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Terrorism prevention is a priority for most democratic polities; however, governments are often unable to precisely assess the threat posed by various terrorist groups. How does a government's uncertainty about terrorists' capacity affect the probability of a terror attack occurring? We develop a game-theoretic model to show that the probability of a successful terrorist attack increases when the government expects to face a terror group with low rather than high capacity for violence. This novel result has important implications for how we evaluate the performance of governments and the security agencies in charge of terrorism prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In January 2018, a spontaneous march of young men from the region of Waziristan descended upon the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, dramatically exploding the myths about the so-called war on terror in the "tribal" border zone with Afghanistan. This organic mobilisation became the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), a civil rights uprising embodying the repressed rage of a generation of Pashtun youth that had come of age in the shadow of violence propagated by the unholy nexus of US drones, the Taliban and Pakistan's security establishment. In this commentary, the PTM's emergence as a response to the brutalisation of Pashtun society on what remains a colonial frontier hundreds of years since the British conquest is counterposed to a right-wing populist upsurge led by current Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, whose primary constituency of support is a myopic middle-class strata in metropolitan areas. This confrontation between left and right populisms reveals growing social polarisation under the backdrop of rapid demographic change in a rentier state dominated by an all-powerful military establishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: This study assesses the impact of state repressive counterterrorism actions on terrorists' targeting and lethality of the terrorism landscape in Israel. Using systematic data on government responses to terrorism and an empirical model that addresses reciprocal relationships, we analyze dynamical interactions between types of government repression with attacks against civilian or government targets, and deadly terrorist violence. Contrary to public policy pronouncements of forcefully fighting terrorism to eradicate terrorist threats, our results suggest that repressive counterterrorism actions by the state increase terror and deadly violence. Importantly, the results indicate that these unintended escalatory or backlash effects are dependent on the scope of government repression, the type of terrorist targets, and the lethality of terrorism. Policy Implications: Our findings provide insight into particular behaviors and exchanges within the state repression–terrorism nexus that evoke and prolong terrorist violence. Centered on key aspects of terrorist activities involving target choice and deadly violence, our ecological study contributes to the development of a systematic understanding of specific impacts of government policies on terrorism. In all, constructing an empirically rigorous evidence base for terrorism prevention policies and practices is essential for ensuring the protection of human lives and public resources from terrorism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islamic terrorism in India has posed a formidable threat to India's national security. A result of inimical state policies from India's north-western borders as well as home-grown radicalisation, it has developed into a threat that demands a multi-faceted approach in order to be contained. Counterterrorism strategies to defeat the threat need reliance on psychological warfare in combination with offensive operations. This article, therefore, examines the current state of India's strategic psychological operations against Islamic terrorism and prescribes a Trident Strategy for effective counterterrorist operations. On observation of the counterterrorist successes in Punjab, the Trident Strategy is composed of a strong political will, proactive action and propaganda machinery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a study of the 'wars of words' among selected parties involved in the Syrian conflict. Based on a combination of content analysis and critical discourse analysis (CDA), it examines actors' discourses within the United Nations Security Council (2011–2015), the global arena of confrontation and international legitimisation of armed actions. Here, it investigates their instrumentalisation of the word 'terrorism' and the war on terror narrative, and it explores the dynamics of discursive (de)legitimisation of the use of violence in Syria. The article shows how parties instrumentalised this narrative to criminalise their enemies while legitimising their own violent actions. By doing this, the paper also offers a broader reflection on the global narrative on terrorism, and its different reception and instrumentalisation by core and peripheral actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines a category of parastatates that has been largely neglected; the terrorist parastate. The main aim of the article is to fill this gap by scrutinizing the case of the Islamic State (IS), an organization that could be considered as the epitome of a terrorist parastate. Before the collapse of its territorial strategy in 2019, the group had targeted a significant number of states through terrorist attacks, while simultaneously controlling large swathes of territory and developing state-like institutions. During its buoyant period, IS called itself a state (Dawla), it viewed itself as a state (accomplishing a religious obligation), and perhaps more significantly, it was often perceived as a state by its enemies. The article will discuss the future prospects for the Islamic State after the collapse of its territorial/statehood strategy. After conceptualizing the nature of the terrorist parastate, the article will venture into comparative uncharted territory through an examination of the terrorist parastate vis-Á-vis its ordinary secessionist counterparts. One of the chief dissimilarities is the fact that IS, and terrorist parastates in general, tend to be less durable projects than secessionist parastates because they lack international sponsorship and they are more susceptible to foreign military interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The activities of intelligence services and the expansion of their powers have moved to the center of public debates since the terrorist attacks in Europe. Major discussions have been focused on the mechanisms of mass surveillance, which entail the infringement of individual rights. The purpose of this article is to compare how surveillance powers of intelligence services in the Czech Republic and Slovakia developed in the context of fight against terrorism. Intelligence services in both countries tried to expand their surveillance powers and these attempts have been met with criticism from the political opposition, civil society and courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While garnering heightened attention following the Trump administration's travel restrictions, exclusionary tactics in counterterrorism have a much lengthier history. Given that some terrorism studies scholars identify social and political exclusion as an explanation for the resort to terrorist violence, the selection of a strategy of exclusion is significant. In this article, I identify the elements of a strategy of exclusion and the logic behind this strategy. In particular, I examine the origins and persistence of this strategy in the U.S. context. Rather than a contemporary anomaly, exclusion was among the first strategies the United States added to its counterterrorist tool-kit, and has remained among the most consistent strategies relied on. I trace the history of this strategy from its origins in immigration restrictions passed following the assassination of President McKinley by an anarchist through the contemporary War on Terror. Controversy surrounding this strategy, its negative effects on nonviolent immigrant populations, and its failure to prevent further acts of terrorism suggest it was historically ineffective and may also be so today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on Rapoport's four waves thesis, this study asks whether the emergence of terrorist semi-states (TSS) in the 21st-century MENA region and Pakistan mean that we are seeing the beginning of a new (fifth) wave. We define a TSS as a rebel group that a) has control over portions of a weak state's territory, maintaining governance there; b) but still launches terrorist attacks against third-party states. To be considered a fifth wave, the new terrorism phenomenon at hand must both fit Rapoport's criteria of a wave (be global, have the same driving force) and also be significantly different from the prior wave. Clearly, the TSSs are different from the religious terror groups of the fourth wave in key respects: they prioritize territorial control, they engage in a much wider array of governance activities (not just social services), most of their victims have been members of the same religion—namely, Muslims (which suggests that they are driven more by the pursuit of power than by Jihad); and finally, their behavior (though not their statements) shows they have a local rather than a universal agenda. The main counter-argument is that TSSs are all Islamic and have so far not been exported globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The danger of nuclear terrorism has heightened significantly in the recent years largely because of the transnational terrorist networks and their unrelenting efforts to acquire nuclear technology. The menace of nuclear terrorism is alarming and should be calculated as credible source of emerging trends in terrorism. No incident of nuclear terrorism happened yet but terrorist groups are struggling to steal fissile materials, nuclear technology or insiders' support to either procure a crude weapon or steal one. International community is concerned with such foreseeable scenario. This research attempts to make a realistic calculation of the hazards of nuclear terrorism. First part of the paper underlines hype of nuclear terrorism and the risks it poses. It also signifies magnitude of reality involving nuclear terrorism. Second part of the paper underscores the response to international media that is frenzy about risk of nuclear terrorism in Pakistan. It also highlights the safety and security measures that Pakistan has adopted under the guidelines of IAEA and Nuclear Security Summits. This paper concludes with the argument that over the years Pakistan has remained relatively open about sharing information regarding how it is making advancements in its command and control system to ward off any risks of nuclear terrorism and has been successful in achieving better levels of security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's perspective on the European Union's (EU's) maintaining the group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) on its terrorism, or terror, list. An overview of Western nongovernmental organizations' (NGOs') and PFLP member Leila Khaled's efforts to revoke the EU's decision of placing PFLP on the list is provided. The PFLP's use of political violence in the Israel-Palestine Conflict is discussed.

The decision in the case of Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project raised important issues about civil liberties in the United States (2010), including freedom of speech and freedom of association, in relation to U.S. foreign policy actions. While the decision has the potential to infringe on certain liberties, the decision itself was based on very limited information on the nature of terrorism, the foreign terrorist organizations involved, and the processes by which terrorist groups can be induced to peacefully re-enter domestic political systems. There are also concerns about what can be the arbitrary designation of groups as foreign terrorist organizations. These issues raise serious questions about the role of the Supreme Court in the overall political system and judgments in cases involving terrorism and foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.S. law differentiates between two categories of terrorism. “International terrorism" covers threats with a putative international nexus, even when they stem from U.S. citizens or residents acting only within the United States. “Domestic terrorism" applies to political violence thought to be purely domestic in its origin and intended impact. The law permits broader surveillance, wider criminal charges, and more punitive treatment for crimes labeled international terrorism. Law enforcement agencies frequently consider U.S. Muslims “international" threats even when they have scant foreign ties. As a result, they police and punish them more intensely than white nationalists and other “domestic" threats. This legal divide not only harms individuals and communities but also reinforces distorted public perceptions of terrorism that fuel anti-immigrant and discriminatory policies. This Article is the first to challenge the domestic-international divide in U.S. terrorism law. It maps the divergence in the investigation, prosecution, and punishment of terrorism. It then refutes the three leading rationales for the divide: (1) civil liberties; (2) federalism; and (3) the magnitude of the threats. It further argues that, once the law divides threats into the “domestic" and “international," the latter category will predictably expand to cover U.S. individuals perceived as “foreign," even if they are citizens with negligible relationships abroad. Policymakers should reject the legal divide as both incoherent and invidious. But rather than “ratchet up" the criminalization of domestic terrorism in the name of equality, they should make the law's approach to “international" terrorism more accountable and just. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some terrorist organizations provoke their targets into deploying massive countermeasures, allowing terrorists to mobilize a greater share of their audience. Why would a government pursue such a costly strategy if it only strengthens the opponent? I develop a signaling model of terrorism, counterterrorism, and recruitment. If a target government is unsure whether the terrorists' audience is sympathetic to the cause, weaker groups sometimes bluff strength by attacking. To check this bluff, governments sometimes respond to attacks with large-scale operations, even though they know they might be overreacting. Comparative statics reveal that overreaction regret is most likely when the target is wealthy and large operations are more effective. Thus, a selection effect creates the false impression that provocation is most effective against geopolitically privileged targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses government mechanisms in the fight against terrorism with particular emphasis on the bundling and unbundling of ten governance dynamics. The empirical evidence is based on a panel of 53 African countries for period 1998-2012 and generalized method of moments. The following findings are established. First, for the most part, political governance and its constituents, respectively, have negative effects on all terrorism dynamics, with the following consistent increasing order of negative magnitude: unclear terrorism, transnational terrorism, domestic terrorism and total terrorism. Second, overwhelmingly for economic and institutional governances, the governance dynamics and their constituent components affect terrorism negatively, with the magnitude on domestic terrorism consistently higher than that on transnational terrorism. Third, for most specifications, the effect of general governance is consistently negative on terrorism variables. Theoretical and practical policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on Peace Through Sports program in Northeastern Nigeria to increase opportunities for education and future employment for local youth and to prevent them from joining Boko Haram. Topics discussed include influence of unemployment in joining Boko Haram; views on the terrorist activities of Boko Haram in Northeastern Nigeria; and use of sport as tool to maintain socioeconomic and cultural community.

The weak border between Afghanistan and Pakistan and old administrative structure in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (generally called FATA or shortly tribal areas), made this region a hub of international militant organizations during the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s. After the 9/11, the tribal areas remained the focus of world attention for the security threat to the world in general and the region in particular. To make the rest of the country more secure, Pakistan army launched military operations against the foreign militants in the tribal areas. The government then struck peace agreements with them in the following years as well as the military operations continued in different parts of FATA against militants. National Action Plan (NAP) was the final step towards combating militancy. This paper examines the questions: which policy of the government was successful in countering militancy in the tribal areas as well as in the country? Was a comprehensive policy needed to fight against militancy in the country? Primary and secondary sources are incorporated in methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors convey their views on whether there is clear Conservative or Labour approach to countering terrorism in terms of laws and policies. The development of counter-terrorism law since 2001 shows a convergence of views between Labour and the Conservatives. A reorientation of counter-terrorism law in Great Britain towards rights and away from controls requires more than party political change. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 regulated six types of investigatory power.

The introductory article to the special issue discusses terrorism and political violence in the Nordic countries and reviews the state of academic research on the topic. Even though the Nordic countries appear to have suffered from lower levels of terrorism and political violence than many other Western states, they have been less void and peripheral with regard to such phenomena than common wisdom and academic scholarship would suggest. While some notable acts of violence like the July 2011 attacks in Norway have been covered in research literature to a certain degree, other phenomena such as far-right violence in Sweden have attracted less attention. The article discusses the ways in which the analysis of Nordic countries could contribute to the field of research and how articles included in the special issue address existing gaps in literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The little-known assassination in 1904 of governor general Bobrikov, the Russian ruler of Finland, by the Finnish Senate clerk Eugen Schauman can be explained as an act of tyrannicide, anarchism, or terrorism. The article analyzes the question of which category this deed fits into and discusses the local and international background of one of the most significant acts of violence in Nordic history. It also postulates that around the time of Bobrikov’s murder in 1904 a fundamental shift occurred in the usage of the term “terrorism,” which began to replace “anarchism” as the standard signifier for violent crimes against civilization as well as against specific political grievances and institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper models the feasibility of common policy initiatives against global terrorism, as well as timelines for their enforcement. The empirical evidence is based on 78 developing countries for the period 1984–2008. Domestic, transnational, unclear and total terrorism variables are used. Absolute (or unconditional) and conditional catch‐ups are estimated using Generalised Method of Moments. We establish consistently that, the rate of catch‐up is higher in domestic terrorism relative to transnational terrorism. The time to full catch‐up required for the implementation of common policies without distinction of nationality is found to be in a horizon of 13–20 years for domestic terrorism and 24–28 years for transnational terrorism. Hence, from a projection date of 2009, in spite of decreasing cross‐country differences in terrorists’ attacks, there is still a long way to go before feasible common policy initiatives can be fully implemented without distinction of nationality. The paper is original by its contribution to the empirics of conflict resolution through decreasing cross‐country differences in terrorism tendencies. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I'm interested in the 2750 victims of the 9/11 attacks in New York City. I consider two connected issues. The first regards bereavement journeys of victims' families and the significance of receiving a body to bury vis-à-vis the normative assignment to find closure. The second issue I address is how forensic experts, their technologies, and managing protocols interact with victims' families and their emotions. Using insights from Science and Technology Studies, I articulate some of the goods and bads of identification practices and argue for extensive communication and cooperation between experts and victims' families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues, with a focus on the final 10 years of the Mubarak regime, that the US policy of using economic interdependence to influence stability in Egypt failed. By assessing the formation of this US policy and the factors concerning US‒Egyptian ties, this paper also provides a better understanding of US policy towards Egypt in general. The argument is entrenched in the stability through economic interdependence literature and identifies how this case study disproves the positive correlation associated with these two variables. The paper achieves this aim by consulting primary source governmental and non-governmental material, media, analytical and scholarly work concerned with the topic. Consequently, the paper identifies how and why Egypt’s alignment to the ‘War on Terror’, suppression of political opposition and the run-up to the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, led to the US policy failure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The relationship between security, law, and public policy, generally speaking, is one fraught with tension. This is the case, in part, because security has the potential for limitless application. During the campaign and since taking office, candidate (and later President) Trump clearly espoused an emphasis on security in order to "Make America Great Again." Securitization measures from a political, economic, sociocultural, and foreign policy perspective were key pillars of President Trump's campaign and have informed Executive policy-making since Trump assumed office. In the present highly contentious political environment, wherein the Executive has vigorously articulated and pursued an expansive sociopolitical and economic agenda that is tinctured with security, it is timely to critically examine the nexus between security, law, and public policy vis-à-vis terrorism. The nexus between the latter is the focus of this work. More specifically, this article provides a select comparative analysis of U.S. and E.U. law as it pertains to the aforementioned nexus and international terrorism. Comparative analysis of international terrorism law yields valuable insight into the politicized nature of law and security. A comparative analysis of international terrorism law sheds light on the cultural, ideological, and political dimensions that inform policy and practice. The use of law, the factors that influence its postulation, e.g., culture, history, and politics, presents a working case study of assessing the efficacy of different approaches to and interpretations of national security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article focuses on how 13 professionals in key organisations in Sweden – all commissioned to design social and pedagogical efforts to prevent recruitment to terror groups that commit violence in the name of Islam – understand and reason regarding the root causes of recruitment and possible measures to counteract it. The 13 informants’ reasoning is analysed through critical discourse analysis, the aim being to investigate discursive practices that influence the construction of a Swedish discourse on the “prevention of violent extremism”. The analysis shows that in the informants’ reasoning, a conflict can be found between security-driven doctrines that strive to individualise the issue of “violent extremism”, and their understanding that segregation is the primary, though indirect, factor sparking “radicalisation”. This conflict seems to impair the use of a professional language to describe and talk about the practical methodology that the informants are developing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against a backdrop of acute global terrorist actions and international counter-terrorist initiatives, and newly marked involvement of UK universities in counter-terrorism with the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, this article reviews a wide multidisciplinary literature to provide a structural analysis of terrorism and counter-terrorism policy and research in UK universities over a 20-year timeframe (1997-2017), identifying three phases in terrorism and counter-terrorism legislative and related policy contexts: temporary; permanent and normative permanence. These three periods correlate with a vast expansion of academic terrorism research which is multidisciplinary, rapidly diversifying and expanding in direct correlation to the intensification of terroristic action. Mindful of a complex context of intensified global terrorism, the article identifies shifting patterns in the aims and manifest impacts of terrorism and counter-terrorism policy and research in UK universities. This article concludes by proposing a working analytic-structural framework for framing the disciplinary-epistemological, institutional and operational impacts on UK higher education of terrorism and counter-terrorism policy and research, including a critical and little explored relationship between universities and security and intelligence agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dual conditions of an early emphasis on context within terrorism theory and an existing familiarity of place as point or jurisdiction for hazards researchers led to a subsequent diminished role for place as a core explanatory concept in the study of terrorism. This condition is increasingly untenable. There is growing evidence within the environmental risk-hazards literature and theories of terrorism that holistic understandings of place beyond simply a point on the Earth will enhance knowledge of how individuals might respond to this hazard. Drawing on 93 interviews conducted in Boston, Massachusetts (USA) before the Marathon attacks in 2013, and a subset of additional interviews conducted after, I answer the following question: What role does place play in the way that ordinary people experience vulnerability to terrorism at a micro-scale? I demonstrate that people interpret their risk not simply through the media or representativeness of particular places – ideas which are commonly assumed to amplify risk and fear – but rather that subjective experiences of everyday, practical places actually attenuate such perceptions and emotions. This paper presents several contributions to public policy, including rethinking a place-based paradigm for how emergency managers communicate with the public, how to generate a politics of fear reduction based in place, and how to rethink future studies on terrorism to appreciate the practical places of everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting with the assault on the offices of the satirical magazineCharlie Hebdoon 7 January 2015, the French Republic has endured a series of terrorist attacks, culminating in the massacre of civilians on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice on 14 July 2016, an outrage deliberately and symbolically timed to coincide with the Bastille Day celebration. During this period, the governing and other elites in France attempted to foster a sense of national unity around key republican values as the most effective response to the threat posed by terrorism. After examining the inconsistent postures struck by the French socialist government in the months following the outrages of 2015 and 2016, Raymond’s article will analyse the contradictions of the previous administration in order to illustrate the argument that the problematic relationship between race, identity and secularism cuts across the traditional ideological cleavages of left and right. The failure of leading mainstream political figures to articulate an effective and unifying discourse in the face of the terrorist threat to France is not, however, purely a failure of communication. Raymond will address the adequacy of a blueprint for social cohesion shaped by the Third Republic and exemplified by the formal separation of church and state in 1905. He considers whether the traditional understanding of what it means to belong to the ‘one and indivisible’ republic has problematized the sense of national self-esteem and contributed to the current tension in France. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the possible terrorist threat that returning jihadist members of the terrorist group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) pose to Western countries, following ISIS's potential defeat in Iraq and Syria. An overview of Western government policies towards members of ISIS seeking to return to the West is provided.

International politics exert considerable influence over daily life. In US the anti-left and anti-Stalinist intellectual movements were possible only under the Cold War. This happens because state of conflicts, warfare and geopolitical discrepancies mould the national moods as well as the loyalty citizenries have by its officialdom. The same understanding applies on the war on terror and 9/11. Many people experienced a state of panic that lasted months or even years after the attacks. This event not only involved US in a war against terrorism which is multilayered, but also opens the doors for the advent of a new era, which is based on a much deeper sentiment of terror, in which case it affects our daily working life. The metaphor of terrorism pressed Governments to close borders, trace migrants and implement a plenty of policies to create political stability. Following Jonathan Simon's book, Governing through crime, this chapter develops the thesis that terrorism placed the western axiom of hospitality in jeopardy, adopting the process of securitization as the main axis of dialogue between workers and capital owners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]