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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political activism
The Oxford Handbook of the History of Terrorism presents a
revaluation of the major narratives in the history of terrorism,
exploring the emergence and the use of terrorism in world history
from antiquity up to the twenty-first century. The essays collected
in this handbook constitute the first systematic analysis of the
relationship between terrorism and modernity on a global scale from
the French Revolution to the present. Historians and political
theorists have long asserted such a link, but this causal
connection has rarely been rigorously investigated, and the failure
to examine such a crucial aspect of terrorism has contributed to
the spread of unsubstantiated claims about its nature and origins.
Terrorism is often presented as a perennial barbarism forever
lurking outside of civilization when, in fact, it is a historically
specific form of political violence generated by modern Western
culture that was then transported around the globe, where it was
transformed in accordance with local conditions. This handbook
offers cogent arguments and well-documented case studies that
support a reading of terrorism as an explicitly modern phenomenon.
It also provides sustained analyses of the challenges involved in
the application of the theories and practices of modernity and
terrorism to non-Western parts of the world. The volume presents an
overview of terrorism's antecedents in the pre-modern world,
analyzes the emergence of terrorism in the West, and presents a
series of case studies from non-Western parts of the world that
together constitute terrorism's global reception history. Essays
cover a broad range of topics from tyrannicide in ancient Greek
political culture, the radical resistance movement against Roman
rule in Judea, the invention of terrorism in Europe, Russia, and
the United States, anarchist networks in France, Argentina, and
China, imperial terror in Colonial Kenya, anti-colonial violence in
India, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, and the German Autumn, to
right-wing, eco-and religious terrorism, as well as terrorism's
entanglements with science, technology, media, literature and art.
The Oxford Handbook of the History of Terrorism ultimately provides
an account of the global history of terrorism and coverage of the
most important cases from this history, always presented with an
eye towards their entanglement with the forces and technologies of
modernity.
On September 11, 2001, author J. Samuel Walker was far from home
when he learned of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon. Stricken by incredulity and anxiety, he found the
phone lines jammed when he tried to call his wife, who worked in
downtown Washington, DC. At the time and ever since, Walker, like
many of his fellow Americans, was and remains troubled by questions
about the disaster that occurred on 9/11. What were the purposes of
the attacks? Why did US intelligence agencies and the Defense
Department, with annual budgets in the hundreds of billions of
dollars, fail to protect the country from a small band of
terrorists who managed to hijack four airliners and take the lives
of nearly three thousand American citizens? What did responsible
government agencies and officials know about Al-Qaeda and why did
they not do more to head off the threat it posed? What were
American policies toward terrorism, especially under Presidents
Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and why did they fall so far short
of defending against a series of attacks? Finally, was the tragedy
of 9/11 preventable? These are the most important questions that
The Day That Shook America: A Concise History of 9/11 tries to
answer. The Day That Shook America offers a long perspective and
draws on recently opened records to provide an in-depth analysis of
the approaches taken by the Clinton and Bush administrations toward
terrorism in general and Al-Qaeda in particular. It also delivers
arresting new details on the four hijackings and the collapse of
the Twin Towers. J. Samuel Walker covers both the human drama and
the public policy dimensions of one of the most important events in
all of US history, and he does so in a way that is both
comprehensive and concise.
According to renowned Marxist economist Samir Amin, the recent Arab
Spring uprisings comprise an integral part of a massive "second
awakening" of the Global South. From the self-immolation in
December 2010 of a Tunisian street vendor, to the consequent
outcries in Cairo's Tahrir Square against poverty and corruption,
to the ongoing upheavals across the Middle East and Northern
Africa, the Arab world is shaping what may become of Western
imperialism - an already tottering and overextended system.The
Reawakening of the Arab World examines the complex interplay of
nations regarding the Arab Spring and its continuing, turbulent
seasons. Beginning with Amin's compelling interpretation of the
2011 popular Arab explosions, the book is comprised of five
chapters - including a new chapter analyzing U.S. geo-strategy.
Amin sees the United States, in an increasingly multi-polar world,
as a victim of overreach, caught in its own web of attempts to
contain the challenge of China, while confronting the staying power
of nations such as Syria and Iran. The growing, deeply-felt need of
the Arab people for independent, popular democracy is the cause of
their awakening, says Amin. It is this awakening to democracy that
the United States fears most, since real self-government by
independent nations would necessarily mean the end of U.S. empire,
and the economic liberalism that has kept it in place. The way
forward for the Arab world, Amin argues, is to take on, not just
Western imperialism, but also capitalism itself.
This textbook anthology of selected readings on pressing Middle
East security concerns serves as an invaluable single-volume
assessment of critical security issues in nations such as
Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.
The issues and current events of the Greater Middle East continue
to hold deep implications for American geopolitical interests in
the region—as they have for many decades. An ideal resource for
students in undergraduate courses on the Middle East and related
regions as well as students in graduate programs of international
studies or security studies, this textbook anthologizes recent,
insightful analyses by top scholars on trends and events in the
Middle East that bear crucially on regional and global security
considerations, covering topics like Iran's nuclear ambitions; the
rise, ebb, and resurgence of Al Qaeda; and the war in Syria. The
essays address concerns that include the re-imposition of military
rule in Egypt; the current status of Palestinian-Israeli relations;
the civil war and proposed chemical inspections in Syria;
Sunni-Shiite conflict and the revitalized al Qaeda presence in Iraq
and the Sunni resurgence in Iraq and Syria; and the
on-again-off-again international monitoring of nuclear facilities
in Iran, along with discussions of that country's connections to
the Syrian regime and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The use of drone
strikes as antiterrorist weapons and their use within U.S. and
international law also receive specific attention. Each reading is
summarized and contextualized by a concise introduction that serves
to enhance the integration of the individual readings across the
book. Original source notes are included with each chapter as
guides to further reading, and numerous maps provide an essential
sense of place. The book also includes a glossary of terms and a
register of brief biographies of significant persons.
From Revolution to Revolution (1973) examines England, Scotland and
Wales from the revolution of 1688 when William became King, to the
American Revolution of 1776. In this period lies the roots of
modern Britain, as it went from being underdeveloped countries on
the fringe of European civilization to a predominating influence in
the world. This book examines the union of the island, development
of an organized public opinion and national consciousness, as well
as Parliament and its factions, the landed and business classes.
Views on religion, art, architecture and the changing face of the
countryside are also examined, as is the tension between London and
the rest of the island. The important issues of colonial expansions
in Ireland, America, India and Africa are also analysed.
Reflections on the Puritan Revolution (1986) examines the damage
done by the Puritans during the English Civil War, and the enormous
artistic losses England suffered from their activities. The
Puritans smashed stained glass, monuments, sculpture, brasses in
cathedrals and churches; they destroyed organs, dispersed the
choirs and the music. They sold the King's art collections,
pictures, statues, plate, gems and jewels abroad, and broke up the
Coronation regalia. They closed down the theatres and ended
Caroline poetry. The greatest composer and most promising scientist
of the age were among the many lives lost; and this all besides the
ruin of palaces, castles and mansions.
Development Drowned and Reborn is a "Blues geography" of New
Orleans, one that compels readers to return to the history of the
Black freedom struggle there to reckon with its unfinished
business. Reading contemporary policies of abandonment against the
grain, Clyde Woods explores how Hurricane Katrina brought
long-standing structures of domination into view. In so doing,
Woods delineates the roots of neoliberalism in the region and a
history of resistance. Written in dialogue with social movements,
this book offers tools for comprehending the racist dynamics of
U.S. culture and economy. Following his landmark study, Development
Arrested, Woods turns to organic intellectuals, Blues musicians,
and poor and working people to instruct readers in this
future-oriented history of struggle. Through this unique optic,
Woods delineates a history, methodology, and epistemology to grasp
alternative visions of development. Woods contributes to debates
about the history and geography of neoliberalism. The book suggests
that the prevailing focus on neoliberalism at national and global
scales has led to a neglect of the regional scale. Specifically, it
observes that theories of neoliberalism have tended to overlook New
Orleans as an epicenter where racial, class, gender, and regional
hierarchies have persisted for centuries. Through this Blues
geography, Woods excavates the struggle for a new society.
This book presents a holistic view of the geopolitics of cyberspace
that have arisen over the past decade, utilizing recent events to
explain the international security dimension of cyber threat and
vulnerability, and to document the challenges of controlling
information resources and protecting computer systems. How are the
evolving cases of cyber attack and breach as well as the actions of
government and corporations shaping how cyberspace is governed?
What object lessons are there in security cases such as those
involving Wikileaks and the Snowden affair? An essential read for
practitioners, scholars, and students of international affairs and
security, this book examines the widely pervasive and enormously
effective nature of cyber threats today, explaining why cyber
attacks happen, how they matter, and how they may be managed. The
book addresses a chronology of events starting in 2005 to
comprehensively explain the international security dimension of
cyber threat and vulnerability. It begins with an explanation of
contemporary information technology, including the economics of
contemporary cloud, mobile, and control systems software as well as
how computing and networking-principally the Internet-are
interwoven in the concept of cyberspace. Author Chris Bronk, PhD,
then documents the national struggles with controlling information
resources and protecting computer systems. The book considers major
security cases such as Wikileaks, Stuxnet, the cyber attack on
Estonia, Shamoon, and the recent exploits of the Syrian Electronic
Army. Readers will understand how cyber security in the 21st
century is far more than a military or defense issue, but is a
critical matter of international law, diplomacy, commerce, and
civil society as well. Provides relevant, rigorous information to
those in the computer security field while also being accessible to
a general audience of policy, international security, and military
readers who seek to understand the cyber security issue and how it
has evolved Documents how contemporary society is dependent upon
cyberspace for its function, and that the understanding of how it
works and how it can be broken is knowledge held by a precious few
Informs both technically savvy readers who build and maintain the
infrastructure of cyberspace and the policymakers who develop
rules, processes, and laws on how the cyber security problem is
managed
This book illustrates the results of ethnographical research
designed to shed light on the notion of civil society in a context
characterized by the transformation of power relations. Such
transformation is given by shifting resources, renewed local and
international opportunities, and a general reframing of goals and
objectives. The academic literature has usually relied on a
substantialist understanding of the notion of civil society -
referring to the latter as something that exists a priori or does
something. This volume relies, instead, on a relational approach -
where civil society becomes the name we give to a host of complex
interactions in which local associations are involved in a time of
reconfiguration of power relations. Building on this approach, this
volume analyses the relational dynamics affecting Tunisian
associations after the fall of the authoritarian regime in 2011 and
their implications for the changing political order. Findings show
two main interrelated trends: the nationwide professionalization of
local associations and the localized networking strategies of
various socio-political categories crossing the associational
sector. The book shows how their members understand the
standardization of local associations as a strategy to have
guaranteed access to the public sphere and, therefore, to influence
the changing political order.
The enormous spread of devices gives access to virtual networks and
to cyberspace areas where continuous flows of data and information
are exchanged, increasing the risk of information warfare,
cyber-espionage, cybercrime, and identity hacking. The number of
individuals and companies that suffer data breaches has increased
vertically with serious reputational and economic damage
internationally. Thus, the protection of personal data and
intellectual property has become a priority for many governments.
Political Decision-Making and Security Intelligence: Recent
Techniques and Technological Developments is an essential scholarly
publication that aims to explore perspectives and approaches to
intelligence analysis and performance and combines theoretical
underpinnings with practical relevance in order to sensitize
insights into training activities to manage uncertainty and risks
in the decision-making process. Featuring a range of topics such as
crisis management, policy making, and risk analysis, this book is
ideal for managers, analysts, politicians, IT specialists, data
scientists, policymakers, government officials, researchers,
academicians, professionals, and security experts.
Why is the problem of terrorism—and the emergence of more extreme
and more brutal terrorist groups—one that cannot be solved, even
after decades of trying? This book, authored by a United Nations
Ambassador once imprisoned and tortured in Iraq, diagnoses the
shortcomings of present counter-terrorism strategies and lays out
an effective new plan for counterterrorism. The world has up to now
failed to stop Al Qaeda terrorist attacks and also failed to stop
the emergence of more extreme and more brutal terrorist groups than
Al Qaeda, such as ISIS/ISIL, as well as newer lone wolf terrorists.
Current strategies of counterterrorism have many shortcomings that
allow terrorists to continue their operations. A New
Counterterrorism Strategy: Why the World Failed to Stop Al Qaeda
and ISIS/ISIL, and How to Defeat Terrorists identifies the
shortcomings of present approaches and presents a comprehensive and
sustainable strategy to combat terrorism. Author Ambassador T.
Hamid Al-Bayati, an Iraqi politician, offers a unique insider's
perspective about the war on terrorism. As a leader of the
opposition against the terrorist regime of Saddam Hussein, he was
arrested and tortured, until he fled Iraq. From the UK, he
continued involvement in unfolding political events, until
returning to Iraq and assuming high political appointments. These
special insights are interwoven with accounts of detailed
interactions and policies that provide the background for his
explanation of the failures of counterterrorism strategies to date,
and lessons learned from those mistakes. Al-Bayati spotlights the
problems of terrorist cells, lone wolves, and foreign fighters
developing in all parts of the world, where members work from safe
havens to plan attacks, acquire weapons, and gain fighting
experience. His proposed strategy further emphasizes issues
neglected in current counterterrorism strategies, such as
undermining the ideology of terrorists, interrupting their use of
the Internet to promote evil, understanding the motivations and
psychology of terrorists, deterring youth from joining ISIS,
creating effective media campaigns against terrorism, and shutting
off the flow of funding that currently buoys the financial
resources of terrorist organizations.
The Haitian Revolution has generated responses from commentators in
fields ranging from philosophy to historiography to
twentieth-century literary and artistic studies. But what about the
written work produced at the time, by Haitians? This book is the
first to present an account of a specifically Haitian literary
tradition in the Revolutionary era. Beyond the Slave Narrative
shows the emergence of two strands of textual innovation, both
evolving from the new revolutionary consciousness: the remarkable
political texts produced by Haitian revolutionary leaders Toussaint
Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and popular Creole poetry
from anonymous courtesans in Saint-Domingue's libertine culture.
These textual forms, though they differ from each other, both
demonstrate the increasing cultural autonomy and literary voice of
non-white populations in the colony at the time of revolution.
Unschooled generals and courtesans, long presented as voiceless,
are at last revealed to be legitimate speakers and authors. These
Haitian French and Creole texts have been neglected as a foundation
of Afro-diasporic literature by former slaves in the Atlantic world
for two reasons: because they do not fit the generic criteria of
the slave narrative (which is rooted in the autobiographical
experience of enslavement); and because they are mediated texts,
relayed to the print-cultural Atlantic domain not by the speakers
themselves, but by secretaries or refugee colonists. These texts
challenge how we think about authorial voice, writing, print
culture, and cultural autonomy in the context of the formerly
enslaved, and demand that we reassess our historical understanding
of the Haitian Independence and its relationship to an
international world of contemporary readers.
This thought-provoking work analyzes the major debates surrounding
counterinsurgency campaigns and uncovers the internal security
problems derailing effective strategies for restoring stability. As
countries across the globe continue to adjust their security
operations to counter an increasingly volatile political landscape,
the issue of how to identify and derail a host of violent groups
remains of considerable interest. This comprehensive volume offers
an examination of the effectiveness of contemporary
counterinsurgency efforts, revealing which approaches offer the
greatest chances of success internally, regionally, and
internationally. Featuring perspectives from experts and analysts
in the field of irregular warfare and international security, this
is an unparalleled exploration of all types of insurgency from
warlordism, to piracy, to guerilla movements. The book looks beyond
the popular focus on Iraq and Afghanistan, delving into the
internal security operations of regions not normally studied.
Chapters cover goal setting and measurements for restoring
security, information operations and strategic communications
between insurgent groups and governments, and the different
approaches of governments in combating political unrest. Case
studies include movements in Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Egypt, and
South Africa. Examines the key factors that determine the use of
"hard" versus "soft" operations Features assessments on how to
measure counterinsurgency and internal security effectiveness
Describes the major controversies surrounding counterinsurgency
strategies and associated operations Analyzes the elements
impacting successful internal security operations
This book is the most comprehensive and up-to-date source of
information about ways in which consumer activism has reshaped the
economic and political well-being of citizens in the United States
and around the world. This all-encompassing collection of
information about consumer activism and the consumer movement will
provide students, public officials, business groups, and other
activists with a one-stop source of facts and insights. The
contributors explore hundreds of major consumer protections that
have significantly enhanced the quality of life and safety for all
Americans, showing how these protections were won through the
skillful and determined work of leading activists and activist
organizations. Many of the stories told here are related by the
activists themselves, often for the first time. More than 140
entries offer a comprehensive treatment of the consumer activism of
specific organizations, their leaders, and strategies. The book
also includes more than 40 entries about consumer movements in
Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. A timeline of key events
and a listing of the most important books on the subject of
consumer activism help provide context for the individual entries
as do two introductory essays. Cross references in each entry
establish linkages among topics. Provides the single most
comprehensive source available of information about consumer
activism and advocacy Shows how activism has influenced laws and
regulations affecting more than 40 consumer issues Shares personal
accounts from activists about their work on these issues Details
information on U.S. national consumer organizations and many state
and local consumer groups, including their goals, strategies,
leaders, finances, and impact Offers insights into the ways
consumer activist groups have interacted with other nonprofits,
policymakers, regulators, and business groups
In this companion volume to The Roots of African Conflicts African
scholars analyse a number of conflicts and their resolution -
demonstrating the importance of their resolution and their impact
on the wider continent '...The studies in these two books seek to
advance our understanding of African conflicts by going beyond the
conventional and fashionable analyses of Africanist scholarship,
often inflected with, if not infected by, Afropessimism, or the
simplistic stereotypes conveyed in the western media that is
infused with Afrophobia....these conflicts must be understood in
comparative perspective, not in isolation. Violent conflict in
Africa is indeed part of the human drama, but the tendency to
impose universalist models of conflict driven from stylized western
experiences or faddish theorising must be resisted... such
paradigms lead to poor analysis and bad policy. Conflict is too
serious a matter, and its costs too grave, for glib modeling or
lazy journalistic speculation uninformed by the histories of, and
unmindful of the concrete conditions in, the societies under
scrutiny.' - From the introduction to The Roots of African
Conflicts by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza 'The search for peace is too
important to be left to outsiders, however well-intentioned. It is
encouraging to see that a growing number of African scholars are
interested in exploring and engaging this crucial subject'. - From
the introduction to The Resolution of African Conflicts by Paul
Tiyambe Zeleza North America: Ohio U Press; South Africa: Unisa
PressBR>
The Reagan era is usually seen as an era of unheralded prosperity,
and as a high-watermark of Republican success. President Ronald
Reagan's belief in "Reaganomics", his media-friendly sound-bites
and "can do" personality have come to define the era. However, this
was also a time of domestic protest and unrest. Under Reagan the US
was directly involved in the revolutions which were sweeping the
Central Americas- El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala -and in
Nicaragua Reagan armed the Contras who fought the Sandinistas. This
book seeks to show how the left within the US reacted and protested
against these events. The Nation, Verso Books and the Guardian
exploded in popularity, riding high on the back of popular
anti-interventionist sentiment in America, while the film-maker
Oliver Stone led a group of directors making films with a radical
left-wing message. The author shows how the1980s in America were a
formative cultural period for the anti-Reaganites as well as the
Reaganites, and in doing so charts a new history.
Nationalism in a nation-state reflects its emergent structural,
cultural, and personal properties at a given time. In the
politico-historical context of South Korea and the globe, the
fruits of the 1968 Revolution in France could not reach Korean
society under its military regime and exploitative economic
structure. This continued to frustrate the grassroots and
especially social actors in South Korea, which eventually brought
about the June Struggle in 1987 and the 2016-2017 Candlelight
Revolution. Calculated Nationalism in Contemporary South Korea
sketches Korean grassroots' perception of their nation-state,
national identities, and what they desire regarding the future
direction of their nation-state. The grassroots have openly spoken
out about their frustrations through political rallies and media.
This book attempts to reflect the minds of Korean progressives
regarding, in particular, the forcibly recruited Japanese military
"comfort women," Abe's trade provocation against South Korea in
2019, reunification, the 2016-2017 Candlelight Revolution, National
Flag-carriers' struggles, and bullying at work.
Conceptualizing Terrorism argues that, in the post 9/11 world, the
need for an internationally agreed definition of terrorism is more
important than it has ever been, despite the challenges that such
an endeavour presents. Indeed, in a global context, where the term
is often applied selectively and pejoratively according to where
one's interests lie, there is a real need to instill some
analytical quality into the concept of terrorism, not least in
order to prevent the term being manipulated to justify all manner
of counter-terrorism responses. Not only is this important for the
policymaking context but it is also an imperative task within
academia - in order to strengthen the theoretical foundation of
terrorism studies, for all other terrorism related theories rest on
what one means by terrorism in the first place. Written from an
academic perspective, the book explores the prospects for terrorism
as an analytical concept. Arguing that the essence of this
particular form of political violence lies in its intent to
generate a psychological impact beyond the immediate victims, it
goes on to propose the adoption of three key preliminary
assumptions that have implications for the definitional debate and
that it suggests might help to increase the analytical potential of
terrorism. The book then considers potential elements of a
definition before concluding with its own conceptualization of
terrorism.
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