This book examines potential synergies between the fields of Terrorism Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies. The volume presents theoretically- and empirically-informed contributions, which shed light on whether the two fields can inform each other on issues of mutual interest and importance. The book examines key themes including the conceptualisation(s) of peace and violence; the exceptionalisation of terrorist violence; the relationship between scholarship and political power; the dysfunctionality of the liberal peace and the opportunities offered by post-liberal peacebuilding frameworks; and the implications and challenges of cyber-terrorism and cyber-conflict. Furthermore, the book intends to be a launching pad for future debate on whether the recent 'critical' turn in terrorism studies can offer a pathway for peace studies to engage with the so far largely ignored question of power. Consisting of not only key scholars but also practitioners and policy makers, the contributors present a number of case studies, including Colombia, Northern Ireland, the Basque Country, and Iraq, where they explore the relationships between terrorism and peace and conflict approaches. They critically analyse the statist approach inherent in both terrorism approaches and liberal peacebuilding frameworks; the role of the grassroots levels of society; the inefficiency of simplistic frameworks of understanding and implementation; and the chains of governance from international (and transnational) actors to national actors and finally from national to local actors. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism studies, peace and conflict studies, IR and security studies.

This book explains how colonial legacies and the postcolonial state of Pakistan negatively influenced the socio-political and cultural dynamics and the security situation in Pakistan's Pashtun 'tribal' areas, formerly known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). It offers a local perspective on peace and conflict resolution in Pakistan's Pashtun 'tribal' region. Discussing the history and background of the former-FATA region, the role of Pashtun conflict resolution mechanism of Jirga, and the persistence of colonial-era Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) in the region, the author argues that the persistence of colonial legacies in the Pashtun 'tribal' areas, especially the FCR, coupled with the overarching influence of the military on security policy has negatively impacted the security situation in the region. By focusing on the Jirga and Jirga-based Lashkars (or Pashtun militias), the book demonstrates how Pashtuns have engaged in their own initiatives to handle the rise of militancy in their region. Moreover, the book contends that, even after the introduction of constitutional reforms and FATA's merger with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, little has changed in the region, especially regarding the treatment of 'tribal' Pashtuns as equal citizens of Pakistan. This book explains, in detail, why indigenous methods of peace and conflict resolution, such as the Jirga, could play "some" role towards long-term peace in the South Asian region. Historically and contextually informed with a focus on North-West Pakistan, this book will be of interest to academics researching South Asian Studies, International Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies, terrorism, and traditional justice and restorative forms of peace-making.

The rise of the Islamic State since 2014 has led to the re-emergence of terrorism as a serious security threat in Asia. Coupled with the ongoing terrorism and insurgency challenges from both radical religious extremists and also ethno-nationalist insurgencies, it is clear that some parts of Asia remain mired in armed rebellion despite decades of nation-building. While the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan has obviously deteriorated, there is also a growing terrorist challenge, on top of armed insurgencies, in other parts of Asia. A common theme in armed rebellions in the region has been the lack of legitimacy of the state and the presence of fundamental causes stemming from political, economic or social grievances. Addressing rebellion in the region thus requires a comprehensive approach involving transnational co-operation, addressing fundamental grievances, and also the use of more innovative approaches, such as religious rehabilitation and reconciliation programmes.

This open access book brings together a range of contributions that seek to explore the ethical issues arising from the overlap between counter-terrorism, ethics, and technologies. Terrorism and our responses pose some of the most significant ethical challenges to states and people. At the same time, we are becoming increasingly aware of the ethical implications of new and emerging technologies. Whether it is the use of remote weapons like drones as part of counter-terrorism strategies, the application of surveillance technologies to monitor and respond to terrorist activities, or counterintelligence agencies use of machine learning to detect suspicious behavior and hacking computers to gain access to encrypted data, technologies play a significant role in modern counter-terrorism. However, each of these technologies carries with them a range of ethical issues and challenges. How we use these technologies and the policies that govern them have broader impact beyond just the identification and response to terrorist activities. As we are seeing with China, the need to respond to domestic terrorism is one of the justifications for their rollout of the "social credit system." Counter-terrorism technologies can easily succumb to mission creep, where a technology's exceptional application becomes normalized and rolled out to society more generally. This collection is not just timely but an important contribution to understand the ethics of counter-terrorism and technology and has far wider implications for societies and nations around the world.

Studying Muslim fundamentalisms, this book compares key movements, examining their commonalities, differences, and intricate relations, as well as their achievements and failures. Muslim fundamentalisms have the sympathy of approximately half of the Muslim population in the world. Yet, they are divided among themselves and are in a constant state of controversy. The research dwells on the leading fundamentalist movements, such as the Muslim Brothers, Tablighi-Jama'at, al-Qaeda, and ISIS, and illustrates how differently they think about the West and its culture, democracy, and women's presence in the public sphere. By identifying these trends, and studying them comparatively, the book enables the interested reader to make sense of the plethora of fundamentalist movements, which are otherwise lumped together by the media and are barely discernible for the reader. Whereas most studies of Muslim fundamentalism focus on organizational or militant actions that the movements perform, this study concentrates on their efforts to Islamize society through everyday life in a peaceful manner. Identifying the different strands of Muslim fundamentalisms, the book will be a key resource to a wide range of readers including researchers and students interested in politics, religious, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies.

On 12 October 1984, an IRA bomb exploded inside Brighton's Grand Hotel, killing five people and injuring thirty. It was an assassination attempt on Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet, who were staying there for the Conservative party conference. While the bombing was deplorable, the story of how people reacted to it is an inspiring one. People refused to be beaten by what had happened; they got on with their jobs and their lives - a theme with, sadly, a strong resonance in present-day Britain. In Something Has Gone Wrong, Brighton journalist Steve Ramsey speaks to those who were there on the day and involved in its aftermath, many of whom have never spoken publicly about it before. His interviewees include: firemen who worked on the long rescue operation; medics from the local hospital; police officers who rushed to the scene; detectives who played key roles in the criminal investigation; and cabinet ministers and high-ranking civil servants, who describe how the conference continued and how the government pursued business as usual. Incorporating fascinating new insights and information, the author has produced a portrait of this shocking event which combines narrative clarity with the vividness of oral history, and reads like a thriller.

When photographs documenting the torture and humiliation of prisoners at Abu Ghraib came to the attention of a horrified public, national and international voices were raised in shock, asking how this happened. At War with Metaphor offers an answer, arguing that the abuses of Abu Ghraib were part of a systemic continuum of dehumanization. This continuum has its roots in our public discussions of the war on terror and the metaphors through which they are repeatedly framed. Arguing earnestly and incisively that these metaphors, if left unexamined, bind us into a cycle of violence that will only be intensified by a responsive violence of metaphor, Steuter and Wills examine compelling examples of the images of animal, insect, and disease that inform, shape, and limit our understanding of the war on terror. Tying these images to historical and contemporary uses of propaganda through a readable, accessible analysis of media filters, At War with Metaphor vividly explores how news media, including political cartoons and talk radio, are enmeshed in these damaging, dehumanizing metaphors. Analyzing media through the lenses of race and Orientalism, it invites us to hold our media and ourselves accountable for the choices we make in talking war and making enemies.

States across the globe spend billions of dollars fighting terrorism annually. As well as strategic questions about the way in which the money should be spent, we are also confronted with a host of moral issues here, many of which are poorly understood. The Ethics of Counterterrorism offers the first systematic normative theory for guiding, assessing, and criticising counterterrorist policy. Many commentators claim that state actors combating terrorism should set aside ordinary moral and legal frameworks, and instead bind themselves by a different (and, generally, more permissive) set of ethical rules than is appropriate in other areas. The book assesses arguments for this view, and more specifically investigates whether widely-endorsed restrictions on state action in the areas of surveillance, policing, armed conflict, criminal justice, diplomacy, and cultural integration need to be weakened when we are confronted with terrorist threats. With its novel overall framework for assessing counterterrorist strategies, its comprehensive analysis of existing practices, and its bringing the tools of analytic philosophy to bear on new questions regarding how states can fight terrorism both effectively and morally, The Ethics of Counterterrorism promises to be an important point of reference for future debates in this area.

This volume of case studies examines the rise in violent extremism, terrorism and insurgency in South and South East Asia, and subsequent state responses. The South and South East of Asia has experienced various forms of extremism and violence for years, with a growing demand for academic or policy-relevant work that will enhance understanding of the reasons behind this. The violent challenges in this area have taken a variety of forms and are often exacerbated by lack of governance, tie-ins to existing regional criminal networks, colonial legacies and a presence of international terrorist movements. Written by experts with field experience, this volume analyzes the key element of successful response as the appropriate application of doctrine following nuanced assessment of threat. In practice, this often means counterinsurgency doctrine. The essays also analyze the need for irregular war practitioners to systematically examine the changing character of intrastate violent irregular challenges. The volume fills a gap in the understanding of patterns, drivers, organizations and ideologies of various insurgent and terrorist groups, and state responses. It also provides a set of recommendations for addressing the unfolding situation. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism and political violence, counterinsurgency and counterterrorism, Asian politics and security studies in general.

This book presents a critical reflection on the major armed conflicts that occurred during the 1990s and the first decade of the twenty-first century. Conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria all involved the use of terrorism by one or more groups. Looking to the future, the book asks what this means for violent conflicts yet to come? Using a variety of case studies, the authors provide a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the role played by terrorism as a stand-alone tactic as well as one used to ignite broad-scale conflict. They also pose the question on what occasions does terrorism tend to occur as an armed conflict begins to subside, and when, in other words, is it a trailing indicator? -- .

The authors argue that the potential threat of a resurgence of "fascism" has been consistently exaggerated from 1945 until present day; that the ongoing lack of conceptual and definitional clarity with respect to terms like "fascism," the "radical right," the "alt right," "white supremacism," "populism," "racism," etc., has enabled ill-informed or dishonest commentators to distort their meaning and abusively misapply those labels so as to delegitimize their political opponents-that the political and economic elites in charge of contemporary Western societies are now deliberately exaggerating and exploiting the threat posed by the domestic radical right in order to facilitate vilifying, harassing, de-platforming, censoring, "canceling," and repressing disgruntled citizens (no matter where they may lie along the political spectrum) who openly criticize and vigorously oppose their agendas. They also advocate the use of well-established scholarly methods for carrying out research on the right and provide precise definitions of various terms in order to facilitate the development of more accurate categorizations.

This highly original book suggests that the practices of Taliban and the American far right, two very significant and poorly understood groups, share common features. This commonality can be found in the philosophical basis of their ideological beliefs, in their comparative worldviews, and in their political practices. As Raja argues, the Taliban are much less the product of an irrational fundamentalism, and the radical right in America is much more the result of such a mindset, than Americans recognize. After providing a detailed explanation of his theoretical concepts and specialized vocabulary, the author develops a discussion of the subject in this brief but penetrating book. This is a book that should attract a wide readership among both academics and the general public.

Weapons of Mass Destruction are diverse and pose unique challenges to governments attempting to keep them out of the wrong hands and preparing to respond to an attack. This text analyzes Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) weapons and terrorist groups with a known interest in them. It presents accessible information about the technical challenges posed by each type of weapon, assesses the threats, and reviews the US governmental responses. It provides structured CBRN case studies and allows for easy comparison of threats, challenges, and responses. The text combines weapons and policy information in one comprehensive and comparative resource for researchers and students interested in key issues in modern terrorism and international security.

The Maze Prison shows how an establishment built to hold those involved in terrorism, atrocities, murder and allied crimes became a pawn in the partisan conflict that was Northern Ireland. There followed a breakdown of norms, values and control as the last of these shifted from Governors to Ministers, outside officials and even prisoners. This led to the (often random) killing of prison officers and countless allegations, denials and obfuscations, as Prison Rules came into conflict with claims to be treated as prisoners-of-war or be given Special Category status. A social document par excellence, this stark slant on The Troubles and Peace Process cuts through the propaganda and base politics to reveal the truth about the H-Blocks, hunger-strikes, escapes and power struggles. Based on actual records and personal accounts, it challenges myths and legends to warn how easily a community can descend into what the author calls anomie. An invaluable record of `one of the most dangerous prisons in the world'.

In July 2004, federal agents raided the homes of five Palestinian-American families, arresting the five dads. The first trial of the "Holy Land Foundation Five" ended in a hung jury. The second, marked by highly questionable procedures, resulted in very lengthy sentences-for "supporting terrorism" by donating to charities that the U.S. government itself and other respected international agencies had long worked with. In 2013, human rights activist and author Miko Peled started investigating this case. He discussed the miscarriages of justice with the men's lawyers and heard from the men's families about the devastating effects the case had on their lives. He also traveled to the remote federal prison complexes where the men were held to conduct deep interviews. Injustice traces the labyrinthine course of this case, presenting a terrifying picture of governmental over-reach in post-9/11 America.

Investigating the associations of Mohamed Atta and other terrorist pilots in Venice, Florida, as they prepared for the 9/11 attacks, this work discloses the FBI's massive post-attack cover-up to conceal their knowledge of the terrorists' activities. Unreported stories including the assassination attempt on President George W. Bush on the morning of September 11, 2001, and the rampant drug trafficking of the flight school financier are fully discussed, with attention to the stunning evidence of the CIA's knowledge that hundreds of Arab flight students were pouring into southwest Florida. This examination of the conspiracy behind the 9/11 investigation and the CIA complicity in the illegal activities that allowed the known terrorists to continue offers truth behind the "official" story of the attacks.

This book provides a multidisciplinary commentary on a wide range of religious traditions and their relationship to acts of violence. Hate and violence occur at every level of human interaction, as do peace and compassion. Scholars of religion have a particular obligation to make sense out of this situation, tracing its history and variables, and drawing lessons for the future. From the formative periods of the religious traditions to their application in the contemporary world, the essays in this volume interrogate the views on violence found within the traditions and provide examples of religious practices that exacerbate or ameliorate situations of conflict.

Getting Through Security offers an unprecedented look behind the scenes of global security structures. The authors unveil the "secret colleges" of counterterrorism, a world haunted by the knowledge that intelligence will fail, and Leviathan will not arrive quickly enough to save everyone. Based on extensive interviews with both special forces and other security operators who seek to protect the public, and survivors of terrorist attacks, Getting Through Security ranges from targeted European airports to African malls and hotels to explore counterterrorism today. Maguire and Westbrook reflect on what these practices mean for the bureaucratic state and its violence, and offer suggestions for the perennial challenge to secure not just modern life, but humane politics. Mark Maguire has long had extraordinary access to a series of counterterrorism programs. He trained with covert behavior detection units and attended secret meetings of international special forces. He found that security professionals, for all the force at their command, are haunted by ultimately intractable problems. Intelligence is inadequate, killers unexpectedly announce themselves, combat teams don't arrive quickly enough, and for a time an amorphous public is on its own. Such problems both challenge and occasion the institutions of contemporary order. David Westbrook accompanied Maguire, pushing for reflection on what the dangerous enterprise of securing modern life means for key concepts such as bureaucracy, violence, and the state. Introducing us to the "secret colleges" of soldiers and police, where security is produced as an infinite horizon of possibility, and where tactics shape politics covertly, the authors relate moments of experimentation by police trying to secure critical infrastructure and conversations with special forces operators in Nairobi bars, a world of shifting architecture, technical responses, and the ever-present threat of violence. Secrecy is poison. Government agencies compete in the dark. The uninformed public is infantilized. Getting Through Security exposes deep flaws in the foundations of bureaucratic modernity, and suggests possibilities that may yet ameliorate our situation.

Critical Terrorism Studies emerged around 2007, in the context of the rapidly intensifying War on Terror. It was in this era that "terrorism" became a "growth industry" which generated a huge amount of academic research as well as social and political activity. Yet a yawning gap developed between the actual material threat posed by terrorists, and the level of investment and activity devoted to responding to this threat. Similarly, the quality of terrorism research was noticeably weak and lacking in methodological rigour. Critical Terrorism Studies set out to explore the exceptional treatment of political violence, to challenge the political manipulation of terrorism fears and increase in draconian anti-terrorism legislation, and to address some of the conceptual and methodological failings of terrorism research. In the 10 years since the journal Critical Studies on Terrorism was launched, that context and mission remains as important as ever. This volume looks back on the achievements and failures of Critical Terrorism Studies in this period, as well as collecting state of the art research into terrorism discourse, queerness and the War on Terror, the Prevent Strategy, epistemology in terrorism studies, state repression, the ambiguous ends of militant campaigns, the epistemology of preventative counterterrorism, and the question of non-violent responses to terror. The chapters originally published in a special issue in Critical Studies in Terrorism.

This book offers a timely examination of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), a chapter of the transnational movement Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), whose key aim is the revival of the caliphate. It cautions against an overly simplistic read of a group like HTI and political Islam in Indonesia. While there is much to laud, particularly with regard to how leaders in Indonesia have attempted to counteract Islamist extremism, insofar as the trajectory of non-violent Islamism in Indonesia is concerned there are clear reasons for apprehension. Groups like the HTI have been adept at using the democratic space in Indonesia to propound their illiberal objectives, including encouraging the curtailment of Indonesian art forms deemed un-Islamic, and more importantly pushing for certain Islamic sects, such as the Ahmadiyahs, to be banned. Yet, despite its extreme posturing, HTI is accepted as a mainstream Muslim organization. As such, the Indonesian chapter of Hizb ut-Tahrir represents a unique case: unlike other chapters, which are deemed extreme and fringe, HTI, though radical, still exists within the space provided by the Indonesian religio-political landscape. This book offers new insights into HTI's history, organizational structure and ideology, adding considerable new details about HTI and correcting errors in existing literature, while directing its primary focus on explaining HTI's rapid growth in Indonesia. The central argument is that the key to understanding HTI's growth lies in the role collective identity plays in attracting new members and retaining its existing members within the party. Factors such as institutional and non-institutional opportunities within the Indonesian political system, HTI's resource mobilization strategies and the anti-systemic ideology of HTI serve as political, organizational and religious incentives for individuals to join the party and launch collective action. This goes on to emphasize and show that collective identity remains the most crucial factor in the party's growth. Analysing this process of collective identity formation and its impact on recruitment and membership retention is central to this book. This book will be of much interest to students of Southeast Asian politics, regional security, political Islam, and International Relations in general.

Insurgencies are like the hydra, the many-headed beast of Greek mythology. Once one begins, the measures a government takes to eliminate militants to cut off the insurgency s head can provoke countless others to join the enemy ranks. Tactical victories often breed strategic defeats. Traditional search, destroy, and withdraw missions that rely on firepower to wipe out rebels frequently destroy the livelihoods and loved ones of innocent people caught in the cross fire. U.S. troops have seen the pattern repeated as their initially successful offensives toppled enemy regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq but soon transformed into grueling guerrilla wars."Hearts, Minds, and Hydras" outlines the reasons for these worsening situations. The most crucial were self-defeating decisions made by the George W. Bush administration, whose neoconservatism and hubris rather than careful analysis of genuine threats, national interests, and reasonable options shaped its policies. Although the Americans were eventually able to contain and diminish the insurgency in Iraq, the one in Afghanistan not only steadily intensified but also spread into neighboring Pakistan. The near abandonment of the war in Afghanistan and the neoconservative campaign in Iraq were godsends for al Qaeda and all other enemies of the United States. Then, as America s position deteriorated in both wars, the neoconservatives became even more determined to stay the course. William Nester analyzes some of the more prominent dilemmas haunting American policymakers now struggling to win in Afghanistan, fight terrorism in the United States, and reshape their relationship with Pakistan. In doing so, he reveals the nature of that all-too-real monster of insurgency, what feeds it, and how to starve it.

Uniting the best of Michael Fagel and Jennifer Hesterman's books in the fields of homeland security and emergency management, the editors of this volume present the prevailing issues affecting the homeland security community today. Many natural and man-made threats can impact our communities-but these well-known and highly respected authors create order from fear, guiding the reader through risk assessment, mitigation strategies, community EOC planning, and hardening measures based upon real-life examples, case studies, and current research in the practice. As terrorist attacks and natural disasters continue to rock the world, Soft Targets and Crisis Management emphasizes the vulnerability of soft targets like schools, churches, and hospitals, and presents the methodology necessary to respond and recover in the event of a crisis in those arenas. Features: Based on ASIS award-winning texts Provides a multi-faceted look at crisis management principles Offers community-specific examples for diverse locales and threat centers Includes up-to-date case studies on soft target attacks from around the world A must-read for security, emergency management, and criminal justice professionals, Soft Targets and Crisis Management: What Emergency Planners and Security Professionals Need to Know is a crucial text for practitioners seeking to make the world a safer place for others.

The recent proliferation of studies on terrorism has brought scholars from different fields and approaches to converge on this phenomenon. As a result, economists, social and political scientists have developed theories, evidence and, in a sense, even a peculiar jargon of their own. Starting from this assumption, the book aims to bring scholars with different expertise and background around the same table, showing how their individual perspectives can contribute to a broader understanding of the issue at stake. In other words, the aim that inspires the book is that the multi-disciplinary nature of terrorism requires a concerted effort by social sciences - in particular, economics and political science. The book deals with a number of issues - from the definition and forms of terrorism, to its economic determinants, from the distribution and forecast of terror attacks to the measurement of their impact on societies.

Most Americans could not fathom how Islamic terrorists could bring down the World Trade Center or an army psychiatrist could turn on his own soldiers, taking their lives in the name of his religion. How could an ex-army veteran blow up a federal building, or a Jewish doctor gun down Muslims at worship? Or how can one understand why a meditation guru would put sarin gas in a Tokyo subway? None of these incidents fit our conceptions of the benevolence of religion. More importantly, is there something inherent within religions that justifies the taking of human lives? In Few Call It War, Dr. Robert Hicks explores these questions and takes the blinders off illuminating the roots of religious violence, what religious terrorists have in common, and how they differ. He focuses on the current administration's struggle to call ISIS or ISIL what it really is: War. Hicks disagrees with the administration's slow recognition of this enemy. In reality, this war is not as unique as some might think. It is a modern explosion of ancient religious ideologies that masks its historic roots. As Hicks points out, all major religions have used violence and terrorist methodologies at some points in their histories. Few Call It War reveals how the teachings of religious founders and the sacred writings attributed to them provide rich soil from which contemporary religious clerics and ideologues gain converts. Hicks raises the crucial question often asked: "Is there any difference between a Timothy McVeigh and an Osama bin Laden?" For those making the moral equivalence arguments between various terrorists, Hicks dispels the equivalence with a clear understanding of history and religious ideologies. If one is interested in gaining an answer to the question, "Of all the religions in the world, which are most prone to using violence?" Few Call It War provides a well-reasoned answer that is well worth the read.