Twenty years after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, we can now see that the War on Terror profoundly affected Western self-understanding and the secular liberal image it sought to project onto a global canvas at what was widely assumed to be the end of history. The dramatic change in awareness that 9/11 brought about was particularly vivid, this book maintains, in the media that sustained and displayed the West's self-image. In particular, fiction, film, drama, the visual arts, and popular music have all struggled to come to grips with the phenomena of terror, asymmetrical warfare, home grown jihadist activism, and the moral and political dilemmas they evoke. The book further argues that the evolving progressive response to 9/11 assumed an increasingly ideological character via the critical and normative international relations theories that came to dominate Western campuses after 2001. These perspectives gave substance to an increasingly critical depiction of the West's War on Terror and its popular promotion through works of literature, film, music, and the visual arts. Promoted through these popular genres, it combined the ingredients that formed "woke" ideology in an accessible formula that subsequently dominated both the mainstream media, academia, and, in time, government agencies.

Over the last decade, the notion of counter-insurgency (COIN) has risen to prominence as the dominant paradigm in American and British thinking about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite the high level of attention paid to the subject by military analysts, the broader theoretical and historical factors which underpin counter-insurgency have received comparatively little critical scrutiny. This volume addresses the gap in existing scholarship by exploring and challenging several critical aspects of the prevailing orthodoxy on COIN.This critical reappraisal of counter-insurgency thinking and practice brings together a number of international academics and practitioners, providing a pluralistic insight on the effectiveness of counter-insurgency operations from military, academic, media and civilian administrative perspectives. It also combines US and British insights into the theory and practise of twenty-first century COIN. With the continuing relevance of 'big third party' COIN to Western engagement in future wars of choice, this book provides an important and timely analysis of an issue which will continue to impact American and British security policy and future interventions.This book will appeal to scholars of Military Studies, Strategic Studies, Security Studies and International Relations and to practitioners and policy-makers working in the field of counter-insurgency.

Sacred Violence and Religious Violence examines the place that ideology or political religion plays in legitimizing violence to bring about a purer world. In particular, the book examines Islamism and the western secular, liberal democratic responses to it.

This is the first book to set out a comprehensive framework by which to understand terrorism as strategy. It contends that even terrorism of the supposedly nihilist variety can be viewed as a bona fide method for distributing means to fulfil the ends of policy, that is, as a strategy.
The main purpose of the work is to describe the dynamics of terrorism and evaluate their effectiveness, as well as to theorize upon, and clarify the correlation between, political ends and terrorist means. The text explains the modus operandi of terrorism, and demonstrates how terrorism relies on manipulating the psychological impact of (usually) relatively small-scale attacks. Using a variety of case studies, The Strategy of Terrorism shows how many campaigns of terrorism end in failure when they lose their power to terrify. The authors spell out what a proper understanding of terrorism as a strategy implies for those who want to make terrorism ineffective, and offer a number of policy recommendations derived directly from their critique.
This is the first contribution of strategic studies to the study of terrorism, and will be of much interest to students of terrorism, strategy and security studies, as well as military professionals and policy makers.

This is the first book to set out a comprehensive framework by which to understand terrorism as strategy. It contends that even terrorism of the supposedly nihilist variety can be viewed as a bona fide method for distributing means to fulfil the ends of policy, that is, as a strategy. The main purpose of the work is to describe the dynamics of terrorism and evaluate their effectiveness, as well as to theorize upon, and clarify the correlation between, political ends and terrorist means. The text explains the modus operandi of terrorism, and demonstrates how terrorism relies on manipulating the psychological impact of (usually) relatively small-scale attacks. Using a variety of case studies, The Strategy of Terrorism shows how many campaigns of terrorism end in failure when they lose their power to terrify. The authors spell out what a proper understanding of terrorism as a strategy implies for those who want to make terrorism ineffective, and offer a number of policy recommendations derived directly from their critique. This is the first contribution of strategic studies to the study of terrorism, and will be of much interest to students of terrorism, strategy and security studies, as well as military professionals and policy makers.

Fighting for Ireland? is the first in-depth account of the evolution of Irish Republican strategy. It is highly topical in the light of the faltering peace process and the growing speculation over the IRA's next move: further violence or a new non-violent strategy? This new, updated paperback edition is essential reading for those who wish to disentangle the complex issues and motives behind IRA violence.
M.L.R. Smith challenges many assumptions about the IRA, pinpointing the organisation's successes as well as its missed opportunities. He demonstrates the tension the movement has experienced between ideology and strategic reality regarding the use of force, illustrating how doctrinal purity has sometimes hampered the IRA in the pursuit of its goals. Contrary to the Irish Republican movement's vigorous and assertive public face Smith uncovers an organisation characterised more by a sense of chronic insecurity than by certainty and continuity.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203445147

Fighting for Ireland? is the first in-depth account of the evolution of Irish Republican strategy. It is highly topical in the light of the faltering peace process and the growing speculation over the IRA's next move: further violence or a new non-violent strategy? This new, updated paperback edition is essential reading for those who wish to disentangle the complex issues and motives behind IRA violence.
M.L.R. Smith challenges many assumptions about the IRA, pinpointing the organisation's successes as well as its missed opportunities. He demonstrates the tension the movement has experienced between ideology and strategic reality regarding the use of force, illustrating how doctrinal purity has sometimes hampered the IRA in the pursuit of its goals. Contrary to the Irish Republican movement's vigorous and assertive public face Smith uncovers an organisation characterised more by a sense of chronic insecurity than by certainty and continuity.

The counterinsurgency (COIN) paradigm dominates military and political conduct in contemporary Western strategic thought. It assumes future wars will unfold as "low intensity" conflicts within rather than between states, requiring specialized military training and techniques. COIN is understood as a logical, effective, and democratically palatable method for confronting insurgency-a discrete set of practices that, through the actions of knowledgeable soldiers and under the guidance of an expert elite, creates lasting results. Through an extensive investigation into COIN's theories, methods, and outcomes, this book undermines enduring claims about COIN's success while revealing its hidden meanings and effects. Interrogating the relationship between counterinsurgency and war, the authors question the supposed uniqueness of COIN's attributes and try to resolve the puzzle of its intellectual identity. Is COIN a strategy, a doctrine, a theory, a military practice, or something else? Their analysis ultimately exposes a critical paradox within COIN: while it ignores the vital political dimensions of war, it is nevertheless the product of a misplaced ideological faith in modernization.

Sacred Violence and Religious Violence examines the place that ideology or political religion plays in legitimizing violence to bring about a purer world. In particular, the book examines Islamism and the western secular, liberal democratic responses to it.

The notion of counter-insurgency has become a dominant paradigm in American and British thinking about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This volume brings together international academics and practitioners to evaluate the broader theoretical and historical factors that underpin COIN, providing a critical reappraisal of counter-insurgency thinking.

A worldwide surge in poaching and wildlife trafficking is threatening to decimate endangered species. This crisis also threatens the security of human beings in ways ignored until recently by decision-makers slow to begin to treat what is typically viewed as a ‘conservation issue’ as serious crime.

Over the past decade, as the scale and profitability of poaching and wildlife trafficking have grown, politicians, journalists and campaigners throughout the world have begun to take notice – they are offering striking appraisals of the threat posed not only to endangered species but also to human populations. Many of these appraisals, however, are made in the absence of a detailed body of empirical research and analysis to underpin them. The result is the growth of a range of myths and misperceptions around the security threats posed, particularly as they relate to Africa.

Poaching, Wildlife Trafficking and Security in Africa examines the most common narratives on poaching, wildlife trafficking and security. It critically analyses the dominant discourses on poaching and wildlife trafficking as threats to human security, as drivers of conflict, as funders of terrorism and as a focus for organised crime. In doing so, it seeks to sort myth from reality, to clarify how poaching and wildlife trafficking, as much cited threats to security, can most accurately be conceived. Such a study is crucial to the efforts of stakeholders now rightly looking to respond not just to the threat posed to endangered species, but also to the security and wellbeing of human beings.

Table of Contents

Introduction,Cathy Haenlein and M L R Smith

1. Poaching, Wildlife Trafficking and Human Security, Rosaleen Duffy and Jasper Humphreys

2. Poaching, WildlifeTrafficking and Conflict, Stéphane Crayne and Cathy Haenlein

3. Poaching, Wildlife Trafficking and Terrorism, Cathy Haenlein, Thomas Maguire and Keith Somerville

4. Poaching, Wildlife Trafficking and Organised Crime,Tim Wittig

Conclusions, Cathy Haenlein and M L R Smith