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340 Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies Núm. 11 / 2018 Political terrorism is not a new phenomenon. Recourse to direct action which, with reduced means, seeks to achieve effects of far greater political and social impact was already in use by nihilists and anarchists in the XIX century1. Nor is its international dimension new2. Current jihadist terrorism, which current surveys show is regarded as one of the principal threats, even greater than the economic crisis, presents similarities with nihilist characteristics, but also notable differences. To some authors there is a clear connection, both ideological and psycho-sociological, between this kind of terrorism and libertarian nihilism, especially in that which operates in Western societies. Others connect it directly with a particular development within Islam. Among the current controversies over these two interpretations, one which stands out is that upheld by Olivier Roy and Gilles Kepel. While the former speaks of an «Islam of radicalism»3, the latter, throughout his wide body of work, but especially in his analysis of the evolution of radical Islam in France, maintains that we are facing a «radicalization of Islam»4. We find a similar debate among many of the serious studies of the subject. This is why the book by Juan Avilés is so timely. For it traces, synthetically and didactically, the history of jihadism, with a broader scope than its title indicates, since its contents are not limited to following the evolution which goes from Al Qaeda to Daesh, but rather begin with a useful introduction in which is explained the way historical research works, the need to start from a contrasted documentation in order to be able to carry out an analysis based on a clear conceptual definition, indispensable in a subject such as this one in which insufficiently based opinion often takes precedence. The title of the book itself makes clear this conceptual precision, since it speaks, not of Islamic terrorism, but of jihadist terrorism, whose discourse justifying violence «is not to be found in Islamic tradition itself but rather in a re-interpretation of it carried out in mid-twentieth century by means of a current of thought usually designated “Salafist jihadism”»5. A few brief introductory pages deal with the differing concepts; on the one hand, that of terrorism, on the other, that of Islam, which is differentiated both from political Islam or Islamism, the movement gestated in mid-twentieth century, and, more specifically, from the Salafist current of thought, with its different lines (purist, political and jihadist). The study is centered on jihadism, and on the different interpretations of its causes, from those which consider that its origin lies in poverty and oppression, 1  Avilés Farré, Juan (2012). Anarchist terrorism and jihadist terrorism: a comparative analysis. History and Politics 27: 227-240. 2  A good current study of the subject in Miguel Angel Ballesteros, 2016, Jihadism, Madrid. La Huerta Grande. 3  Roy, Olivier (2016). Jihad and death. Paris: Seuil. 4  Kepel, Gilles (2016). Terror in the Hexagon, genesis of the French jihad. Ed. Gallimard, Paris. (There is a Spanish translation), 2016, The Terror Among Us. A History of the Jihad in France. Barcelona: Península. 5  Avilés Farré, Juan (2017). A History of Jihadist Terrorism: from al-Qaeda to al-Daesh. Madrid, Síntesis, p. 12. http://revista.ieee.es

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