rational choice theory. It demands that terrorist groups take into
account the costs and benefits of their available options and choose the option promising them
the highest political utility. Testing the explanatory power of this model is relevant as
rational choice approaches have become very prominent in terrorism research. But at the same
time their empirical power remains highly contested. Increased knowledge of the political
rationality model not only promises added value for terrorism research itself but also for
social sciences more generally.
