In Leaderless Jihad, forensic psychiatrist and counterterrorism consultant Marc Sageman contributes to the field of international security by providing a detailed look into the current global Islamist terrorist threat, examining its evolution since the 1980s and the demographics of who is behind the latest wave of terrorism. Initially, the book lures the reader with its discussion of the waves of Islamist-based terrorism: the first wave, beginning in the 1980s with individuals who fought alongside the mujahideen in Afghanistan and formed the core of what is now al-Qaeda; the second, occurring in the 1990s and motivated by Muslim suffering around the world; and the third (the main subject of Leaderless Jihad), involving jihadists motivated by the US invasion of Iraq. In his description of these waves of Islamist terrorism, Sageman addresses the evolution of al-Qaeda from its incarnation as "al Qaeda Central," led by Osama bin Laden, to "the al Qaeda social movement . . . composed of informal networks" that, with the help of the Internet, has become a leaderless jihad under the stewardship of the third wave of terrorists (p. 31).
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