In the decades following the 9/11 attacks, complex webs of anti-terrorism laws have come into play across the world, promising to protect ordinary citizens from bombings, hijackings and other forms of mass violence. But are we really any safer? Has freedom been secured by active deployment of state power, or fatally undermined?

In this groundbreaking new book, Conor Gearty unpacks the history of global anti-terrorism law, explaining not only how these regulations came about, but also the untold damage they have wrought upon freedom and human rights. Ranging from the age of colonialism to the Cold War, through the perennial crises in the Middle East to the exponential growth of terrorism discourse compressed into the first two decades of the 21st century, the coercion these laws embody is here to stay. The ‘War on Terror’ was something that colonial and neo-colonial liberal democracies had always been doing—and something that is not going away. Anti-terrorism law no longer requires terrorism to survive.

Wide-ranging, elegant and with a perceptive analytical sting, this book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the deep origins of terrorism and counter-terrorism, and how these concepts fundamentally shape the world we live in.