ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the overarching political environment in which research on terrorism has developed since 9/11, including the Global War on Terror, the rise of the Preventive State and the flourishing of the anti-radicalisation business. It describes the research protocol used in this book. It starts out by laying out the author's epistemic positioning which informed the methodological reflections and the choice of methods. The book presents an intermediate discussion on the ideal-types and the commonalities between them, as well as the characteristics that can be attributed to grievances. It also discusses the findings in light of the existing literature and presents an integrated theory on grievance-based engagement that incorporates the various findings and brings them to a higher level of abstraction. Violence is one of those concepts that seems seductively consensual yet remains so elusive.
