Since the infamous events of 9/11, the fear of terrorism and the determination to strike back against it has become a topic of enormous public debate. The 'war on terror' discourse has developed not ...only through American politics but via other channels including the media, the church, music, novels, films and television, and therefore permeates many aspects of American life. Stuart Croft suggests that the process of this production of knowledge has created a very particular form of common sense which shapes relationships, jokes and even forms of tattoos. Understanding how a social process of crisis can be mapped out and how that process creates assumptions allows policy-making in America's war on terror to be examined from new perspectives. Using IR approaches together with insights from cultural studies, this 2006book develops a dynamic model of crisis which seeks to understand the war on terror as a cultural phenomenon.
This book critically and comparatively examines the responses of the United Nations and a range of countries to the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. It assesses the convergence between the ...responses of Western democracies including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada with countries with more experience with terrorism including Egypt, Syria, Israel, Singapore and Indonesia. A number of common themes - the use of criminal law and immigration law, the regulation of speech associated with terrorism, the review of the state's whole of government counter-terrorism activities, and the development of national security policies - are discussed. The book provides a critical take on how the United Nations promoted terrorism financing laws and listing processes and the regulation of speech associated with terrorism but failed to agree on a definition of terrorism or the importance of respecting human rights while combating terrorism.
Since 9/11 we have been told that terrorists are pathological evildoers, beyond our comprehension. Before the 1970s, however, hijackings, assassinations, and other acts we now call 'terrorism' were ...considered the work of rational strategic actors. Disciplining Terror examines how political violence became 'terrorism', and how this transformation ultimately led to the current 'war on terror'. Drawing upon archival research and interviews with terrorism experts, Lisa Stampnitzky traces the political and academic struggles through which experts made terrorism, and terrorism made experts. She argues that the expert discourse on terrorism operates at the boundary - itself increasingly contested - between science and politics, and between academic expertise and the state. Despite terrorism now being central to contemporary political discourse, there have been few empirical studies of terrorism experts. This book investigates how the concept of terrorism has been developed and used over recent decades.
Thousands of people have died at the hands of terrorist groups who rely on state support for their activities. Iran and Syria are well known as sponsors of terrorism, while other countries, some with ...strong connections to the West, have enabled terrorist activity by turning a blind eye. Daniel Byman's hard-hitting and articulate book analyzes this phenomenon. Focusing primarily on sponsors from the Middle East and South Asia, it examines the different types of support that states provide, their motivations, and the impact of such sponsorship. The book also considers regimes that allow terrorists to raise money and recruit without providing active support. The experiences of Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Libya are detailed here, alongside the histories of radical groups such as al-Qaida and Hizballah. The book concludes by assessing why it is often difficult to force sponsors to cut ties to terrorist groups and suggesting ways in which it could be done better in the future.
The lethality of lone-wolf terrorism has reached an all-time high in the United States. Isolated individuals using firearms with high-capacity magazines are committing brutally efficient killings ...with the aim of terrorizing others, yet there is little consensus on what connects these crimes and the motivations behind them. InThe Age of Lone Wolf Terrorism, terrorism experts Mark S. Hamm and Ramón Spaaij combine criminological theory with empirical and ethnographic research to map the pathways of lone-wolf radicalization, helping with the identification of suspected behaviors and recognizing patterns of indoctrination.Reviewing comprehensive data on these actors, including more than two hundred terrorist incidents, Hamm and Spaaij find that a combination of personal and political grievances lead lone wolves to befriend online sympathizers-whether jihadists, white supremacists, or other antigovernment extremists-and then announce their intent to commit terror when triggered. Hamm and Spaaij carefully distinguish between lone wolves and individuals radicalized within a group dynamic. This important difference is what makes this book such a significant manual for professionals seeking richer insight into the transformation of alienated individuals into armed warriors. Hamm and Spaaij conclude with an analysis of recent FBI sting operations designed to prevent lone-wolf terrorism in the United States, describing who gets targeted, strategies for luring suspects, and the ethics of arresting and prosecuting citizens.
In the aftermath of a terrorist attack political stakes are high: legislators fear being seen as lenient or indifferent and often grant the executive broader authorities without thorough debate. The ...judiciary's role, too, is restricted: constitutional structure and cultural norms narrow the courts' ability to check the executive at all but the margins. The dominant 'Security or Freedom' framework for evaluating counterterrorist law thus fails to capture an important characteristic: increased executive power that shifts the balance between branches of government. This book re-calculates the cost of counterterrorist law to the United Kingdom and the United States, arguing that the damage caused is significantly greater than first appears. Donohue warns that the proliferation of biological and nuclear materials, together with willingness on the part of extremists to sacrifice themselves, may drive each country to take increasingly drastic measures with a resultant shift in the basic structure of both states.
On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh detonated a two-ton truck bomb that felled the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. On June 11, 2001, an unprecedented 242 ...witnesses watched him die by lethal injection. In the aftermath of the bombings, American public commentary almost immediately turned to closure rhetoric. Reporters and audiences alike speculated about whether victim's family members and survivors could get closure from memorial services, funerals, legislation, monuments, trials, and executions. But what does closure really mean for those who survive - or lose loved ones in - traumatic acts? In the wake of such terrifying events, is closure a realistic or appropriate expectation? In Killing McVeigh, Jody Lynee Madeira uses the Oklahoma City bombing as a case study to explore how family members and other survivors come to terms with mass murder. As the fullest case study to date of the Oklahoma City Bombing survivors' struggle for justice and the first-ever case study of closure, this book describes the profound human and institutional impacts of these labors to demonstrate the importance of understanding what closure really is before naively asserting it can or has been reached.
This team of international experts analyses the possibilities and limitations of preventing or reducing terrorism by addressing the factors that give rise to it and sustain it. The key questions ...raised include:
* what are the main circumstances that provide preconditions for the emergence of various types of terrorism?
* what are the typical precipitants that trigger terrorist campaigns?
* to what extent is it possible to reduce the problem of terrorism by influencing these causes and circumstances?
* should we address those factors that sustain terrorist campaigns rather than root causes?
This book is edited by Tore Bjørgo - Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Professor and Research Director at the Norwegian Police University College.
1. Introduction Tore Bjørgo 2. Exploring Roots of Terrorism Dipak K. Gupta 3. Impoverished Terrorists: Stereotype or Reality? Jitka Malecková 4. The Social and Psychological Characteristics of Terrorism and Terrorists John Horgan 5. "When Hatred is Bred in the Bone": The Socio-Cultural Underpinnings of Terrorist Psychology Jerrold M. Post 6. Social, Organizational and Psychological Factors in Suicide Terrorism Ariel Merari 7. Palestinian Resistance and "Suicide Bombing": Causes and Consequences Hisham H. Ahmed 8. Roots of Terrorism in the Middle East: International Pressures and International Constraints Abdullah Sahar Mohammad 9. Nationalist Separatism and Terrorism in Comparative Perspective Fernando Reinares 10. Root Causes of Terrorism? A Case Study of theTamil Insurgency and the LTTE D.R. Kaarthikeyan 11. Right-Wing Terrorism Wilhelm Heitmeyer 12. Social-Revolutionary Terrorism in Latin-America and Europe Peter Waldmann 13. The Use of Terrorism by Organized Crime: An Italian Case Study Alison Jamieson 14. Patterns of State Failure: The Case of Lebanon Farid el Khazen 15. State Sponsorship – A Root Cause of Terrorism? Louise Richardson 16. Expected Utility and State Terrorism Michael Stohl 17. A Conceptual Framework for Resolving Terrorism’s Cause Joshua Sinai 18. Prevention of Terrorism: Towards a Multi-Pronged Approach Alex P. Schmid 19. Fire of Iolaus: The Role of State Counter-Measure in Causing Terrorism and What Needs to be Done Andrew Silke 20. Conclusions Tore Bjørgo. Appendix: Notes on Contributors
"This collection of papers is the product of an experts’ workshop (in which this reviewer participated) that was held in Oslo, Norway, in June 2003, under the auspices of the Norwegian government. It represented the first time that an academic meeting had been held to explore, in a systematic manner, the concepts and methodologies to conduct analysis on root causes of terrorism." - Joshua Sinai, ‘Terrorism Bookshelf: Top 150 Books on Terrorism and Counterterrorism’, Perspectives on Terrorism, Vol. 6, No. 2 (2012)
This volume brings together research from around the world to explore a range of topics within the project of detecting terrorist activities. It is divided into six key themes: conceptualising ...terrorism, deception and decision making, social and cultural factors in terrorism, modelling hostile intent, strategies for counter-terrorism, and future directions. Twenty four chapters explore the spectrum of detecting terrorist activities, hostile intent, crowded public spaces and suspicious behaviour. A variety of disciplines are represented, including ergonomics/human factors, psychology, criminology, cognitive science, sociology, political theory, engineering and computer science.
