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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political activism > Terrorism, freedom fighters, armed struggle > General
Accounts of the relationships between states and terrorist organizations in the Cold War era have long been shaped by speculation, a lack of primary sources and even conspiracy theories. In the last few years, however, things have evolved rapidly. Using a wide range of case studies including the British State and Loyalist Paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, as well as the United States and Nicaragua, this book sheds new light on the relations between state and terrorist actors, allowing for a fresh and much more insightful assessment of the contacts, dealings, agreements and collusion with terrorist organizations undertaken by state actors on both sides of the Iron Curtain. This book presents the current state of research and provides an assessment of the nature, motives, effects, and major historical shifts of the relations between individual states and terrorist organizations. The articles collected demonstrate that these state-terrorism relationships were not only much more ambiguous than much of the older literature had suggested but are, in fact, crucial for the understanding of global political history in the Cold War era.
For four years, the people of Crete suffered savage punitive reprisals for their heroic resistance to the barbaric Nazi invaders. Thousands died at the execution wall or from starvation and imprisonment. But their freedom-loving spirit would not let them yield to the German conqueror. Instead, with the help of the British and American military personnel of the SOE and the OSS, they banded together to form a resistance movement against the Nazis that set an example for all the conquered people of Europe to follow. This is a story of the stark reality of human endeavor and sacrifice, marked by deeds of heroism of which little has been said and much less written. This is the true story of an American youth, John Alexander, who, upon his high school graduation in 1940, joined his parents and his sister on a vacation to the Island of Crete to visit his father's parents. The vacation on this beautiful Mediterranean island was overshadowed by the war that spread southward from the European continent to engulf Greece and subsequently Crete in the first airborne invasion of an island fortress in modern military history. After a ten-day, hard-fought battle against the German invader, Crete lay conquered. However, Cretan resistance was so fierce that with the battle concluded, the Nazi conqueror was intent on punishing the entire Cretan population. From the first day of the occupation, the people of Crete suffered savage punitive reprisals for their heroic resistance to the barbaric Nazi invaders. Death squads went from village to village, executing hostages at random and burning entire communities. Two thousand civilians died at the execution wall in the first month of occupation alone. John's father maintained his neutrality as an American citizen during the invasion and the occupation that followed. However, one night, John's father hid three escaped British stragglers in his home until they could be safely escorted to the southern coast for evacuation. The Gestapo found out, entered the Alexander home, killed John's father, and threw the youth into prison to die. John escaped and fled to the mountains, but swore vengeance on the murderer of his father. The people of Crete continued their resistance through the Cretan Resistance Movement and with the aid of British and American military personnel of the SOE and the OSS. They banded together to form a resistance movement against the Nazis that set an example for all the conquered people of Europe to follow. This is a story of the stark reality of human endeavor and sacrifice, marked by acts of heroism of which little has been said and much less written.
Conventional research suggests that news coverage of terrorism is a tool of the terrorist to gain public support and recognition. Based on an analysis of more than 200 evening newscasts aired during the first six years of the Reagan administration, Tales of Terror offers a detailed account of the ways in which news media escalate public panic about terrorism and encourage support for specific U.S. policy objectives, rather than build sympathy for terrorists. Bethami Dobkin explores similarities between news media and government portrayals of terrorism, combining textual criticism with an interpretation of official U.S. policy statements, and argues that government depictions and news presentations of terrorism reproduce an ideology that supports military strength and intervention. Dobkin examines several specific features of news coverage: the dramatic format of television news and the political interests that this format serves; the narrative construction of enemies by television journalists and public officials and the political significance of the "terrorist" label; the use and significance of testimony, particularly that of people affected by crisis; the mutual exploitation of political crisis by both television news producers and public officials; the function of journalism in shaping the conduct of public diplomacy and public perceptions of foreign conflict; and the creation of consensus about the need for military responses to political violence. This revealing study will be of particular interest to scholars of communications and political science.
Terrorism poses an undeniable threat to societies throughout the world today. Martyr terrorism, the fastest growing form of terrorist activity, and arguably the most effective, has become a regular occurrence. But how has terrorist activity evolved in the last 100 years, and what are the ethical costs of terrorism? In this informative book, three philosophers, all experts on the ethics of conflict, examine the various definitions of terrorism and the nature of martyr terrorism. Through accounts of terrorist campaigns, from 19th century Russian terrorism, to the 20th century campaigns in Ireland , Israel and Greece , and contemporary campaigns in Chechnya , Afghanistan and Iraq , this fascinating book explores the ethical implications of terrorism from a philosophical perspective. Setting out the social, psychological and political causes of terrorism, the book interrogates the cases for and against terrorist activity in terms of just war theory. Articulate, provocative and stimulating, this timely book is an ideal introduction to an important contemporary social issue.
When it comes to airline security, there is nothing more important than getting people to their destinations safely. Transportation security is also a key component in the overall mission of protecting the nation against terrorist attacks. But airline security is a tricky goal--how do you achieve acceptable levels of security at a reasonable cost and without unduly inconveniencing passengers or invading their privacy? That's exactly what this book is about. Experts examine the latest thinking and analyze the latest research on air passenger security, discuss current practices, and show how technology can solve myriad problems. The book will, in short, help keep us all safer when flying.
This book takes a comprehensive look at the PLO, examining its origins, legal status, goals, and strategies. Jamal R. Nassar investigates the PLO's role in regional and international politics and unveils the dynamics of the power relationships responsible for the organization's successes and failures. The book discerns patterns and trends in the PLO's activities and studies the conditions under which these patterns and trends develop. Nassar places the PLO in a global perspective, delving into the basis of the organization's legitimacy and its prospects for participation in the peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The book's organization and comprehensive coverage--beginning with a thorough historical background of the Palestinian experience--make it an excellent study for the student of Middle Eastern politics. Nassar probes the rise of the PLO to its present position as a major actor in the Middle East--one that is no less significant than a number of sovereign states. He shows that the PLO is a complex power that cannot hope to achieve its objectives independently of other regional powers but can prevent these powers from resolving the Arab-Israeli dispute. The book outlines the many peace initiatives that have been foiled by the PLO and reveals how Israel's refusal to talk to the PLO will likely thwart the achievement of peace. Students and scholars of Middle East and Palestinian politics, the Arab-Israeli conflict, terrorism, political ideologies, revolutionary movements, transnational politics, and contemporary history will find Jamal Nassar's book on the PLO an invaluable resource.
The danger raised by the terrorist threat is real, existential, and vital to the United States. But the attacks on 9/11 have been broadly misunderstood. In assessing the meaning and significance of "the war on terror," Tschirgi raises many issues related to the Middle East and American policy toward that area. For example, he debunks the entire "exceptionalist" approach to the Arab world (the presumption that Arab societies fail to be fathomed by Western social science). While Tschirgi stresses the need for resolving the war on terrorism favorably, he also suggests two broad policy recommendations. First, he argues that while the United States should maintain its firm commitment to Israel's preservation as a Jewish state, it has no corresponding duty to support Israeli expansionism. U.S.-Israeli relations should proceed on this basis and should be informed by a greater American reliance on principles of international law. Second, Tschirgi concludes that an American withdrawal from Iraq must be effected as early as possible. Tschirgi's provocative thesis is that the attacks of 9/11 were not as unique an event as we commonly believe. Rather, they were understandable--though deplorable--human reactions to a combination of factors that fueled the Arab world's marginalization and led to a generalized feeling among the people of that region that the West (and particularly the United States) posed a mortal threat to their identity. Employing three case studies of marginalized violent conflict--Mexico's Zapatista conflict, Egypt's struggle against the Gama'a al-Islamiyya in Upper Egypt, and Nigeria's fight against the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta--Tschirgi demonstrates the dynamics throughwhich "traditional" peoples have in modern times opted to wage hopeless struggle against objectively more powerful states. The parallels between the dynamics that informed each of these situations and those marking the international Muslim insurgency against the West are striking, as are the significant differences between the two phenomena. The parallels are found in the mechanics of marginalization and resistance. The differences lie, first, in the Muslim insurgency's identification of the West as a total enemy and the struggle with it as having a zero-sum nature and, second, in the modern terrorists' potential access to lethal means of mass destruction. Both the parallels and differences that mark the two phenomena help deepen a real understanding of the meaning of 9/11.
Using psychological theory and the author's direct experience working with at-risk youth, this book answers the questions on the minds of anyone shocked and appalled by the events of the Boston Marathon bombings. The shock of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings was soon followed by a revelation initially disturbing and mystifying: two apparently unremarkable brothers-one a teenager, the other a young adult; both well-liked immigrants and longtime U.S. residents-had allegedly triggered the bombs. Why were these two seemingly "normal" individuals driven to commit such acts of coldblooded violence? This book examines not only the lives, motivations, and key influences of these infamous brothers, but those of other young, unexpected terrorists worldwide, comparing factors that contributed to their decisions to become terrorists and identifying methods used to recruit them into that deadly fold. The chapters teach readers warning signs that youths are being drawn in to terrorism and serve to spur meaningful conversations among citizens, politicians, and policymakers about what we can do to prevent such recruitment of youths and young adults, including other U.S. residents who might consider emulating the Tsarnaev brothers. The book also addresses larger, related questions, such as whether humans are naturally violent, who benefits when young individuals engage in terrorism, and why minors are recruited to become killers. Identifies the various factors and influences that drove two young men who were described by many who knew them to be "nice, normal people" to commit premeditated acts of violence Addresses recent events in other countries with similarly aged and seemingly unthreatening young adults and teens as perpetrators of attacks Provides an appendix containing sources for further research, including books, news articles, links to journal articles, and websites of research organizations Includes a foreword by Michael Lamport Commons, PhD, Harvard Medical School
The Madrid train bombers, shoe-bomber Richard Reid, al-Qaeda in Iraq, and the 9/11 attacks-all were led by men radicalized behind bars. By their very nature, prisons are intended to induce transformative experiences among inmates, but today's prisons are hotbeds for personal transformation toward terrorist beliefs and actions due to the increasingly chaotic nature of prison life caused by mass incarceration. In The Spectacular Few, Mark Hamm demonstrates how prisoners use criminal cunning, collective resistance and nihilism to incite terrorism against Western targets. A former prison guard himself, Hamm knows the realities of day-to-day prison life and understands how prisoners socialize, especially the inner-workings and power of prison gangs-be they the Aryan Brotherhood or radical Islam. He shows that while Islam is mainly a positive influence in prison, certain forces within the prison Muslim movement are aligned with the efforts of al-Qaeda and its associates to inspire convicts in the United States and Europe to conduct terrorist attacks on their own. Drawing from a wide range of sources-including historical case studies of prisoner radicalization reaching from Gandhi and Hitler to Malcolm X, Bobby Sands and the detainees of Guantanamo; a database of cases linking prisoner radicalization with evolving terrorist threats ranging from police shootouts to suicide bombings; interviews with intelligence officers, prisoners affiliated with terrorist groups and those disciplined for conducting radicalizing campaigns in prison-The Spectacular Few imagines the texture of prisoners' lives: their criminal thinking styles, the social networks that influenced them, and personal "turning points" that set them on the pathway to violent extremism. Hamm provides a broad understanding of how prisoners can be radicalized, arguing that in order to understand the contemporary landscape of terrorism, we must come to terms with how prisoners are treated behind bars.
This book engages with the most urgent philosophical questions pertaining to the problem of terrorism. What is terrorism? Could it ever be justified? Assuming that terrorism is just one of many kinds of political violence, the book denies that it is necessarily wrong and worse than war. In fact, it may be justifiable under certain circumstances.
EU internal security concerns such as migration, police and judicial cooperation are today part of EU foreign policy. This book shows how those concerns dominate the EU agenda towards Mediterranean countries. Adopting a rational-choice institutionalist approach, it explores EU policy and the strategic choices made after the 2011 Arab revolts.
This textbook offers a technical, architectural, and management
approach to solving the problems of protecting national
infrastructure and includes practical and empirically-based
guidance for students wishing to become security engineers, network
operators, software designers, technology managers, application
developers, Chief Security Officers, etc.. This approach includes
controversial themes such as the deliberate use of deception to
trap intruders. In short, it serves as an attractive framework for
a new national strategy for cyber security. Each principle is
presented as a separate security strategy, along with pages of
compelling examples that demonstrate use of the principle. A
specific set of criteria requirements allows students to understand
how any organization, such as a government agency, integrates the
principles into their local environment. The STUDENT EDITION
features several case studies illustrating actual implementation
scenarios of the principals and requirements discussed in the text.
It also includes helpful pedagogical elements such as chapter
outlines, chapter summaries, learning checklists, and a 2-color
interior. And it boasts a new and complete instructor ancillary
package including test bank, IM, Ppt slides, case study questions,
and more. Provides case studies focusing on cyber security challenges and solutions to display how theory, research, and methods, apply to real-life challenges Utilizes, end-of-chapter case problems that take chapter content and relate it to real security situations and issues Includes instructor slides for each chapter as well as an instructor s manual with sample syllabi and test bank"
Presenting the reader with provocative articles that critically examine the morality of the war on terrorism as it has evolved over the past eight years, this book consists of articles that effectively address specific aspects of the war on terrorism that are missing or underrepresented in ethical discourse since 9/11. The book includes a mix of article types: theory, lecture, research, battlefield journalism, investigative reporting, as well as excerpts from international law and a military leadership manual.
Image Warfare in the War on Terror provides an innovative re-examination of the war on terror. It argues that since 11 September 2001 image warfare has replaced techno-war as the dominant warfighting model. Roger suggests that it is a form of warfare in which Al Qaeda currently dominates while the West is still playing catch-up. By dealing frankly with the deployment of disturbing images generated by the 9/11 attacks - from bin Laden videos, suicide terrorism and hostage executions to prisoner abuses, Roger provides us with a new vocabulary through which these acts can be discussed and understood. This book offers the first comprehensive assessment, from an International Relations perspective, of image warfare. Through engagement with IR, Media Studies and Visual Culture literatures, Roger introduces three new conceptual terms 'image munitions', 'counter-image munitions' and 'remediation battles'. These terms are then explored in chapters about political communications concerning Bush, Blair and bin Laden; suicides; executions and abuses.
On 21 December 1988, Pan Am flight 103 departed London Heathrow for New York. Shortly after take-off, a bomb detonated, killing all aboard and devastating the small Scottish town of Lockerbie below. Only one man has ever been convicted of the crime: Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, though few believe that he acted alone.In 2009, a request was made by Libya for al-Megrahi's release from prison on compassionate grounds after he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The decision to grant or deny that request fell squarely and exclusively on the shoulders of one man: Kenny MacAskill, Scotland's Justice Secretary from 2007 to 2014.Detailing the build-up to the atrocity and the carnage left in its wake, MacAskill narrates the international investigation that followed and the diplomatic intrigue that saw a Scottish court convened in the Netherlands. He describes the controversial release of al-Megrahi, explains the international dimensions involved and lays bare the commercial and security interests that ran in the background throughout the investigation and trial. Finally, he answers how and why it happened - and who was really responsible for the worst terrorist attack to have occurred on British soil before or since.
This volume introduces the concept of Islamist extremist "master narratives" and offers a method for identifying and analyzing them. Drawing on rhetorical and narrative theories, the chapters examine thirteen master narratives and explain how extremists use them to solidify their base, recruit new members, and motivate actions. The book concludes with an integration of the idea of master narratives, their story forms, and archetypes into existing strategic communication understandings, and suggestions for using this approach to create counter-terrorism strategies.
As the first decade of the twenty-first century has made brutally clear, the very definitions of war and the enemy have changed almost beyond recognition. Threats to security are now as likely to come from armed propagandists, popular militias, or mercenary organizations as they are from conventional armies backed by nation-states. In this timely book, national security expert Max G. Manwaring explores a little-understood actor on the stage of irregular warfare--the gang. Since the end of the Cold War, some one hundred insurgencies or irregular wars have erupted throughout the world. Gangs have figured prominently in more than half of those conflicts, yet these and other nonstate actors have received little focused attention from scholars or analysts. This book fills that void. Employing a case study approach, and believing that shadows from the past often portend the future, Manwaring begins with a careful consideration of the writings of V. I. Lenin. He then scrutinizes the Piqueteros in Argentina, gangs in Colombia, private armies in Mexico, Hugo Chavez's use of popular militias in Venezuela, and the looming threat of Al Qaeda in Western Europe. As conventional warfare is increasingly eclipsed by these irregular and "uncomfortable" wars, Manwaring boldly diagnoses the problem and recommends solutions that policymakers should heed.
Analyzing women labeled as terrorists in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Gender and the Political examines Western cultural constructions of the female terrorist. The chapters argue that the development of the discourse on terrorism evolves in parallel with, and in response to, radical feminism in the US during this time.
The Magyar Fuggetlensegi Mozgalom (Hungarian Independence Movement or MFM) played an important role in the history of Hungary in the latter part of World War II and the years immediately after. The bulk of this volume is based on Szent-Miklosy's personal experiences as a participant in the activities of the MFM. The author, the last survivor in the West of the MFM, describes the unsuccessful attempts of the group first to assist efforts to obtain an armistice with the Allies and to save the Jewish population of Budapest, and then to introduce a Western-style democratic political system into Hungary. He also identifies the causes of the movement's failures, causes that lay not just in the actions of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, but also in the ambivalent foreign policies of France, Great Britain, and the United States, as well as in the shortcomings of Hungarian leadership. The author concludes that despite the eventual failure of the MFM its various efforts had to be made in order to demonstrate Hungary's commitment to Western European culture, independence, Hungarians living outside its borders, the defense of the Jewish population, and a Western-style of democracy.
This book uses a cross-disciplinary approach to examine the creation, development, ideology, and practice of the Marxist terrorist group 17N. Were the members of 17N individuals with high moral principles, as they claimed, who did their best to protect the civilians who happened to be within their field of operations? Or were they simply violent guerillas who prioritized successful assassinations of their targets at any cost? The textual analysis of this book addresses these questions and studies 17N from inception to the time when its members were arrested, providing a uniquely thorough examination of the organization manifestos and its correlation to the group's ideology and actual practices. 17N's Philosophy of Terror: An Analysis of the 17 November Revolutionary Organization first outlines the political and ideological framework of 17 and then describes their terrorist strategy and tactics. The authors consider these operations in the context of the manifestos that followed the terrorist acts, and conclude the work by addressing the events following the apprehension of 17N members-the trial, the verdicts, the appeal trial, and the conclusion of appeal trial. Provides an in-depth analysis of the organization's manifestos and how they correlated with 17N's ideology and the practices the group used Analyzes whether 17N had moral and ethical principle rules as a group or were little more than an outspoken group of criminals Supplies three appendixes: 17N operations and their results in chronological order; 17N manifestos in chronological and thematic order; and 17N arrest milestones
As Mickolus once more demonstrates, terrorism is alive and well at the beginning of the 1990s. This volume combines a chronology of terrorism, (the fourth Mickolus has produced), with a selective bibliography on the topic, (his third). Covering the period from 1988-1991, this volume follows the same definition of terrorism and the same format and method devised for its predecessor volumes. The result is the most comprehensive look at terrorism available for the period. The earlier volumes are the standard reference chronologies and bibliographies for students and scholars as well as military observers and public policy makers. |
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