Terrorist violence can often seem both irrational and indiscriminate. This book is an attempt to describe why terrorists attack particular targets. Looking at terrorist groups from around the world, and over the past 100 years, it examines the nature of terrorism and the various factors which influence terrorists' target selection. In particular it looks at the influence of the ideologies, strategies and tactics of terrorist groups, and describes how these are restricted by the terrorists' resources, by security and anti-terrorist measures, and by society within which the terrorists operate. The book also shows how target selection can be affected by the nature of the terrorists themselves and by their supporters. Overall it concludes that apparently irrational and indiscriminate terrorist attacks are frequently the result of factors which are both explicable and logical.

In the last 50 years, terrorists have committed hundreds of horrific acts of violence to further their causes. This accessible, single-volume text covers the most significant terrorist acts across contemporary history worldwide. Since the attacks on September 11, 2001, terrorism has remained the chief threat to international stability and security. The 50 Worst Terrorist Attacks draws on all forms of terrorism-international, transnational, and domestic-anywhere in the world, covering all types of acts (e.g., bombings, assassinations, armed attacks, skyjackings) by any organization and ideology. The work goes beyond documenting the key events that occurred in or involved the United States; it also covers important terrorist attacks by left- and right-wing organizations, religiously motivated groups, and separatists that are largely unknown among Western audiences. Each entry supplies the details of the attack-the perpetrators, victims, and eventual resolution-as well as the political, social, and international contexts in which the event occurred. Readers will grasp the evolution of terrorist activities and methodologies in the 20th and 21st centuries, understand the importance of each event in the development of the terrorist repertoire, and gauge the responses intended to counter these new kinds of attacks. Provides a chronological treatment of all major terrorist attacks in the last 50 years worldwide, enabling readers to grasp how terrorist acts have changed over time Clearly explains the importance of each attack in terms of how the event spawned new types of attacks or targets, elicited new government responses, resulted in increased media coverage, or otherwise served as a turning point in the history of terrorism Provides a readable review of representative attacks that illustrates the differences in terrorists' thinking, goals, milieu and reach, and attack styles; and the differences in responses and their effectiveness Documents terrorists' targeting of U.S. citizens and interests in the United States and abroad Reflects the economic impact of increasing security measures in response to terrorist attacks and threats, both at home and internationally

Japanese war orphans left behind in Manchuria at the end of World War II are forgotten victims of the war. These 5,000 children were trapped in the strained postwar Sino-Japanese relationship, grew up in China, were bullied as "little Japanese demons," and then were persecuted as "Japanese spies" during the Cultural Revolution. They experienced every imaginable human atrocity: they were shot or stabbed with bayonets, witnessed group rape, massacres, and mass suicide, became displaced persons in an enemy country, and lost their identities. They endured what the American soldiers and the Guantanamo Bay Prison inmates combined encountered--near fatal injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, interrogations, and torture. Upon delayed repatriation four decades later, they were despised as "Chinese" in their homeland. This original book demonstrates that they are another group of victims of Japanese militarism, in addition to the Chinese and Korean "comfort women" and forced laborers. The orphan issue is an integral part of the Japanese government's war responsibility.

The debate over cyber technology has resulted in new considerations for national security operations. States find themselves in an increasingly interconnected world with a diverse threat spectrum and little understanding of how decisions are made within this amorphous domain. With The Decision to Attack, Aaron Franklin Brantly investigates how states decide to employ cyber in military and intelligence operations against other states and how rational those decisions are. In his examination, Brantly contextualizes broader cyber decision-making processes into a systematic expected utility-rational choice approach to provide a mathematical understanding of the use of cyber weapons at the state level. Topics Discussed: The Key Concepts of Cyber The Motivation and Utility for Covert Action Digital Power Anonymity and Attribution in Cyberspace Cyber and Conventional Operations: The Dynamics of Conflict Defining the Role of Intelligence in Cyberspace How actors decide to use cyber-a rational choice approach Cognitive Processes and Decision-Making in Cyberspace Finding meaning in the expected utility of international cyber conflict

Shane O'Doherty joined the IRA at 15 years of age and was later arrested. He was one of the first prisoners to work his way past the negativity of the philosophy of armed struggle, beginning to recommend publicly and privately an end to violence and a full engagement with the democratic process. From his prison cell, O'Doherty courageously wrote letters of apology to his victims. This is a graphic account of his life in the IRA and explains why ordinary people might turn to terrorism.

Violent politcs in Northern Ireland has lasted thirty years and cost four thousand lives and billions of pounds. Many such conflicts afflict the world. This book describes the search for causes and solutions. It identifies the key factors driving violent politics and the range of counter-strategies. It analyzes the course of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the results of the counter-measures used. The conclusions are disturbing. The recommendations are controversial, but difficult to escape.

Politics is one method of solving conflicts. War is another. Violent politcs - lying in the zone between peace and war - is a third, used increasingly to trump conventional politics. Michael Addison, soldier and scholar, explores the history and myths of terrorism; he describes the search for causes and solutions; he identifies the key factors driving violent politics and the range of counter strategies. In particular, he challenges conventional thinking on thirty-three years of conflict in Northern Ireland, through battle, tribal warfare, stalemate then peace process. With thousands dead, tens of thousands injured or maimed and bilions spent, Violent Politicsasks: Could the people of Northern Ireland have been better served? Should the Peace Process fail, what next?

Since 9/11, a new configuration of power situated at the core of the executive branch of the U.S. government has taken hold. In Crimes of Power & States of Impunity, Michael Welch takes a close look at the key historical, political, and economic forces shaping the country's response to terror.

Welch continues the work he began in Scapegoats of September 11th and argues that current U.S. policies, many enacted after the attacks, undermine basic human rights and violate domestic and international law. He recounts these offenses and analyzes the system that sanctions them, offering fresh insight into the complex relationship between power and state crime. Welch critically examines the unlawful enemy combatant designation, Guantanamo Bay, recent torture cases, and collateral damage relating to the war in Iraq. This book transcends important legal arguments as Welch strives for a broader sociological interpretation of what transpired early this century, analyzing the abuses of power that jeopardize our safety and security.

By examining Libya's security architecture before and after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervention in 2011, this book aims to answer three questions. First, what were the security patterns in Libya within the Middle East security complex before the Arab Spring? Second, to what extent did the Arab Spring and the revolution and intervention processes in Libya affect this security architecture? And third, what are the implications of the Libyan revolution and the NATO intervention on regional security and on the security sub-complexes of the Middle East in the post-Arab Spring era? The author addresses these issues by providing a micro-level analysis of amity-enmity patterns, power distribution and external power interests.

What policy is best for the United States to reduce the threat of Islamic extremist terrorism? Recent American presidents have applied alternative conflict resolution approaches. Clinton practiced conflict avoidance, talking tough but rarely retaliating against anti-American terrorist attacks. G. W. Bush adopted a fighter approach and the Global War on Terrorism and military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq reflect this strategy. Obama introduced a third alternative: problem solving and extending peaceful overtures while keeping up resistance. Will the strategy succeed? Feste analyzes presidential rhetoric on counterterrorism policy through the lens of issue framing, enemy aggression, self -hardship, and victimization expressed in a variety of speeches delivered by these chief executives to highlight and compare their conflict resolution strategies.

This book offers a theory and model of counterterrorism based on emancipation and non-violence. Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) scholars have produced wide-ranging and rich critiques of terrorism-related research, as well as state counterterrorism policies and practices. This work aims to fill in a gap in the current literature by constructing an original and specifically CTS model of counterterrorism. The model outlines the basic assumptions, priorities, principles, strategies and tactics, measures and evaluation of counterterrorism. It challenges prevalent models of counterterrorism through a radical rethinking of the ontology, epistemology and the agenda of counterterrorism. The model aims to prevent future acts of terrorism by (1) re-conceptualising how we study and understand terrorism, and; (2) suggesting that our efforts to counter and prevent terrorism must commensurate with the goals we want to achieve. Essentially, this involves a commitment to emancipation, and a rejection of violence as a tool. The second part of the book is a case study of Norwegian counterterrorism which shows how the theory and model developed in the book can be used. This is the first substantial analysis of Norwegian counterterrorism in almost ten years, and produces encouraging findings which support the potential for non-violent solutions to terrorism. This book will be of particular interest to students of terrorism and counterterrorism, critical security studies, and international relations in general.

This book examines the history of "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland in the 1970s-1990s and compares it with the situation in the Gaza Strip. The book takes as its cue the tragic events in Gaza in July 2014, when Israel launched Operation Protective Edge which began seven weeks of bombardment of Gaza and which led to rocket attacks by the Palestinians on Israel. In all over 2,200 people were killed. The book provides a brief history of the violence in both countries. It then analyzes the Northern Ireland Peace Process that resulted in the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which ended decades of violence and led to relative peace in Northern Ireland through the process of "talking to terrorists." The book suggests seven creative lessons for a peaceful way forward between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Britain's Long War assesses the process of strategic change within the British Government's position on Northern Ireland, starting with Westminster's first intervention in 1969 and ending with the Belfast Agreement in 1998. Drawing on a vast range of primary sources including recently released cabinet papers, Peter Neumann analyzes the aims, strategy and restraints of British policy in Northern Ireland. MARKET 1: Undergraduates and Postgraduates studying British Politics; Northern Ireland; Modern British History; International Conflict; Ethnic Conflict; International Relations

Advances in digital and other technologies have provided ample positive impacts to modern society; however, in addition to such benefits, these innovations have inadvertently created a new venue for terrorist activities. Examining violent extremism through a critical and academic perspective can lead to a better understanding of its foundations and implications. Violent Extremism: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice is a critical source of academic knowledge on the social, psychological, and political aspects of radicalization and terrorist recruitment. Highlighting a range of pertinent topics such as counterterrorism, propaganda, and online activism, this publication is an ideal reference source for researchers, analysts, intelligence officers, policymakers, academicians, researchers, and graduate-level students interested in current research on violent extremism.

The Intellectual and the People in Egyptian Literature and Culture uses the notion of am?ra - the Egyptian concept of collective and connective agency - to explore the relationship between the Egyptian intellectual and 'the people' in contemporary Egyptian literature and culture.

This book examines the role of collective violence in the achievement of solidarity, shedding light on the difficulty faced by sociology in theorizing violence and warfare as a result of the discipline's tendency to idealize society in an attempt to legitimize the idea of progressive social change. Using the global War on Terror as a focal point, the authors develop this argument through the related issues of power, knowledge, and ethics, explaining the War on Terror in terms of the Anglo-American tradition of imperial power and domination. Exploring the victimage rituals through which society is brought together in the ritual domination and destruction of a constructed "villain," Progressive Violence: Theorizing the War on Terror also considers the price of the liberal moral values in terms of which the global war on terror is frequently justified, and the volume of "progressive violence" involved in advancing the cause of freedom. The authors use this case to theorize the general role of vicarious victimage ritual in the social genesis of political violence and sadism, and its calculated use by politicians to achieve their imperial aims. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology and social theory with interests in terrorism, violence, and geopolitics.

"This analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict offers a wide-ranging theoretical framework to approach various aspects of terrorism, guerilla and antiguerilla warfare, the peace process, and other complex issues. The distinction between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that of the Jewish State and its neighbors has been neglected in past writings. The author suggests that this distinction is the key to understanding not only the extent of international support obtained by the PLO, but the setbacks and the ability to withstand them, that are characteristic of Israel's position." Shofar

The introductory chapter of this book presents the concepts of the bene?ts inherent in the study of comparative approach for an effective counterterrorism response on the local law enforcement level and overviews the inception of the project. Throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-?rst century, especially after the events of September 11, 2001, the legitimacy of law enforcement practices has been cited as a major concern for international criminal justice. As policing pr- titioners and scholars throughout the world shifted focus from a traditional reactive, crime control stance to the need for accountability mechanisms to ensure the s- port of citizenry in combating crime and terrorism, the democratization of policing was seen as the best mechanism for achieving long-term gains in public order at the same time as protecting human rights. While the need to maintain human rights remains an important issue, balancing these concerns with the important public safety interests of societies is paramount.

This book offers novel insights about the ability of a democracy to accommodate violence. In El Salvador, the end of war has brought about a violent peace, one in which various forms of violence have become incorporated into Salvadorans' imaginaries and enactments of democracy. Based on ethnographic research, The Violence of Democracy argues that war legacies and the country's neoliberalization have enabled an intricate entanglement of violence and political life in postwar El Salvador. This volume explores various manifestations of this entanglement: the clandestine connections between violent entrepreneurs and political actors; the blurring of the licit and illicit through the consolidation of economies of violence; and the reenactment of latent wartime conflicts and political cleavages during postwar electoral seasons. The author also discusses the potential for grassroots memory work and a political party shift to foster hopeful visions of the future and, ultimately, to transform the country's violent democracy.

Baker provides a unique insider perspective on factors affecting British Muslim converts and their susceptibility to violent radicalisation, including firsthand accounts of convicted terrorists Richard Reid (the "Shoe Bomber"), Zacarius Moussaoui (the 20th 9/11 bomber), and Abdullah el-Faisal who is alleged to have been a radicalising influence.

How does one effectively fight suicide bombers? What threat do they hold for Western society? How do people who love peace reconcile the need for war? Noted genocide expert Israel W. Charny addresses these questions in this highly personal description of suicide bombings and terror as the opening salvos of a Third World War. Charny first seeks to understand what makes suicide bombers tick, as well as the culture from which they emerge. Taking this understanding of what he calls human evil, he then proposes a hawkish campaign that ultimately emphasizes peace rather than irrational fear. By deeming suicide bombing and terrorism as necessary subjects in the study of psychology, Charny presents yet another weapon in the war against terrorism-a war that he believes will only escalate without drastic action. Ultimately, he calls for a worldwide campaign for life led by religious and secular leaders across the globe. He concludes the book with a vignette from Islamic culture that speaks nobly to furthering peace and life.

The Kurds, one of the oldest ethnic groups in the Middle East, are reasserting their identity-politically and through violence. Divided mainly among Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, the Kurds have posed increasingly sharp challenges to all of these states in their quest for greater autonomy if not outright independence. Turkey's essentially democratic structure and civil society_ideal tools for coping with and incorporating minority challenge_have so far been suspended on this issue, which the government is treating almost exclusively as a security problem to be dealt with by force. For the West the situation in Turkey is particularly significant because of the country's importance in the region and because of the economic, political, and diplomatic damage that the conflict has caused. If Turkey fails to find a peaceful solution within its current borders, then the outlook is grim for ethnic and separatist challenges elsewhere in the region. This study explores the roots, dimensions, character, and evolution of the problem, offers a range of approaches to a resolution of the conflict, and draws broader parallels between the Kurdish question and other separatist movements worldwide.

This book explores the increasing political and social prominence of Islamist groups across the Middle East in recent years. The aftermath of the 2011 uprisings saw some groups access or even control political institutions through success at the ballot box, while there has also been a marked resurgence of armed Islamist groups that have had profound effects at both the national and regional level. This volume helps us to understand the nature and development of organised political Islam over recent decades in several key Arab and Mediterranean countries: Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, and Turkey. The book identifies the central social and political Islamist actors, traces their ideological differences and similarities, and analyses power relations both within and between these organizations in the context of political instability and uncertainty. It will be of interest to students and scholars across a broad range of disciplines including political science, sociology, and international relations.

Words matter in terrorism research. Not only do they describe reality, but they actively take part in the construction of the world as we see, talk, hear, imagine and ultimately react to it. "The Tabloid Terrorist" introduces a constructivist approach to the study of terrorism by examining the discursive constitution of the terrorist in tabloid newspapers. It shows how language in the media affects our perceptions of "terrorists" and how particular constructions of the "terrorist" automatically make certain counter-terrorism policies possible, logical and seemingly appropriate.

This book focuses on the recent educational policy debates surrounding Muslims, schooling and the question of security in light of the Counter Terrorism Security Act - which has made 'Prevent' a legal duty for schools, colleges and universities. The book examines the infamous 'Trojan Horse' affair in Birmingham, and critically evaluates the security discourses in light of theoretical insights from the study of racial politics. The sociology of race and schooling in the UK has long been associated with a number of diverse areas of study, including racial inequality, multiculturalism, citizenship and identity; however, until very recently, very little attention has been given to securitization and race within the context of education and even less focus has been given to the links between the question of security and racial politics. This book makes a much-needed and timely contribution to debates on the complex relationship between racial politics and schooling, and will make compelling reading for students and researchers in the fields of education and sociology, as well as education policy makers.

This study examines a political-military tradition in sub-Saharan Africa which has survived colonialism as well as the Cold War. Five modern African insurgencies are evaluated: Madagascar 1947, Kenya (Mau Mau) 1952-63, Cameroon (UPC) 1955-70, Congo/Zaire (Kwilu) 1964-8 and Mozambique (RENAMO) 1977-92. These case-studies demonstrate a persistent link between traditional African religion and contemporary nationalist movements whose political as well as military significance has frequently been underestimated and often misunderstood.