Extraordinary Threat Research Articles

When (In)security travels: Europeanization and migration in Poland

ABSTRACTThis article investigates in what way the enlargement of the European Union and EU conditionality have brought about a change in the way state institutions and bureaucracies define, reproduce and deal with security issues. It is based on the assumption that the definition of an extraordinary threat for internal security by terrorists, migrants and organized crime, and their presentation as an existential threat for societal peace, follows the logic of securitization as a practice that is both discursive and institutionalized in practical actions. Since the new member states had to submit to a homogenizing process of Europeanization in the realm of Justice and Home Affairs, they also had to internalize the EU-15's concept of the ‘threatening other’. Hegemonic imaginations of (in)security thus ‘travel’ from the centre to the periphery and are translated and adapted, thus inspiring a socialization process and creating a tension which bureaucrats have to reconcile in their everyday work.

Consequences of trauma and violence: impact on psychological well-being

This paper addresses consequences of exposure to violence and trauma. Traumata are defined as events with an extraordinary threat or catastrophic extent. Beside Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), affected people may develop Complex PTSD, Prolonged Grief Disorder or Adjustment Disorder as direct consequences of exposure with extreme stress. Indirect trauma-related disorders are amongst others Major Depression, Substance Dependency and Personality Disorders. These disorders develop often comorbid to PTSD. The likelihood to develop a PTSD at one point during the life course is 1-4% in Germany. A PTSD is diagnosed if for any length of time the traumatic situation is re-experienced (e.g. in pictures or nightmares), potential triggers are avoided, emotional reactivity is numb and a permanent hyperarousal is experienced. The intensity, the duration and the frequency of traumatic experiences as well as the lack of social support after the trauma are important risk factors for the development of a PTSD. In the last two decades successful treatment approaches for PTSD have been developed. The main focus of all evidence-based treatment approaches is the exposure in sensu of the traumatic experiences. Behavioral therapy approaches have shown to be most effective in the treatment of PTSD. A better understanding of the consequences of exposure to violence and trauma may help us to identify people at risk for developing trauma-related disorders already at an early stage.

Beyond the limits of the law: a Christological reading of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight

Close readings of popular culture texts can illuminate the complexities of the narratives of law and justice that influence our legal imaginary, and provide a means for re-reading our concepts of legality. This article explores Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy not as a depiction of a traditional superhero who conservatively operates to supplement the legal system's goal of justice and restore the social order disrupted by criminals, villains or some other extraordinary threat, but as a non-hero who proposes a critique of justice and legality itself. It reads Batman as a Christological figure specifically because of his actions at the conclusion of the second film, The Dark Knight, in taking the blame for the murders committed by District Attorney Harvey Dent. In exploring what is an uncomfortable conclusion to the second film, I unpack how Nolan ‘makes strange’ the traditional superhero mythos and the narratives they tell of justice, law and legality. In this sense, The Dark Knight can be read as a Christological response to, as much as an expansion and fulfilment of, the rise of the superhero film and the superhero as a figure of the exception beyond the law.

Kritische Lebensereignisse

A critical life event is a distinct incidence which is likely to occur in everyone's life provoking the need to adapt and triggers considerable emotional reactions. Insufficient coping resources in response to critical life events cause adjustment disorders. Stressor events of extraordinary threat and catastrophic impact are a necessary, but not sufficient criterion for the development of a posttraumatic stress disorder.

United States considers drug stockpile

The United States keeps massive stockpiles of strategic materials for extraordinary threats: medicines in the event of terrorist attack, oil in case world supplies go haywire, gold to counter economic calamity, nuclear weapons for the ultimate war. It’s been caught off guard, however, by the

SECURITIZATION

To successfully cast an issue as an extraordinary threat requiring a suspension of normal political functions is to “securitize” it (e.g., Buzan et al., 1998). This content analysis uses portrayals of the “war on terror” in three US newspapers from 2001 to 2006 to show how a securitization frame can be invoked or contested and how it changes across time. Results suggest the importance to political figures of being able to invoke security, not only on matters of political violence but on such other issues as immigration or public health.

State Security and Elite Capture: The Implementation of Antiterrorist Legislation in India

In the wake of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai in November 2008, India enacted new and tougher anti-terrorism laws that took effect in 2009—the Unlawful Activities (Prevention Amendment Act of 2008 (UAPA), and the National Investigation Agency Act of 2008 (NIA). This paper examines the current challenges facing the Indian Government in the implementation of these laws, in light of India's experience with the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 2002 (POTA).We analyze how POTA, a law originally designed to protect the Indian nation as a whole from extraordinary terrorist threats, was instead captured by state-level political elites and wielded as a weapon against rival political groups. We argue that this dynamic can be explained by the broader political transformation in the federalist structure of the Indian polity that occurred in the 1990s: the fragmentation and decline of Congress party control over the Central Government allowed state and regional parties, and state governments, to claim more and more power at the expense of the Center. An∼examination of case studies in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat illustrates the dynamics of local capture and the deployment of anti-terrorist legislation by elites against economic challenges. Through an analysis of the implementation of POTA, this paper seeks to contextualize India's latest round of anti-terrorism laws in light of the structural realities of the Indian polity.

Sanctioning Iran: If Only It Were So Simple

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. Mark Landler, “U.S. Officials to Continue to Engage Iran,” New York Times, June 13, 2009, p. A14, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/us/politics/14diplo.html?_r=1. 2. Dan Bilefsky, “France and Germany Warn of New Iran Sanctions,” New York Times, August 28, 2009, p. A10, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/world/middleeast/28iht-nukes.html. 3. Najmeh Bozorgmehr, “Refusal to ‘Bargain About Our Sovereign Rights’ Fuels Pessimism,” Financial Times, September 30, 2009, p. 5, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/845724ce-ad58-11de-9caf-00144feabdc0.html. 4. Patrick Clawson, “Iran's Vulnerability to Foreign Economic Pressure,” testimony before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives, July 22, 2009, http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/111/cla072209.pdf. 5. Robert Carswell and Richard J. Davis, “Economic and Financial Pressures,” in American Hostages in Iran: The Conduct of a Crisis, ed. Warren Christopher et al. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985), p. 174. 6. Iran Press News, December 3, 2008. 7. Executive order no. 12957 declared that Iran constituted an extraordinary threat to U.S. security and prohibited U.S. transactions with the Iranian petroleum sector. Its intended purpose was expanded two months later with executive order 12959 that banned nearly all trade and investment with Iran. See Executive Order no. 12957, Code of Federal Regulations, March 17, 1995, http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/legal/eo/12957.pdf and Executive Order no. 12959, Code of Federal Regulations, May 9, 1995, http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/legal/eo/12959.pdf. 8. David Menashri, Post-Revolutionary Politics in Iran: Religion, Society and Power (London: Frank Cass, 2001), p. 200. 9. “Europe Takes Steps to Lift its Embargo,” New York Times, January 22, 1981, p. A11. 10. See Vladimir Isachenkov, “Putin: Iran Sanctions Not Needed for Now,” MSNC.com, October 14, 2009, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33312492/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/; Mary Beth Sheridan, “Russia Not Budging on Iran Sanctions,” Washington Post, October 14, 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/13/AR2009101300221.html. 11. “Spiegel Interview with Iran's Chief Nuclear Negotiator,” Der Spiegel, September 30, 2009, http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,652104,00.html. 12. “Iran to Launch Campaign to Condemn Sanctions on Aviation Industry,” Fars News Agency, December 2, 2008, http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8709120965. 13. “Sanctions on Airline Industry Still Killing People,” Mehr News Agency, July 21, 2009. 14. Mark Landler, “U.S. Is Seeking a Range of Sanctions Against Iran,” New York Times, September 27, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/world/middleeast/28iran.html?hp. 15. See Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Jeffrey J. Schott, and Kimberly Ann Elliot, Economic Sanctions Reconsidered, 2nd ed. (Washington, D.C.: Peterson Institute of International Economics, 2009); Meghan O'Sullivan, Shrewd Sanctions: Statecraft and State Sponsors of Terrorism (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2003). 16. “Statement Number 13 of Mir Husayn Musavi Published,” September 28, 2009, http://mowjcamp.com/article/id/38585 (in Persian). Additional informationNotes on contributorsSuzanne MaloneySuzanne Maloney is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy and formerly served on the policy planning staff of the Department of State

Cities, war, and terrorism: towards an urban geopolitics

List of Plates. List of Figures. List of Tables. List of Contributors. Series Editorsa Preface. Preface. Introduction: Cities, Warfare, and States of Emergency: Stephen Graham (University of Durham). Part I: Cities, and in History and Theory. 1 Cities as Strategic Sites : Place Annihilation and Urban Geopolitics: Stephen Graham (University of Durham). 2 The City--as--Target, or Perpetuation and Death: Ryan Bishop and Gregory Clancey (National University of Singapore National University of Singapore). 3 Shadow Architectures : War, Memories, and Berlin's Futures: Simon Guy (University of Newcastle). 4 Another Anxious Urbanism: Simulating Defence and Disaster in Cold America: Matthew Farish (University of Toronto). 5 Living (Occasionally Dying) Together in an Urban World: Zygmunt Bauman (University of Leeds and the University of Warsaw). 6 Everyday Techniques as Extraordinary Threats: Urban Technostructures and Nonplaces in Terrorist Actions: Timothy W. Luke (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia). Part II: Urbicide and the Urbanization of Warfare. 7 New Wars of the City : Relationships of a Urbicidea and a Genocidea : Martin Shaw (University of Sussex). 8 Urbicide in Bosnia: Martin Coward (University of Sussex). 9 Strategic Points, Flexible Lines, Tense Surfaces and Political Volumes: Ariel Sharon and The Geometry of Occupation: Eyal Weizmann (an architect based in Tel Aviv and London). 10 Constructing Urbicide by Bulldozer in the Occupied Territories: Stephen Graham. 11 City Streets -- The Zones of Globalisation: Democracy and Military Operations in Urban Terrain in the Early 21st Century: Robert Warren (University of Delaware). 12 Continuity and Discontinuity : The Grammar of Urban Military Operations : Alice Hills (King's College, London). Part III: Exposed Cities : Urban Impacts of and the 'War on Terror'. 13 Urban Warfare: A Tour of the Battlefield: Michael Sorkin (CCNY). 14 The War on Terrorism and Life in Cities after September 11, 2001: Peter Marcuse (Columbia University in New York City). 15 Recasting the 'Ring of Steel': Designing Out in the City Of London? Jon Coaffee (University of Newcastle). 16 Technology vs. 'Terrorism': Circuits of City Surveillance Since September 11: David Lyon (Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario). 17 Urban Dimensions of the Punishment of Afghanistan by U.S. Bombs: Marc W. Herold (University of New Hampshire in Durham). Epilogue: Stephen Graham. Bibliography. Index

Criminal Justice after 9-11: ICC or Military Tribunals

Nowadays, widespread consensus exists that the dramatic events of September 11, 2001 changed not only the country that suffered these attacks but also the way many in the West view the world outside this exclusive circle. For quite a number, it confirmed Huntington's thesis of a clash of civilizations – a vision of a future of ‘us’ versus ‘them'. But as the attackers were being identified, it became clear that in a sense they came from among us; although technically foreign nationals all, they lived and studied inconspicuously in western, multicultural societies. How are we then to deal with this enemy within? How is democracy to fight this so-called War on Terror and survive? Such questions are obviously not new. Bearing De Tocqueville's assertion in mind that a long war is not needed in order to put freedom at risk in a democratic society, this article, using the technique of a thought experiment, seeks to examine the increased prerogatives that governments – fearing the enemy within – have granted themselves in the realm of criminal law to deal with the perceived threat. This experiment will bring the reader, in a non-specialist way, from the criminal justice system of Germany to the possible role of an operational International Criminal Court, and from the criminal justice system of the United States to military tribunals as a means of dealing with what those in power claim is an extraordinary threat.

Woodrow Wilson in Our Time: NATO's Goals in Kosovo

Confronted with political disintegration of Yugoslav federation in early 1990s, historian John Lukacs observed that Woodrow Wilson was in retrospect beginning to make Lenin look like a small fry. ideas of this pale Presbyterian professor-president, he wrote, more revolutionary than those of Bolshevik radical from middle Volga region.' It's hard to argue with that. Just as Wilson's propagation of national self-determination destroyed European empires in 1918, it also demolished states Wilson helped to create-Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia-and it continues to pose challenges to sovereignty of states that did not exist in Wilson's time. For all mischief and misery it begat, Soviet Union is gone. The ideas upon which it was founded are today taken seriously by nobody of consequence. Lenin is dead, but Wilson lives as possibly most vital force in international relations of our time. This more so, possibly, because Wilson himself is presently so badly understood. His Fourteen Points, presented to Congress on 8 January 1918, was simultaneously a statement of war aims and proposed blueprint of principles for postwar peace. An evident principle runs through whole program, Wilson noted, the principle of justice to all peoples and nationalities, and their right to live on equal terms of liberty and safety with one another, whether they be strong or weak. [2] By declaring balance-of-power diplomacy defunct and raising national self-determination as a principle on which peace would henceforth depend, Wilson prescribed nothing less than a fundamental reconstitution of international relations. However, as a President-at-war and international statesman he was in many respects less idealistic in 1919 than we tend to be now. Wilsonian internationalism-of which both principle of national self-determination and opinion of humankind in support of it became integral parts-was an ideological innovation of American foreign policy in response to extraordinary threats posed by imperialism, fascism, and communism to liberal democracies. Historian Frank Ninkovich points out that as they were interpreted and put into practice by his successors, Wilson's ideals amounted to a set of principles imperfectly applied to navigate American diplomacy through century-long crisis until kind of world envisioned at beginning of century once again came into view. [3] As of 1989, in other words, Wilsonianism could be considered a self-liquidating creed. In year 2001, moreover, we have benefit of more than 80 years of European history to which Wilson could not turn for evidence that his hopes for international peace were justified. Wilson held, for example, that after 1919 democratic governments emerging in place of autocracy would never permit catastrophe of 1914-18 to happen again. He believed further that he understood better what was in hearts and minds of populace of new German republic than defunct regime that had taken Kaiserreich to war. As it turned out, he was wrong. The Weimar Republic committed suicide at polls, and its successor put self-determination to work in name of Sudeten Germans but in service of conquest. Today, illiberal democracy is fashionable as never before. Populist demagogues, many of them elected, cultivate ethnic resentment and ride it to power. [4] Over past decade ethnonationalism--the mobilization of ethnic minorities in pursuit of political goals, ranging from redress of specific grievances against majority population to outright secession and independent statehood--has established itself as possibly most potent threat to international peace and stability. The principle of national self-determination was critical to dismantling of Soviet Union and thus a radical reduction of its military menace to West. But same process simultaneously unleashed long-repressed political energies which, in prophetic words of Max Kampelman, could drag much of Europe back into shadows from which [it] has so recently emerged. …

The United States and South Africa

"The policies and actions of the government of South Africa constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy and economy of the United States." Ronald Reagan's September 1985 declaration that the white minority government in South Africa was a threat to the United States appeared to be a sharp reversal of the administration's "constructive engagement" policy toward Pretoria. Only a few days earlier the president had firmly rejected economic pressure on the white republic; now he was suddenly imposing a series of limited economic sanctions, including restrictions on bank loans, computer exports, and the sale of nuclear technology.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.