This book rigorously documents and explains the genocide perpetrated by the Guatemalan state against indigenous Maya populations within the context of its counterinsurgency campaign against leftist guerrillas between 1981 and 1983. In doing so it brings to light a genocide that has remained largely invisible within both academic disciplines and the practitioner sphere. In May 2013, former de facto president of Guatemala, General Efrain Rios Montt, was for ten days indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity within Guatemala's domestic courts. Based upon over a decade of ethnographic research, including in survivors' communities in Guatemala, this book documents the historical processes shaping the genocide by analysing the evolution of both counterinsurgent and insurgent violence and strategy, focusing above all on its impact upon the civilian population. The research clearly evidences the impact of political violence upon non-combatants; how military and insurgent strategies gradually implicate civilians in conflict and the strategies civilians may adopt in order to survive them. Convincingly framed within key theoretical scholarship from genocide studies and comparative politics it speaks to a broad audience beyond Latin Americanists.

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.

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 examines the 'war on terror' and radicalization from an ontological, non-state centric perspective. Since 9/11, criminology has developed in its study of terrorism, utilising alternative non-state centric frameworks to uncover and make visible state-initiated harm. Although progress has been achieved, criminology has continued to privilege the state, thereby failing to uncover forms of state crime and how such crimes facilitate radicalization and terrorism. Ahmed aims to rectify this gap by demonstrating how crimes of the state have contributed to the existence of Islamist-inspired terrorism and the emergence of global Jihadist organisations like Al-Qaeda and ISIS. The 'War on Terror' abandons the dominant socially-constructed discourse and application of the 'war on terror' and instead favours a grounded approach whereby actors, actions and consequences are analysed according to the risk they represent. Ahmed achieves this grounded approach through situating state practices in international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Through documenting the intersectionality of these practices with radicalization in the emergence of global Jihadist organisations, the book demonstrates how state crimes contribute to terrorism. Although the book sits at the intersections of critical criminology, state crime, international/transnational crime, it is relevant to all disciplines that are concerned with state crime, terrorism and radicalization.

This book delivers an interpretive framework for making sense of today's geopolitical landscape and casts new light on the impact ideology and technology have had on American foreign policy and contemporary security practices. Edwin Daniel Jacob argues that America's security practices in the Global War on Terror have been guided by an anachronistic Cold War logic that has subordinated strategy to tactics. Jacob shows that deep-rooted prejudices and presuppositions regarding American exceptionalism have had a disastrous impact on the policies of the United States, not only in dealing with terrorism, but also in seeking to impose American hegemony in the Middle East. Ineffectual security practices of dubious moral character, from rendition and torture to preemptive strikes and nation building to drones and assassinations, privilege exigency over ethics. Yet the result of this "post-strategic" approach to security, where interchangeable tactics, like these, masquerade as strategy, only increases insecurity. Jacob offers a fresh perspective on American foreign policy that links national security with human security in regional terms. This approach highlights the need for order, predictability, and stability-the cornerstone of political realism. Making use of insights derived from Machiavelli, Hobbes, Marx, Weber, Schmitt, and Morgenthau, this interdisciplinary work provides an overview of American foreign policy in the twenty-first century and speaks to crucial themes in the fields of history, political science, and sociology.

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.

Terrorism and counter-terrorism represent enduringly and globally important phenomena, and the mutually shaping relationship between non-state terrorism and state counter-terrorism continues to influence world politics. Illusions of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism brings together leading scholars in the field to analyse this relationship, and to do so in distinctive manner. The book sustainedly assesses the interaction of terrorism and counter-terrorism through drawing on a range of academic disciplines in dialogue with one another. It addresses the dynamics of counter-terrorism more interrogatively and concentratedly than is common in much of the scholarly literature, and it highlights a theme that is all too rarely considered in the field: namely, the shared and mutually-echoing failings and illusions involved in the politics of terrorism and counter-terrorism alike. Chapters analyse post-9/11 counter-terrorism, the ongoing evolution of al-Qaida, the imperatives and challenges and global context of western counter-terrorist efforts, and the reasons why terrorist campaigns sometimes endure and sometimes come to an end. Candid and wide-ranging, Illusions of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism offers rigorous and original argument on a subject of the highest significance.

This book explores how the Chinese government reasserts its control and management of public spaces as part of its overall counter-terrorism strategy. The work focuses primarily on the banal and alternative forms that China's 'war on terror' takes: the everyday, non-military, socio-economic and spatio-material. It presents three different cases of control associated with the state's effort to manage material, social and digital public spaces as remedies to terrorism and ethnic unrest in China: the redevelopment project of Kashgar-the 'home' of Uyghur culture-from 2001 to 2017; the forging of local partnerships with potential agents (i.e. the local cadres and imams in Xinjiang) as part of the process of implementing counter-terrorism policies; and an online campaign about international terrorism that appeared on Sina Weibo. Using securitization theory as a theoretical framework, the book establishes links between human geography and critical security studies and advances the understanding of non-confrontational forms of resistance in China. It also focuses attention on the binary relationship between the securitizing agency of the state and the counter-securitization agency of 'terrorists', while also exploring the manner in which other societal forces interact with these processes. This book will be of interest to students of critical terrorism studies, Chinese studies, human geography, and security studies.

Dark Ideas is the first book of its kind to show how ideas have transformed violent extremism over the past six decades. Certain violent jihadi and neo-Nazi innovations have now become accepted practices by groups and individuals, yet they are rarely examined from this perspective. This book comparatively examines some of these strategic and tactical ideas in context. Innovations such as how to weaponize thoughts, create new forms of violence, or shift targets advance terrorism studies into the realm of violent extremist doctrine. Each chapter examines the most influential violent jihadi or neo-Nazi ideologue behind an innovation, the context from which it originated, and how it transitioned from idea to action. The author concludes with some recommendations for policymakers and experts in the field.

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.

Emphasising a positive approach to dealing with terrorism (the carrot), this book provides a critique of deterrence policy (the stick) which can be ineffective and even counterproductive, and proposes three alternative and effective anti-terrorist policies: * Decentralisation reduces vulnerability to terrorist attacks. A system with many different centres is more stable due to its diversity, enabling one part to substitute for another. * Positive incentives can be offered to actual and prospective terrorists not to engage in violent acts. Incentives include: reintegrating terrorists into society, welcoming repentents and offering them valued opportunities. * Diverting attention by naming several terrorist groups potentially responsible for a particular terrorist act. The government thus supplies more information than the terrorist responsible would wish. The proposed anti-terrorist policy has two important advantages over a coercive policy. The whole interaction between terrorists and the government transforms into a positive sum game and the strategy undermines the cohesiveness of the terrorist organisation. Surveying empirical results on the effects of terrorism on the economy and society, Bruno Frey demonstrates the strength of an economic approach to terrorism, which will be of great interest to social and also political scientists, public policy scholars, international relations experts and researchers, and above all, economists. The alternatives to deterrence illustrated in the book are advantageous for the general public and politicians, and the actuality that a positive policy is better than a coercive policy will be of great appeal to educators.

This book provides a unique insight into the ethical issues and dilemmas facing practitioners and researchers of terrorism and counterterrorism. Ethics play a central if, largely, unrecognised role in most, if not all, issues relevant to terrorism and political violence. These are often most noticeable regarding counterterrorism controversies, while often virtually absent from discussions about academic research practice. At a minimum, ethical issues as they relate to terrorism have rarely been explicitly addressed in a direct or comprehensive manner. The chapters in this edited volume draws on the experience of both practitioners and researchers to explore how a regard to ethical issues might influence and determine research and practice in counter terrorism, and in our understanding of terrorism. Ethics and Terrorism recognizes that there are conflicting and often irreconcilable perspectives from which to view terrorism and terrorism research. In calling for greater attention to these issues, the goal is not to resolve problems, but to explore and clarify the assumptions and dilemmas that underpin our understanding of the personal, institutional and societal ethical boundaries and constraints around terrorism and responses to it. This book will be of value to practitioners and researchers, and to policy makers and the broader interested community. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Terrorism and Political Violence.

This book offers a transnational and transdisciplinary investigation of the causes and consequences of violence, ranging from bullying and hate crimes to revolutions, genocide, and acts of terrorism. Editors James Hawdon, John Ryan, and Mark Lucht bring together empirical investigations of these specific types of violence as well as theoretical discussions of the underlying similarities and differences among these forms of violence to further a comprehensive understanding of the topic. The collection addresses hate crimes committed by one or two individuals, riots, revolutions, and terroristic acts committed by well-organized groups. It also focuses on the perpetrators as well as the targets of violence. While each chapter stands alone as a cutting-edge piece of scholarship, taken together the collection provide a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach to group violence. Addressing a phenomenon affecting every area of the modern world, From Bullies to Terrorists: The Causes and Consequences of Group Violence is a valuable resource for sociologists, criminologists, political scientists, behavioral scientists, peace studies scholars, and psychologists."

This book explores the impact and efficiency of Western intervention in African civil wars. Emphasizing the relational conditions to the study of interventions, it posits the importance of historical, institutional relationships not just in the decision to intervene but also in the process of intervention and its outcome. Drawing from case studies of American and European intervention in Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, and Mali, the author applies a multi-method research design to identify the role colonial legacy plays in shaping the success of interventions. Her analysis concludes that the relational context of interventions helps determine the likelihood of success and that not all states are appropriately equipped to intervene in all civil wars, which is not simply a function of defense spending on materials. This book thus speaks to both academics and policy-makers specializing in conflict resolution and conflict dynamics in modern African civil wars.

This book examines the development of imperial intelligence and policing directed against revolutionaries in the Indian province of Bengal from the first decade of the twentieth century through the beginning of the Second World War. Colonial anxieties about the 'Bengali terrorist' led to the growth of an extensive intelligence apparatus within Bengal. This intelligence expertise was in turn applied globally both to the policing of Bengali revolutionaries outside India and to other anticolonial movements which threatened the empire. The analytic framework of this study thus encompasses local events in one province of British India and the global experiences of both revolutionaries and intelligence agents. The focus is not only on the British intelligence officers who orchestrated the campaign against the revolutionaries, but also on their interactions with the Indian officers and informants who played a vital role in colonial intelligence work, as well as the perspectives of revolutionaries and their allies, ranging from elite anticolonial activists to subaltern maritime workers.

The key feature of the text is its concise, scholarly depth, and accessible format, which enable readers to gain a clear understanding of the theory that they may use in future research. Current texts on the market include redundant, lengthy presentations of theories that fail to distinguish among key theoretical contributions. Terrorism is an area of urgent global concern. The number of terrorism and homeland security-focused academic programs, think tanks, and research centers has dramatically increased over the past two decades. Many universities now offer courses on issues related to terrorism at both the undergraduate and graduate levels within the social science disciplines as well as interdisciplinary centers. Yet, there is only one text and a few book chapters on theories of terrorism. The approach that we will use in the book will make it attractive to academics, students, and policy makers who seek to develop theoretically-driven approaches to policy making. Considering the current number of programs on terrorism and homeland security within the United States alone, the growing emphasis on terrorism studies across the world, and the absence of a clear text on theories of terrorism, the demand should be quite high. This will be the only text that offers chapter-length descriptions of each stage of the radicalization process covering pressing issues in the field of terrorism.

This book examines domestic extremism and what is popularly referred to as radicalization. The fear of domestic extremism has been used to dismantle democracy and erect national security states throughout North America, Western Europe, and beyond. Yet, despite the enormous costs citizens have paid in the name of security, society has become less secure and less safe. In many respects, this situation has resulted from the misapprehension of the conditions that make the emergence of this threat probable. Kowalski focuses on the macro social relations and structures that make radicalization probable. As demonstrated through an analysis of the so-called Toronto 18-an extremist group arrested in June of 2006 for activities that contravened the Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA)-macro social relations and structures served a significant role in creating the conditions through which the process of radicalization became probable. If a comprehensive understanding of the processes of radicalization are to be reached and effective counter-terrorism policies developed, then the consideration this book provides of greater macro social relations and structures that make the emergence of extremist subjectivities probable is needed.

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.

Terrorism, radicalization and violent extremism dominate sociological, political and cultural concerns in today's polarized social and political world. However, the role of governments and issues relating to state terrorism and the counter-terror state remain important considerations. This book presents an understanding of the concept of Countering Violent Extremism from a critical terrorism studies perspective using case studies from different countries while examining the issues it raises. Extremism and violence do not emerge in a vacuum - nor do the policies that counter these concerns. There are no simple solutions to violent extremism but the fixation on ideology can do more harm than good.

Shooting Terror highlights the disturbing immediacy of acts of terror and how cinema responds to them. It follows the changing representations of terrorism in Hindi cinema by fielding in-depth textual analyses of films such as Roja, Maachis, Black Friday, Tere Bin Laden, Uri: The Surgical Strike, among others. It traces how terror and the terrorist have come to be viewed in the Indian cultural space and lays the grounds for a multivalent, perspectival reading of cinema and terrorism. Moving from the threat of terror condensed in the Mogambo-esque villain in Mr. India, to the showcasing of terror and the terrorist in their lived-in realities in Haider and Shahid, the book explores the fraught connections between terror and the themes of devastation and trauma; between terror and the urban cityscape. It also seeks to highlight the place of humour and satire in films on terrorism and the presence of the reactionary far right in these films. One of the first books to present a composite picture of terrorism in contemporary Hindi cinema, this volume will be of interest to researchers and academics of cultural studies, media and film studies, and the study of sociopsychological violence in media and culture.

This book analyses the problematique of governance and administration of cultural diversity within the modern state of Afghanistan and traces patterns of national integration. It explores state construction in twentieth-century Afghanistan and Afghan nationalism, and explains the shifts in the state's policies and societal responses to different forms of governance of cultural diversity. The book problematizes liberalism, communitarianism, and multiculturalism as approaches to governance of diversity within the nation-state. It suggests that while the western models of multiculturalism have recognized the need to accommodate different cultures, they failed to engage with them through intercultural dialogue. It also elaborates the challenge of intra-group diversity and the problem of accommodating individual choice and freedom while recognising group rights and adoption of multiculturalism. The book develops an alternative approach through synthesising critical multiculturalism and interculturalism as a framework on a democratic and inclusive approach to governance of diversity. A major intervention in understanding a war-torn country through an insider account, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of politics and international relations, especially those concerned with multiculturalism, state-building, nationalism, and liberalism, as well as those in cultural studies, history, Afghanistan studies, South Asian studies, Middle East studies, minority studies, and to policymakers.

This book offers an in-depth study of personal accounts of men and women who have at one time entered, participated in and ultimately exited the neo-Nazi movement, with a focus on advanced Western states. Through detailed stories of the movement's violence, hatred, and ideology, coupled with narratives of the individuals' life plans and dreams when entering the movement and reintegrating into society, the work provides knowledge, hope and new directions for readers to better understand and react to a reinvigorated extreme right across Western nations. The book provides innovative research on the relationship between the life trajectories of neo-Nazis and their significant others, enabling better and more evidence-based strategies for preventing radicalization and promoting deradicalization. The extensive case studies include the voices of those who returned to the movement, or never left at all, providing a rare opportunity to compare active, former and returned right-wing extremists. The main contribution of the book is to provide an innovative approach to the oral history of young men and women who have participated in different national and local neo-Nazi movements in Western countries, namely Sweden and the United States. In order to understand the current trends within the movement and their relationship to the surrounding society, this shift calls for in-depth analyses based on social-psychological and sociological perspectives. Stressing the importance of having a gender theory, sociocultural, historical and both a national and contextual perspective on the neo-Nazi movement, this book contributes new knowledge to this field of research. This book will be of much interest to students of political extremism, radicalization, terrorism studies and social psychology.

Based on seven years of original research, this book contains one of the most detailed and comprehensive assessments of 'home-grown' Islamist terrorism (HGIT) in the US and UK to date. Beginning with an examination of the development of militant networks during the 1980s and 1990s, it traces the origins of HGIT and highlights the significance of these early experiences in different countries for shaping the future trajectory of the threat. The book also examines the range of motivations for violent jihad in the West, suggesting a composite theoretical model that specifies three 'necessary' conditions for involvement and challenges popular explanations for differential rates of terrorism which emphasize socioeconomic factors.The book analyzes the background and operational activities of nearly 800 American and British jihadis who mobilized between 1980 and September 11th 2013, including factors such as mental health, education, processes of radicalization, leadership, use of the Internet, sources of funding and links to foreign terrorist organizations. This analysis is then complemented with an examination of how these individuals have been dealt with by the respective security services.From the first proponents of 'global jihad' to the recent wave of volunteers inspired by events in the Middle East, this book provides an extensive yet lucid analysis of one of the greatest security concerns facing America and Great Britain today. 'Home-Grown' Jihad challenges existing studies on a number of key issues and expands our understanding of HGIT. It will be invaluable to academics, practitioners and policymakers alike.

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.