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1 – 10 of over 1000This study aims to examine the effect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on suicide terrorism in different regions of the world and changes in the trends in suicide terrorism according…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on suicide terrorism in different regions of the world and changes in the trends in suicide terrorism according to regions before and after 9/11.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the data obtained from the Global Terrorism Database from 1981 to 2019, the descriptive statistics were computed first and then, independent samples t-tests were run to compare the monthly mean percentage of suicide-terrorism incidents that occurred in each region between the pre-9/11 and the post-9/11 periods. Finally, to statistically assess the effect of the 9/11 attacks and changes in the trends for the dependent variables over time, monthly interrupted time-series analyzes were conducted.
Findings
The results of monthly interrupted time series analyzes showed that after the 9/11 attacks, the trends for suicide-terrorism rates decreased significantly in three regions including South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa and Europe, while the trend for suicide-terrorism rates increased significantly in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, no statistically significant changes in the trends in suicide-terrorism rates occurred in three regions including North America, East Asia and Central Asia and Southeast Asia before 9/11, during November 2001 or after 9/11.
Originality/value
This study indicates the critical importance of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in suicide terrorism and its impact on these events in different regions of the world. The research also provides some recommendations concerning the effectiveness of defensive and offensive counterterrorism policies against suicide terrorism.
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In this chapter, I apply theories of conflict and social control derived from the work of Donald Black to explain when suicide attacks will occur and who will carry them out.
Abstract
Purpose
In this chapter, I apply theories of conflict and social control derived from the work of Donald Black to explain when suicide attacks will occur and who will carry them out.
Methodology/approach
Drawing on the published literature on suicide, suicide terrorism, and social control, I present a structural analysis of suicide attacks that specifies which configurations of social space and social time are most likely to produce them.
Findings
I propose that suicide attacks can be explained by structural patterns such as social distance, status inferiority, organization, and large movements of social time. Furthermore, sacrifice is greater among those who are socially marginal individuals whose locations are otherwise conducive to both partisanship and self-destruction.
Originality/value
I highlight structural similarities between suicide attacks and other forms of violence, social control, and suicide, thus contributing to the systemization of structural theories of human behavior and suggesting avenues for further study.
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Analysts of armed conflict and war have noted a considerable shift in the way wars are conducted in the present. These analyses share the observations that present-day warfare…
Abstract
Analysts of armed conflict and war have noted a considerable shift in the way wars are conducted in the present. These analyses share the observations that present-day warfare includes more and more non-state actors as warring parties. Terrorist groups are also part of the (post-)modern picture of violent conflict. Within the past decade, they have increasingly relied on the instrument of suicide terrorism. Suicide attacks are an irritating phenomenon as they seem inherently irrational. The paper examines the spread of the suicide attacks in different parts of the world and identifies cross-case structures, contexts, and mechanisms that propel the use of suicide bombers.
Marissa Mandala and Joshua D. Freilich
The purpose of this paper is to use an environmental criminology and situational crime prevention (SCP) framework to study global assassinations carried out by terrorists. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use an environmental criminology and situational crime prevention (SCP) framework to study global assassinations carried out by terrorists. The authors set forth a series of hypotheses to explain successful and unsuccessful assassination incidents.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use assassination data from the Global Terrorism Database from 1970 to 2014 to estimate a series binary logistic regression models.
Findings
Results indicate that various situational factors contribute to successful assassinations, such as target types, weapon types, total fatalities, and injuries.
Practical implications
These findings suggest that environmental criminology and SCP are valuable in developing prevention measures that thwart and disrupt attempted assassinations by terrorists.
Originality/value
Criminology has yet to apply environmental criminology and SCP to assassinations, a tactic often used by terrorists. This paper thus extends the existing assassination, terrorism, and criminology literature by applying this framework to assassinations performed by terrorists.
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The purpose of this paper is to present research findings that improve our understanding of the role for business in the “War on Terror”. This paper is not about examining counter…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present research findings that improve our understanding of the role for business in the “War on Terror”. This paper is not about examining counter‐terrorism commodities or products. Rather, this paper aims to examine management attitudes and techniques for creating images of security that work to reduce the risk of terrorism.
Design/methodology/approach
A brief literature exploration informs research that was carried out in Melbourne, Australia in 2005 with managers in organisations located in Melbourne's central business district (CBD). This research comprised in‐depth interviews of 40‐60 minutes in length. In total, 12 managers were interviewed. Two key respondents emerged and their views are presented in this paper.
Findings
It is argued in this paper that managers are compelled to engage in counter‐terrorism in order to protect customers, clients and the public. Yet counter‐terrorism security is often not what it seems. When businesses are engaged in countering terrorism they are engaged in creating images of security.
Research limitations/implications
The sample population for this research is quite small and is not intended to be representative or generalisable to a larger population. Rather, this research represents special cases where counter‐terrorism has become an important consideration for business security. The results highlight effective and tangible mechanisms that managers can adopt to play a key role in the “War on Terror”.
Practical implications
This research can assist managers in preparing their response to terrorism and the threat it poses to their business.
Originality/value
Research on terrorism and business is rare and often under‐developed. This research contributes to our understanding of how businesses must confront and respond to terrorism.
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Carol Galvin, Aisling Martin, Paige Milburn and Patrick John Kennedy
Factors that may influence risk and/or vulnerability to young people’s involvement in terrorism are currently unclear. Understanding the factors that contribute to a young…
Abstract
Purpose
Factors that may influence risk and/or vulnerability to young people’s involvement in terrorism are currently unclear. Understanding the factors that contribute to a young person’s risk profile is a high priority for Youth Justice Services to enable the development of targeted interventions and subsequent risk reduction. The purpose of this study is to systematically identify and critically review studies relating to young peoples’ involvement in terrorism to understand potential risk and/or vulnerability factors and the implications for intervention.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature was evaluated using the systematic review method. Twelve papers were selected for the systematic review according to the inclusion criteria.
Findings
Twelve factors emerged that indicated relevance to terrorism by young people and were combined into five overarching themes: contextual, social, psychological factors, trauma and use of time.
Originality/value
This systematic review is one of the first of its kind relating to terrorism by young people. The reported findings will be valuable to practitioners seeking to understand the risk and vulnerability factors related to terrorism by young people and the implications for intervention. Directions for future research are explored.
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The aim of the chapter is to outline a framework for a cultural analysis of terrorism. It is based on an analogy between the logic that characterizes terrorism and the logic that…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the chapter is to outline a framework for a cultural analysis of terrorism. It is based on an analogy between the logic that characterizes terrorism and the logic that characterizes the “worlds” of artistic and cultural production.
Design methodology/approach
This chapter critically examines some explanations of the logic of terrorism which respectively assign a central role to individual psychology, the rational choice of the group and values. It is therefore based on secondary sources.
Findings
The chapter argues that the logic of terrorism can be fully understood only as a result of the “cultural” construction of collective and individual identities.
Research limitations/implication
The chapter provides a framework for a cultural analysis of terrorism.
Originality/value of the chapter
The chapter borrows the concept of a “political world” and makes of it a central tool to explain the set of symbolic products that characterizes terrorism.
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Purpose: The majority of academic and policy studies on counterterrorism rely on what is termed “the terror stock model.” According to this model, terrorist activity can be viewed…
Abstract
Purpose: The majority of academic and policy studies on counterterrorism rely on what is termed “the terror stock model.” According to this model, terrorist activity can be viewed as a product of a stock of terror: a combination of human, physical, and monetary resources needed to launch terrorist attacks. Consequently, countering terrorism is a matter of reducing the capacity of terrorist organizations to operate via direct assaults on terrorists themselves. Defining terrorism as a form of collective action, this article examines how various Israeli initiatives influence Palestinian acts of terrorism.
Method: This paper investigates how the rate of suicide terror attempts is affected by violent, non-violent, and socioeconomic forms of initiatives by the Israeli government between 2000 and 2006 using a series of event-history analyses. While directly addressing the efficacy of what the Israeli government terms as its methods of counterterrorism – violent repression of insurgents and terror suspects – it also explores the applicability of various social movement theories to exact a more accurate awareness of what activities actually incite or inhibit terrorism.
Findings: The results indicate that while certain forms of repression that the Israeli government identifies as counter-terrorist measures (such as killing of insurgents and detentions) have the intended outcome – a lower rate of suicide bombings – other forms and measures of repression have mixed effects. The results suggest that suicide bombings can be explained at least partly by a mixture of increased hostility, limited capacity to mobilize, and socioeconomic distress.
Drawing on the theoretical system known as pure sociology, this chapter presents a theory of the transition from ordinary citizen to dedicated terrorist.
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the theoretical system known as pure sociology, this chapter presents a theory of the transition from ordinary citizen to dedicated terrorist.
Methodology/approach
We support our argument with data drawn from the diverse literature on terrorist affiliation, with particular emphasis on qualitative investigations into the background of individual terrorists.
Findings
The transition from citizen to terrorist represents a dramatic increase in commitment to a moral cause, or partisanship. Such commitment is a product of a specific social geometry: social closeness to a powerful organization and social distance from the enemy. That geometry is triggered by a movement of social time entailing loss and proceeds via gravitational attraction. If uninterrupted, the process reverses social time, resulting in a highly partisan geometry that calls forth risky sacrifice for the cause and severe violence toward enemy civilians.
Originality/value
Our theory builds upon network explanations of the transition to terrorism but goes beyond them in three ways: (1) it provides an explanation of the initial drift into terrorist networks; (2) it does not invoke psychology, purposes or other subjective mental states of the actors; and (3) it situates the transition to terrorism within a general theory of conflict.
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Post-9/11 a first order terrorism narrative has been widely asserted. In this chapter, I explore the development of second order terrorism narrative or ideal-type.
Abstract
Purpose
Post-9/11 a first order terrorism narrative has been widely asserted. In this chapter, I explore the development of second order terrorism narrative or ideal-type.
Methodology/approach
The chapter begins by providing a brief synopsis of three highly mediated Australian counter-terrorism operations and of shortcomings in incident counting. It also relies on some U.S. research on counter-terrorism prosecutions in support.
Findings
In first order terrorism, crime appears as a spectacular irruption or original sin on a tabula rasa of innocence and there is a clean division between us and them, non-state and state, victim and offender. In the second order terrorism narrative there is a contrasting claim that 9/11 is blowback, in kind, for U.S.-led interventions and does not offer a clean division between how we and they behave, blurs non-state and state culpability in big crimes, and sees victims and offenders trading places over time. As we adjust our perspective from the presumptive first order to second order event-acts, terrorism and counter-terrorism, event-act and interdiction, is merged as one.
Originality/value
The concept may be useful in accounting for assumptions pertaining to this category of crime, including its relation with precaution and security.
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