An award-winning journalist's extraordinary account of being kidnapped and tortured in Syria by al Qaeda for two years--a revelatory memoir about war, human nature, and endurance that's "the best of the genre, profound, poetic, and sorrowful" (The Atlantic). In 2012, American journalist Theo Padnos, fluent in Arabic, Russian, German, and French, traveled to a Turkish border town to write and report on the Syrian civil war. One afternoon in October, while walking through an olive grove, he met three young Syrians--who turned out to be al Qaeda operatives--and they captured him and kept him prisoner for nearly two years. On his first day, in the first of many prisons, Padnos was given a blindfold--a grime-stained scrap of fabric--that was his only possession throughout his horrific ordeal. Now, Padnos recounts his time in captivity in Syria, where he was frequently tortured at the hands of the al Qaeda affiliate, Jebhat al Nusra. We learn not only about Padnos's harrowing experience, but we also get a firsthand account of life in a Syrian village, the nature of Islamic prisons, how captors interrogate someone suspected of being CIA, the ways that Islamic fighters shift identities and drift back and forth through the veil of Western civilization, and much more. No other journalist has lived among terrorists for as long as Theo has--and survived. As a resident of thirteen separate prisons in every part of rebel-occupied Syria, Theo witnessed a society adrift amid a steady stream of bombings, executions, torture, prayer, fasting, and exhibitions, all staged by the terrorists. Living within this tide of violence changed not only his personal identity but also profoundly altered his understanding of how to live. Offering fascinating, unprecedented insight into the state of Syria today, Blindfold is "a triumph of the human spirit" (The New York Times Book Review)--combining the emotional power of a captive's memoir with a journalist's account of a culture and a nation in conflict that is as urgent and important as ever.

This book reveals how the idea of human security, combined with other human-centric norms, has been embraced, criticized, modified and diffused in East Asia (ASEAN Plus Three). Once we zoom in to the regional space of East Asia, we can see a kaleidoscopic diversity of human security stakeholders and their values. Asian stakeholders are willing to engage in the cultural interpretation and contextualization of human security, underlining the importance of human dignity in addition to freedom from fear and from want. This dignity element, together with national ownership, may be the most important values added in the Asian version of human security.

This book reveals how counterterrorism discourses and practices became the main tool of a systematic violation of human rights in Egypt after the Arab Uprising. It examines how the civic and democratic uprising in Egypt turned into robust authoritarianism under the pretence of counterterrorism and the 'war on terror'. By interrogating Egypt's counterterrorism legislation, the book identifies a correlation between counterterrorism narratives and the systemic violation of human rights. It examines the construction of a national security state that has little tolerance for dissent, political debate or the questioning of official policy, and how the anti-terrorism measures undertaken are actually anti-democracy strategies. The book also traces 150 years of Egyptian counterterrorism and counterinsurgency discourse, and analyses how this links with these practices of human rights assaults. By investigating how this discourse constructs and reproduces knowledge and meaning about terrorism and counterterrorism practices in Egypt, the book highlights how the government legitimises these violations against the population in the interests of the ruling elite. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism studies, critical terrorism studies, discourse theory, Middle Eastern politics, decoloniality, and International Relations.

This book explores the success and failures of the Prevent strategy, which was developed by the UK Government to help stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. It provides a holistic overview of the policy's formation, delivery and impact on Muslim communities.

This book sheds new light on the emergence and fluctuation of Iran's connections with non-state entities in the Middle East. Iran's involvement with political-militant non-states has been at the heart of international and regional security policy for more than three decades. The author analyzes Iran's non-state foreign policy by focusing on specific geopolitical and geocultural threats and opportunities that pushed Tehran to build strategic ties with the Iraqi Kurds and the Lebanese Shia. This project will appeal to multiple audiences interested in geopolitics of the Middle East, Iran's foreign policy, and international relations.

This book explores and inquiries into the interrelation between normativity and Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) from a wide range of critical views. The volume draws together authors with very different positions and understandings of normativity and policy-implementations in relation to countering terrorism, to offer the reader a wide range of perspectives and views on this topic. As such, the book is aimed at interrogating the concept of normativity in CTS from a wide range of theoretical angles but also at incorporating within the CTS' agenda new debates and critiques. In its chapters, the book covers debates that go from more philosophical, theoretical, and ethical discussions to questions revolving around the importance and need of being policy-relevant for CTS scholars. All in all, this volume brings together chapters joining the debate on CTS' main theoretical tenants and the role of critical scholars in counter-terrorism and prevention policies. Covering a broad spectrum of approaches and perspectives, authors in this book give different answers to central questions such as: how can we rethink CTS? What is the role of the critical terrorism studies community in countering terrorism? The chapters in this book were originally published in the journal, Critical Studies on Terrorism.

This book adopts an innovative historical approach to Terrorism, focusing on the weaknesses of terrorist states and organizations as reflected in the ideologies, methodologies and propaganda of Russian populist, National Socialist and Islamic Terrorism. Drawing upon multilingual primary sources, the book challenges the oft repeated claim that the Nazi regime and Islamic State produced propaganda of superior quality, instead arguing that the manipulation of information is the Achilles heel of terrorist organizations. It offers a critical examination of the fears of terrorists themselves, as opposed to the traditional focus on the fear instilled by terrorist organizations in governments and citizens. Taking a multidisciplinary approach and long-term history perspective, the book provides a method for exploring the minds of terrorists and the inner workings of their organizations and traces the evolution of terrorist thought and methodology across time and place. This is the ideal volume for researchers of Terrorism within the fields of History, Politics, Security Studies, Religious Studies and Legal Studies.

This book offers a new model for measuring the success and impact of counterterrorism strategies, using four comparative historical case studies. The effectiveness of counterterrorism measures is hard to assess, especially since the social impact of terrorist attacks is a fundamental and complex issue. This book focuses on the impact of counterterrorist measures by introducing the concept of the performative power of counterterrorism: the extent to which governments mobilize public and political support - thereby sometimes even unwittingly assisting terrorists in creating social drama. The concept is applied to counterterrorism in the Netherlands, Italy, the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States in the 1970s. Based on in-depth case study research using new primary sources and interviews with counterterrorist officials and radicals, a correlation is established between a low level of performative power and a decline of terrorist incidents. This is explored in terms of the link between social drama (as enhanced by counterterrorist measures) and ongoing radicalization processes. This book demonstrates that an increase in visible and intrusive counterterrorist measures does not automatically lead to a more effective form of counterterrorism. In the open democracies of the west, not transforming counterterrorism into a performance of power and repression is at least as important as counterterrorism measures themselves. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism and counter-terrorism, discourse analysis, media and communication studies, conflict studies and IR/Security Studies in general.

1. There have been very few research projects on victims of terrorism, so this book helps reset this balance. 2. Furthermore, this book engages with the philosophical and psychological literature on resilience and trauma, giving it a wider market.

This book examines the language of the European Union's response to the threat of terrorism. Since its re-emergence in the wake of the September 11 attacks, the 'fight against terrorism' has come to represent a priority area of action for the EU. Drawing on interpretive approaches to international relations, the book outlines a discourse theory of identity and counter-terrorism policy, showing how the 'fight against terrorism' structures the EU's response through the prism of identity, drawing our attention to the various 'others' that have come to form the target of counter-terrorism policy. Through an extensive analysis of the wider societal impact of the 'fight against terrorism' discourse, the various ways in which this policy is contributing to the 'securitisation' of social and political life within Europe are revealed. -- .

The 9/11 attacks fundamentally transformed how the U.S. approached terrorism, and led to the unprecedented expansion of counterterrorism strategies, policies, and practices. While the analysis of these developments is rich and vast, there remains a significant void. The diverse actors contributing to counterterrorism increasingly consider, engage and impact women as agents, partners, and targets of their work. Yet, flawed assumptions and stereotypes remain prevalent, and it remains undocumented and unclear how and why counterterrorism efforts evolved as they did in relation to women. Drawing on extensive primary source interviews and documents, A Woman's Place traces the evolution of women's place in U.S. counterterrorism efforts through the administrations of Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump, examining key agencies like the U.S. Department of Defense, the Department of State, and USAID. In their own words, Joana Cook investigates how and why women have developed the roles they have, and interrogates U.S. counterterrorism practices in key countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen. Analysing conceptions of and responses to terrorists, she also considers how the roles of women in Al-Qaeda and ISIS have evolved and impacted on U.S. counterterrorism considerations.

'Global War on Terrorism' or Global War over Terra Africana?: How Imperial Powers Seek to Occupy Africa Militarily is a long, onerous academic voyage of the demystification and demythologization of the Global War on Terror former US president George W Bush and former UK premier Tony Blair conceived, envisaged and declared for their hidden personal and national interests. It is a hidden and untold story of the other side about the GWOT which is but the GWOTA. Major arguments presented gyrate around the deconstruction; and overhaul of the GWOT so that it can be equally formulated and fought by all nations for the interests of all but not the interests of some as it currently is. Also, the book repudiates the pontification the pontifices maximus of the GWOTA have always made ex nihilo while concealing their drive[s] for perpetually exploiting poor countries. Terrorism is a world phenomenon everybody must fight provided it is collectively agreed, decided and declared for the collective good and interests of the world but not the interests of a few hegemonic countries that usurped the power of declaring who is a terrorist and who is not. Although terrorism is real, the manner it is fought is a little bit knotty. This tome acts as an eye opener and a wake-up call for Africa to start interrogating and excavating the hidden truths about the GWOT chiefly the way it was enacted, declared, presented and now fought with essentialist and controversialist modus operandi and rationale. Other major questions asked and answered are: Why exporting military and military hardware guised as fighting terrorism without underscoring the terror military incursion will, inter alia, cause to Africa especially? If truly the aim of the GWOT is to wage war on terror, why doesn't the West want to empower African armies? Why did the US appoint itself to lead the war conceived and declared without meeting the requirements of the just war or international standards? Why hasn't the world learned from Iraq and Libya whose governments were toppled under the facade of the GWOT? Is it the GWOT or the GWOTA?

This is a unique publication; though criminology is often interested in those who cause social harm, biographies are very rare (beyond some of the seminal text of the 1930s). This offers something new to the field, while still situating itself in contemporary debates on social harm and narrative criminology. The author had unparalleled access to his subject, and this biography is based on extensive interviews that took place over Skype. This book will find a wide market across criminology, sociology, critical security studies, international relations and those engaged with the arms industry.

Offers new insights into the history of right-wing extremism and violence in Europe, East and West, from 1900 until the present day. Examines various forms of organizational and ideological interconnectedness and what inspires right-wing terrorism. In addition to several empirical chapters on prewar extreme-right political violence, the book features extensive coverage of postwar right-wing terrorism including the recent resurgence in attacks.

Aum Shinrikyo's sarin attack on the Tokyo subway in March 1995 left an indelible mark on Japanese society. This is the first book to offer a comprehensive study of the competing memories of Aum Shinrikyo's religious terrorism. Developing a sociological framework for how uneven distributions of power and resources shape commemorative processes, this book explores how the Aum Affair developed as a 'cultural trauma' in Japanese collective memory following the Tokyo attack. Interrogating an array of sources including mass media reports and interviews with victims and ex-members, it reveals the multiple clashing narratives over the causes of Aum's violence, the efficacy of 'brainwashing' and 'mind control', and whether capital punishment is justified. It shows that although cultural trauma construction requires the use of moral binaries such as 'good vs. evil', 'pure vs. impure', and 'sacred vs. profane', the entrenchment of such binary codes in commemorative processes can ultimately hinder social repair and reconciliation.

Critically analyzing the specific security threat posed by COVID-19 to global society, the contributors to this book offer a comprehensive and critical examination of global challenges and responses while suggesting more balanced and nuanced approaches to handling these security impacts. The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a huge challenge to health security across the globe. Several countries were pushed into lockdown repeatedly to prevent the spread of infection. The global economy has seen a major slowdown and disruption of supply chains around the world. There have also been major implications from changes to traditional security systems as well as diverse societal change even down to aspects of daily life. The chapters in this book show that progressive initiatives have expended a mixture of soft and hard response strategies that include understanding, containing, fighting, and preventing COVID-19. They look at major sectors including defense, trade, health, and bioterrorism among others. In doing so, they highlight the best practices used around the world to minimize the threat posed by COVID-19's impact. A vital resource for security studies scholars and policymakers.

This book examines the use of presidential power during the War on Terror. Justin DePlato joins the debate on whether the Constitution matters in determining how each branch of the federal government should use its power to combat the War on Terror. The actions and words of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama are examined. DePlato's findings support the theory that executives use their own prerogative in determining what emergency powers are and how to use them. According to DePlato, the Presidents argue that their powers are implied in Article II of the Constitution, not expressed. This conclusion renders the Constitution meaningless in times of crisis. The author reveals that Presidents are becoming increasingly cavalier and that the nation should consider adopting an amendment to the Constitution to proffer expressed executive emergency powers.

This book investigates why Chile suddenly confronted a violent social revolt in October 2019, after almost thirty years of political stability, during which time the country was broadly regarded as Latin America's most successful nation. Since democratic restoration in 1990, Chile's relatively high levels of political stability, increasing prosperity and social modernisation have stood out in a region shaken by political convulsion and economic malaise. In early October 2019, President Sebastian Pinera confidently claimed that Chile represented a true 'oasis' of political stability and economic vitality in Latin America. However, just weeks later, the announcement of a small increase in the price of Santiago's underground transport system unleashed an unprecedented wave of violent anti-government protests in the country, with protestors ultimately demanding Pinera's resignation and the end of neoliberalism and the 1980 Constitution, among many other demands. This book analyses the causes of Chile's socio-political upheaval, arguing that the fast social and economic modernisation produced by the neoliberal system led to a series of destabilising socio-political processes in the country. At a time when much analysis of the October uprising tends to be superficial or polarised on ideological grounds, this book provides a much-needed sociological and institutional analysis of the crisis. It will be an important read for scholars of Latin American politics and development, as well as those with a broader interest in state legitimacy, social movements and political contestation against neoliberalism.

In the early hours of 5 September 1972 the perimeter fence surrounding the Olympic Village in Munich was scaled by terrorists. Their target was the temporary home of the Israeli Olympic team, and within 24 hours seventeen men were dead: eleven Israelis, five terrorists and a German policeman. The attack by Black September, an ultra-violent faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, was seen on television by more than 900 million viewers. The world watched as Jews suffered again on German soil. Yet despite the immediate attention given to the disaster crucial questions went unanswered. Why did so many die? Any why have the German officials covered up details of the massacre? Based largely on exhaustive investigations for the film One Day in September, this book is the definitive account of the tragedy. With the help of previously secret documents, photographs and dozens of interviews, it reconstructs the tension of the day - and exposes the full extent of the Israeli 'Wrath of God' revenge mission, which over the next twenty years saw Israeli agents systematically murder their way across Europe and the Middle East. One Day in September is the most compelling account yet written of events in Munich, of the devastating impact the attack had on the relatives of terrorists and athletes alike - and of the long shadow the massacre still casts over the modern world.

This volume explores the paramount importance of family to jihadism in France, Spain and in Europe more generally. In France, special focus is given to the Mohammed Merah paradigmatic case study in the Toulouse region. In Spain, attention is given to the North and to Catalonia. With attention to both the concrete family - often in crisis - and the imaginary family invented by radicalized youth to substitute, this book shows the fundamental need among many jihadists to reconstitute the family, whether in the form of a clan or the imagined Caliphate (or neo-Ummah): a form of shared existence that offers escape from societies in which jihadists feel ill-at-ease. Demonstrating the failure of an emphasis on the individual actor to capture the meaning of jihadism, Family and Jihadism reveals the fundamental importance to our understanding of jihadist activity of the family (in an extended anthropological sense) - real or imagined - into which the individual is inserted. A study of the crisis of family and the re-creation of a new, enlarged family in the lives of young jihadists, this book will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology, politics and security studies with interests in radicalisation, political violence, social movements and religious violence.

This book examines the phenomenon of paramilitarism across Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia, offering a nuanced perspective while identifying key patterns in the way paramilitary violence is implicated in processes of capital accumulation, state-building, and the reproduction of social power. Paramilitary violence, a key modality of coercion in the era of globalization, has been pursued by states and dominant classes in the Global South, to reproduce or extend their power over subaltern groups. Paramilitary groups are responsible for atrocities, including extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture, rape, and forced displacement. The book integrates empirically rich investigations into an emergent theory of political violence, capturing the relationship between parastatal armed actors, capital, and the state. The analysis sheds light on globally relevant phenomena such as the end of the Cold War, the shifting role of US hegemony, and evolving nature of the nation-state. The book is suitable for academics, graduate and upper-year undergraduate students, and policy-makers in development, human rights, and violence prevention. Given its interdisciplinary subject, it appeals to scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including political science, sociology, political anthropology, development, peace and conflict, security and terrorism, international relations, and global studies.

This volume explores the paramount importance of family to jihadism in France, Spain and in Europe more generally. In France, special focus is given to the Mohammed Merah paradigmatic case study in the Toulouse region. In Spain, attention is given to the North and to Catalonia. With attention to both the concrete family - often in crisis - and the imaginary family invented by radicalized youth to substitute, this book shows the fundamental need among many jihadists to reconstitute the family, whether in the form of a clan or the imagined Caliphate (or neo-Ummah): a form of shared existence that offers escape from societies in which jihadists feel ill-at-ease. Demonstrating the failure of an emphasis on the individual actor to capture the meaning of jihadism, Family and Jihadism reveals the fundamental importance to our understanding of jihadist activity of the family (in an extended anthropological sense) - real or imagined - into which the individual is inserted. A study of the crisis of family and the re-creation of a new, enlarged family in the lives of young jihadists, this book will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology, politics and security studies with interests in radicalisation, political violence, social movements and religious violence.

In 2008 there were 149 militia groups in the United States. In 2009, that number more than tripled to 512, and now there are nearly 600. In Right-Wing Resurgence, author Daryl Johnson offers a detailed account of the growth of right-wing extremism and militias in the United States and the ever-increasing threat they pose. The author is an acknowledged expert in this area and has been an intelligence analyst working for several federal agencies for nearly 20 years. The book is also a first-hand, insider's account of the DHS Right-Wing Extremism report from the person who wrote it. It is a truthful depiction of the facts, circumstances, and events leading up to the leak of this official intelligence assessment. The leak and its aftermath have had an adverse effect on homeland security. Because of its alleged mishandling of the situation, the Department's reputation has declined in the intelligence and law enforcement communities and the analytical integrity of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis was undermined. Most importantly, the nation's security has been compromised during a critical time when a significant domestic terrorist threat is growing. This book is replete with case studies and interviews with leaders which reveal their agendas, how they recruit, and how they operate around the country. It presents a comprehensive account of an ever-growing security concern at a time when this threat is only beginning to be realized, and is still largely ignored in many circles.

This book explores how the contemporary threat of terrorism is eroding the concept of hospitality in the West. Going beyond the immediate effects of terrorism that are daily portrayed in the media and have shaped the foreign policy agenda of politicians in Europe and the US, this study explores the conceptual framework of how terrorism emerged and expanded within the West and shows how it interacts with, and targets, leisure consumerism and the international hospitality industry.

This edited book presents international perspectives on the role of mental health problems in understanding and managing the risk of violent extremism. The chapters included in this book address two themes. First, they describe the research findings on the nature and prevalence of the range of mental health problems (psychosis, personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, autism spectrum disorders) in young people and adults who have in the past, committed acts of violence motivated at least in part by extremist ideologies, or who have attempted or threatened such acts, or who for other reasons are thought to be at risk of doing so. Second, the chapters examine what is known about the relationship - or the functional link - between mental health problems and violent extremism. The focus of this book is on clinical practice and understanding the nature of the challenge faced by practitioners and their response to it. It will therefore be of interest to mental health practitioners, service managers and commissioners, and policy makers with a remit to understand and mitigate risk of radicalisation and violent extremism. The chapters in this book were originally published in The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology.