International Terrorist Organizations Research Articles

아프리카 사헬지역 테러양상 변화에 따른 재외국민 보호 발전방안 연구

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors behind the change in terrorism in the Sahel region of Africa since COVID-19. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the Global Terrorism Index and the number of deaths due to terrorism have decreased globally. However, the Sahel region in Africa has seen a sharp increase in terrorist attacks and deaths. Over the past few years, the focus of international terrorist organizations has shifted from the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa to the Sahel, which includes border areas that are relatively difficult for governments to control. The Sahel region has complex security challenges, which have been exacerbated by COVID-19 and are thought to have contributed to the rise in terrorism. Political instability, the decline of democracy, the rise of international terrorist organizations, and new means of attack, such as drones, are some of the factors that have contributed to the rise of terrorism in the Sahel since COVID-19. In order to respond to these threats, the report suggests ways to develop an expatriate protection response system, such as supplementing the expatriate protection crisis management manual, utilizing private security guard capabilities, and establishing anti-drone systems for missions and key facilities.

Тенденции развития внешней политики США конца XX − первой четверти XXI века. Концептуальный аспект

This article analyses trends in US foreign policy of the late 20th and first decades of the 21st centuries as a major factor influencing modern geopolitics. The problem is considered in the theoretical aspect and in the historical-political retrospect, from the 1990s to the present day. The subject of the analysis is the stages of the formation of the foreign policy doctrine upheld by the USA in international relations. For the 1990s, the paper studies the doctrines asserting hegemony and unipolarity as the goals of US foreign policy in the geopolitical realities that took shape after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The period of 2000s – 2010s was, according to the author, a time of transformation in US foreign policy: from the adoption after September 11, 2001 of the so-called Bush Doctrine, giving the USA rights to launch preventive strikes and make interventions against states suspected of cooperation with international terrorist organizations, to the idea of abandoning claims to global hegemony and attempts to normalize relations with Russia (“reset” policy) and China (the Group of Two) during Barack Obama’s presidency. The final part of the article examines the period of Donald Trump’s and Joe Biden’s presidencies, when the USA returned to the idea of global hegemony, based on the ideological thesis that the USA is the leader of the free world opposing the world of autocracies, whose leaders are Russia and China. According to the author, the current situation reproduces the realities of the Cold War, with the confrontation between the USA as the “defender of the free world” and the USSR as the founder of the world communism movement. The author concludes by attempting to determine the reasons for the transformations in US foreign policy of the late 20th and early 21st centuries as well as to give a forecast of its development trends.

Deconstructing Fears of Terrorism: A Comparison between Fear from Domestic and International Terrorist Groups

ABSTRACT Although research on fears of terrorism has been growing, previous studies approached the topic of the fear of terrorism as a monolithic concept without considering the various political aspects of terrorism as a crime. The current research employed a novel approach to studying the fear of terrorism as a polylithic phenomenon by comparing three different types of fears of terrorism among Americans: general fears of terrorism, fears of domestic terrorist groups, and fears of international terrorist groups. Drawing on a nationally representative sample from the Chapman Survey of American Fears, Wave 5 (2018), the results of the analysis indicated that the predictors were differentially associated with the three types of fear with respect to their statistical significance and correlation directions. Thus, this study provides a significant contribution to the literature on the fear of terrorism topic by illustrating the important differences among general fears of terrorism, fears of domestic terrorist groups, and fears of international terrorist groups.

Cooperation between Russia and China in the field of countering international terrorism as a factor in ensuring international stability

The interaction between Russia and China is a coordinated cooperation on a wide range of issues and problems. The parties are developing a strategic partnership, an important aspect of which is cooperation between Russia and China to ensure global and regional security. The effectiveness of such cooperation directly depends on how successfully the Russian-Chinese partnership will develop, aimed at countering new challenges and threats to security. One of these threats is international terrorism, primarily in its Islamist form. The study examines the specifics of bilateral cooperation between Russia and China in the field of combating international terrorism. The author has studied the forms and tools of bilateral cooperation at the global, regional and national levels. The article notes that cooperation between Russia and China in countering terrorism takes place on the main global platforms (the UN, the SCO). The study uses historical-comparative, historical-typological and problem-chronological methods, which allowed the author to study the approaches of Russia and China to measures to counter terrorism in the context of exacerbation of non-traditional challenges and threats. Russia and China, as permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC), contribute to the management of global security and ensuring international stability through the development and implementation of UN Security Council resolutions on combating terrorism, participation in projects of the UN Counter-Terrorism Center (UNTC), UN peacekeeping operations. In the regional subsystem, the SCO is an important platform for countering terrorism and ensuring international stability, within which countries have built an effective regulatory and institutional framework for combating terrorism. The article proves that at the bilateral level, the parties have created a mechanism for interaction between law enforcement agencies and special services. In addition, the parties are jointly involved in the fight against international terrorist groups involved in the Syrian conflict. The author concludes that the counter-terrorism system built in Russian-Chinese relations makes a constructive contribution to ensuring international and regional security from non-traditional threats.

Deterred But Not Defeated: The Case of Abu Sayyaf’s Resilience

The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) is known for its criminal and terror operations. Since the group's base is located in islands in the southern Philippines such as Basilan and Sulu, its notorious activities have extended to neighbouring countries; Malaysia and Indonesia. Thereby, making the group a destabilising force for regional security. This article discusses the factors that shaped the resilience of the ASG by looking at the evolution of the group for more than three decades. The evolutionary phases of the group will be divided into four: the early years (the 1980s-2001), the post-9/11 tragedy (2002-2014), the rise of ISIS (2014-2017), and the post-ISIS (2018-Present). Based on the analysis of the group’s evolution, this article argues that the ability of the ASG to shift its focus of operations from criminal activities such as kidnapping for ransom and piracy to terrorist acts and vice versa has contributed to its resilience. Three interrelated factors have made possible for the fluidity of the group: the factionalised structure of the group, the existence of an international terrorist organization as a patron, and the convenience of committing crimes.

The evolution of the international legal regulation of the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict

INTRODUCTION. In recent decades, there has been an escalation of armed clashes in the territories of African states, the states of the Middle East and Central Asia with the participation of military formations, international terrorist groups that everywhere use the practice of attacking and looting cultural property as a military strategy. In this regard, of scientific and practical interest is a comprehensive study of the legal and organizational foundations of international legal regulation of the protection of cultural property during armed conflicts, evaluation of their effectiveness and identification of promising tasks for the development of additional measures and strategies for the preservation of cultural heritage, taking into account new challenges and threats.MATERIALS AND METHODS. This paper examines the provisions of key international treaties, decisions of the main bodies and specialized agencies of the UN, which together form the existing international legal regime for the protection of cultural property in armed conflict. The author also analyzes the jurisprudence of international criminal justice bodies on bringing individuals to justice for deliberate attacks on cultural sites as part of hostilities. Special attention is paid to the study of scientific works of both domestic and foreign scientists, within which international legal concepts are formed, designed to resolve existing problems in the current international legal regulation of the issue under study, as well as to form promising concepts in the framework of the development of the doctrine of international law. The methodological basis is made up of general scientific and special research methods.RESEARCH RESULTS. According to the results of the study, it was found that during the XX century states have consistently developed norms for the protection of cultural property from threats associated with armed conflicts, while the XXI century was marked by best practice in the application of the rules on liability for attacks on cultural property in situations of armed conflict in the activities of international justice bodies. In addition, it was determined that for the first time in the history of UN peacekeeping, the UN Security Council tested the mandate of the Multidisciplinary Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, in which the peacekeeping contingent, among other things, performed the tasks of protecting, safeguarding and restoring cultural heritage sites together with UNESCO. It seems significant to identify and generalize the prospects for the development of new international legal measures for the preservation of cultural heritage for future generations, taking into account the changing nature of armed conflicts, the intensification of the activities of international terrorist groups and the growing practice of destroying the centuries-old cultural heritage of peoples in the framework of the so-called “cultural cleansing". The topical aspect of the study was the establishment of new approaches of states to the protection of cultural heritage as a means of ensuring international peace and security.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The publication presents the author's objective assessments of the established international legal framework, judicial practice of international criminal justice bodies, as well as doctrinal approaches of both domestic and foreign scientists on the issue of international legal regulation of the protection of cultural property during armed conflicts. Separately, the forms of international legal cooperation of states at the UN site within the framework of the UNESCO profile organization for the development of modern regulatory and organizational foundations for the interaction of the competent authorities of states to prevent and suppress the destruction of cultural heritage, as well as the looting and illegal export of cultural property in the event of an armed conflict, especially terrorist groups.

Modern Media on Threats and Challenges of International Terrorism in the South Caucasus

The article is devoted to the problem of regional media coverage of the risks and threats of international terrorism in the South Caucasus on the example of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The processes of the emergence of cells, banned international terrorist organizations in the region, their role in the escalation of ethno–political conflicts of the 90s of the XX century and the Second Karabakh (44–day) War of 2020 of the XXI century are noted. The article examines in detail the diversity of the principles and approaches of the media in the coverage of problems related to international terrorism. The peculiarities of the counter-terrorism policy of the South Caucasus states are revealed in the context of their influence on the geopolitical situation in the region, where the topic of terrorism becomes an element of mutual accusations of the conflicting parties. The purpose of the article is to identify unacceptable manipulation of information related to terrorism during ethnopolitical conflicts. Based on the analysis of publications and video reports of regional media, the author comes to the conclusion about the urgency of the problem of the expansion of militants into the territory of Russia and the contradictory information coverage of the problem in the media. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the principles, approaches, and information strategies used by the media of the South Caucasus in covering this problem have been identified. The differentiated activity of the media in the process of covering the threats and risks of international terrorism and its classification is indicated. Trends in the use of the topic of terrorism and terrorist organizations in information propaganda campaigns, including in the framework of information and propaganda projects of an anti-Russian nature, are identified.

Exploring the centrality of nonviolent communication for resolution of conflicts for a culture of peace

At a time when humanity finds itself enveloped by conflicts of different kinds, violence, greed and crimes at various levels, the world hungers for peace and nonviolence. The United Nations talks about how conflict and violence ‘are currently on the rise’. It talks of the rising involvement of non-state actors like political militias, criminal and international terrorist groups. Amongst the dominant forces behind conflicts according to the United Nations are unresolved regional tensions, breakdown in the rule of law, absent or co-opted state institutions, illicit economic gain and the scarcity of resources. (https://www.un.org/en/un75/new-era-conflict-and-violence) The aim is to constantly work to find frameworks and practical models to end these conflicts. The challenge is not just to find solutions for cessation of these conflicts but also to address the root cause of these violence. In most of these conflicts, there are attempts to encourage sanitization of language and distort reality; in many occasions there is use of language to demonize groups and normalize violence. Communication hence can be said to fuel all forms of violence – direct, structural and cultural.  Using case studies of integrating Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent communication in different settings and social institutions, the paper will look at how this approach of nonviolent communication can help in bringing change in attitude and behavior of the conflicting parties and aid in the resolution of the conflict.

International Terrorism Using Toxic Chemicals as an Element of Hybrid Warfare

   Modern terrorism is a complex system that consists of a complex of complementary processes – ideological, criminal, military, political, religious and nationalistic. Chemical terrorism is one of the elements of hybrid warfare – a new technology in the fight for the reorganization of the world at the present stage.   The purpose of this article is to consider one of the elements of hybrid wars – chemical terrorism.   Sources and informational basis of the research, methodology. In this work, the sources published by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) were used. The publications available through the databases PubMed, Google Scholar, eLibrary, etc. were also studied. Research method – system analysis. The probability of the use of chemical warfare agents and toxic chemicals by terrorists of various ideological orientations as part of a hybrid war strategy has been studied.   The discussion of the results. Hybrid military conflicts of a non-classical nature involve the participation of international terrorist organizations in hostilities. The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (CWC) does not explicitly prohibit non-state actors from obtaining and using chemical weapons. This situation is very convenient for the states that have signed the CWC and use terrorist organizations as part of the strategy of indirect action. In such cases the information and psychological operations are aimed at the collapse and fragmentation of countries, undermining their ability to resist, discrediting their leaders, and causing a split in the ranks of the allies. This was most clearly shown in the incidents with the use of toxic chemicals in Syria.   Conclusion. Working groups under the auspices of the UN and the OPCW, sent to Syria to investigate incidents with the use of sarin, proved unable to conduct objective investigations. They usually ended up on the side of the sponsors of chemical terrorist attacks, despite the evidence of falsification. This, in turn, can lead to serious military conflicts, for which the role of casus belli will be played by false news from the global media. The only mechanism that made it possible to stop such provocations in Syria was a public warning from the Russian side about the place and time of the planned false flag attack. At the same time, such a selective position of the UN and the OPCW can at any moment lead to the loss of the control over chemical weapons in certain regions of the world.

PERANG AFGANISTAN ANTARA AMERIKA SERIKAT DAN TALIBAN TAHUN 2021: ANALISIS TRINITAS PERANG CLAUSEWITZ

This article analyzes the Afghanistan war between the United States and the Taliban in 2021 through the Clausewitz war trinity in terms of the success or failure of the war. Analysis used a qualitative-explanative approach and literature study methods in collecting data, and using the Trinity of War theory as an analytical tool. The results of the study show that the trinity of war aspect, which consists of the people, the military and the government, has a major influence on the outcome of the US war in Afghanistan. The US decision to withdraw all its troops and allies in the Afghanistan war is considered a form of failure in this war. Nevertheless, this article does not deny that these conditions do not describe the failure to achieve the US political goals themselves, namely the assassination of the leader of the international terrorist organization (al-Qaida) Osama bin Laden as the main objective of the war

Al-Qaeda’s Activities on the Internet: Forms, Types and Tools

The article is devoted to the analysis of the media content of one of the largest international terrorist organizations - Al-Qaeda in the context of the strengthening of media terrorism in the modern globalized world. Researchers state that, like the Islamic State (IS), Al-Qaeda relied on the effective use of social media in its activities: recruitment of terrorist supporters, calls for terrorist attacks, propaganda of brutality and violence. Al-Qaeda has developed a successful media strategy directed against the countries of the Western world, mainly against the United States. At the same time, al-Qaeda’s information operations against the West, organized in the digital space, have not achieved the same resonance as IS. They were mainly aimed at highlighting the weaknesses of the states of the Western world. The main areas of use of social media by Al-Qaeda are: propaganda of terrorism, intimidation, operational planning and coordination of terrorist acts, recruitment and training of supporters, collection of intelligence data and targets, financing of maintenance.

Organized crime: current Ukrainian realities and steps to prevent

Purpose. The purpose of this research is to review extreme approaches to understanding organized crime, its components and signs, as well as to highlight those of them that are modern and inherent to it under the conditions of a large-scale Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory. Method. Induction and deduction are applied when forming author's own conclusions; analysis and synthesis of scientific achievements of a number of researchers, the state of regulatory and legal support. System-structural and functional methods were used in the process of conducting this scientific research.The results. The author is convinced that, as of today, in our country, all illegal activity in the conglomerate of organized crime is not properly accounted for, and this fact is in a cause-and-effect relationship with the established fact that a single legislative and/or doctrinal definition of the concept of "organized "crime" does not exist, as well as its exhaustive components and signs. Their list was expanded and modernized through analysis and synthesis.It has been proven that with the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian aggressor on Ukrainian territory, the problems of organized crime changed somewhat and some of its components became more acute, in particular, despite the fact that as of February 2022 there was a certain "slowing down" of its spread and influence, it was established that on today its new networks "bloomed". The "merger" of transnational criminal organizations with international terrorist organizations has been tracked, especially with regard to the activities of Russian organized crime in the war with Ukraine. Scientific novelty. A significant amount of research has been devoted to this problem, but the full-scale invasion of the aggressor country has brought approaches to understanding the declared problem to a new level, when organized crime should be considered through the prism of its institutionalization, fusion with terrorist activities for the benefit of and with the participation of the aggressor country, its spread in the digital spaces for conducting "active military operations" there, etc.Practical significance. It is believed that the results of the research will help to understand not only the scale of modern organized crime, but also individual author's generalizations and conclusions can shed light on how to counteract it.

АНАЛИЗ РИСКОВ СОВЕРШЕНИЯ МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫМИ ТЕРРОРИСТАМИ ХИМИЧЕСКИХ ТЕРРОРИСТИЧЕСКИХ АКТОВ И МЕРЫ ПРОТИВОДЕЙСТВИЯ ИМ

The urgency of the problem of possible chemical terrorist acts by international terrorists is now becoming increasingly important, since there are quite good reasons for this. In this regard, the author conducted a study of the danger that comes from terrorist acts committed by international terrorists using chemical components. In the process of analyzing the risks of committing chemical terrorist at-tacks, the author found that among the main tasks of international terrorist organizations when committing terrorist attacks is not only causing material damage, but the formation of a public resonance about this, and besides Moreover, these attacks are accompanied by numerous human casualties. In this regard, the author draws conclusions that the subjects of law enforcement activities must have special skills and abilities, and quickly solve various problem situations that arise during the imple-mentation of acts of chemical terrorism. In particular, in this work, a special role should be assigned to joint coordinated actions for planning and carrying out measures in the process of eliminating the consequences of chemical terrorist attacks. In the course of the study, the author convincingly proved that the prevention of acts of chemical terrorism should be carried out on the basis of a sys-tematic approach and coordination of the activities of the concerned services. It is also important in this area to carry out preventive measures in the field of training and advanced training of personnel. The author also focuses on the fact that comprehensive professional and applied training will serve as the basis for increasing the knowledge and skills of the subjects of the fight against terrorism, and will also allow the formation of the whole complex of specialized competencies of specialists necessary for performing professional tasks in the field of combating chemical terrorism. The results obtained can be used in further work on counteracting acts of chemical terrorism, in the system of pro-fessional training of internal affairs bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, as well as in the educational process of higher educational institutions of a legal profile.

Terrorism and Extremism in Pakistan: The Need for a Comprehensive Approach

Terrorism and radicalism have kept Pakistan in turmoil for decades that induced immense socio-economic harm to the country. The persistent challenge has brought about elevation in casualties, dissolutions of government and worsen law and order scenarios. Till present, the governments have been unable to root out the extremist elements from the society. This paper offers outright approach to comprehend these defies. The paper considered multifaceted elements; such as; scarcity of education, political stability, sectarianism, destitution etc. as a core for the rise of extremism. Besides, Afghanistan being the neighboring country to Pakistan has served as a sanctuary for extremist groups. Thence, Pakistan has to deal with the national and international terrorist groups.  This study does the appraisal of the endeavors made by the government for hindering the terrorism. So far, the chief government strategy has been to launch military action, terrorism prevention plans and dialogue against terrorist and extremist groups that caused soaring number of civilian casualties and remained in vain to get away with these social evil. The paper adopts comprehensive ground to address the problem under study. The factors viz a viz; social reforms, economic prosperity and political stability are true remedies to defies. But, these remedies could only been effective if civil society, government in power and international stakeholders will work together for pragmatic resolutions. The paper argues that peace and instability could be happen in a country through a comprehensive approach towards the matter.

Terörizm Psikolojisi: FETÖ ve PKK Terör Örgütlerinin Karşılaştırmalı Analizi

The concept of Terrorism, which can also be described as collective acts of violence, is a problematic phenomenon that aims to convey the messages desired to be given to the society, individually or collectively, through the murder of innocent people. Illegal activities and violent methods of terrorist organizations negatively affect states in terms of political, social, economic, cultural and psychological aspects. That’s why, countries that have to fight against terrorist organizations prevent these countries from taking steps that will strengthen terrorist organizations, such as the financial flows of these countries and the recruitment of new members to the organization. In this context, in order to be able to fight against terrorist organizations that harm every aspect of the economic and democratic development of countries and for state institutions to develop strategies for this, psychological analysis of these structures will prevent the emergence of new organizations with a similar structure and the attempt to fill some gaps by separatist organizations. The purpose of this paper is "what are the main motivations in terrorist behavior?" is to answer the question In this context, the analysis of the study will be made by comparing the psychological motivations of FETO, which was among the international terrorist organizations both in the State of the Republic of Turkey and abroad, which turned into a terrorist organization from a service movement at the beginning, and the PKK, which was founded in 1978 as a separatist terrorist organization in its origin. In the research, descriptive technique, which is one of the qualitative data collection methods, has been use, and national and international literature review will be made on the subject. As a result of the findings, it had been reveal the aspects that the terrorist organizations in question resemble psychologically and differ.

International Terrorism: Attributes and Forms

The authors analyze the features of international terrorism. It is proven that international («external») terrorism should be recognized as an independent legal phenomenon, separate from the domestic («internal») terrorism. The authors agree with those researchers who consider international terrorism to be one of the varieties of terrorism, but believe that the suggested attributes of international terrorism should be modified. While the territorial attribute and the attribute of citizenship of the culprit generally do not raise any objections, the authors argue in support of their position regarding the specific features of the victims of international terrorism, they state that such features could be anything as long as they define a group of people that is different from the group to which the members of an international terrorist organization belong: religious, racial, ethnic, national, linguistic, political features, etc. Another attribute supported in the article is the recognition of the terrorist organization as an international one by the national judicial (law enforcement) bodies. This allows the authors to suggest that the current legislation of the Russian Federation should include a procedure for recognizing a terrorist organization as an international one. This suggestion takes into consideration the fact that the FSB, which keeps a Unified Federal List of Terrorist Organizations, differentiates between Russian, foreign and international terrorist organizations in its practical work. The authors conclude that international terrorism is characterizes by such attributes as unlawfulness, territoriality, certain citizenship of the culprit and (or) the victim of terrorism, identification of the victim with certain groups of people, recognition of the subject of terrorism (terrorist organization) as an international one. It is suggested that the Federal Law «On Counteracting Terrorism» should be supplemented by the norm that describes the concept of an «international terrorist organization». It is proven that the recognition of a terrorist organization as an international one (or a foreign one) should be exclusively within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. As for the analysis of the forms of international terrorism, it is argued that the most dangerous ones are «Islamist» (religious) and «right» (racist, Nazi) terrorism.

COUNTERINTELLIGENCE IN THE BALKANS AND EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN. THE COUNTERINTELLIGENCE METHODS OF TRANSNATIONAL GROUPS

In the post-Cold War era, new challenges emerged that have threatened regional and global security. Before the turn of the 21st century, the world was primarily dominated by states, but now, non-state actors are of  critical importance in national and international security in today's globalizing and multipolar world. Of these  non-state actors, transnational organized crime networks and groups have become a key security threat in the national, regional, and global environment. Transnational organized crime groups threaten to destabilize basic societal, economic, and political institutions and values. While all nations face the threat of transnational organized crime groups, those post-war and post-conflict nations in transition are especially fragile to the effects that transnational organized crime groups can have on a nation's government, economy, and society. The Balkan region has all been plagued by conflict and instability since the civil wars of the 1990s. Today, the Balkan and Eastern Mediterranean region has reemerged with strategic importance as the instability of nations in these regions are particularly susceptible to external malign influence by state and non-state actors. Concerns regarding the rise of transnational organized crime and its relationship with religious extremist groups have caused the international community to refocus on the Balkan and Eastern Mediterranean regions. Increasingly, transnational organized crime groups along with international terrorist groups are beginning to share organizational and operational features. Additionally, when it becomes advantageous, these groups will partner with each other. Transnational organized crime networks and groups have grown in both size and sophistication, and many major groups behave and assume the structure of secret organizations. Powerful transnational organized crime groups have developed in accordance with the structures of their host countries, which is why it is these groups flourish in those countries with more fragile political institutions. The ways in which transnational organized crime groups think and operate have made them successful. These groups take their illicit business ventures seriously, and understanding what these groups do, how they operate, and who they work with is critical in defeating them. By examining effective counterintelligence methods, this paper will focus on the strategic importance of transnational organized crime in the Balkan and Eastern Mediterranean region, with a particular focus on Albania.

The Armed Conflict in the Sahel Region and Efforts of the ECOWAS to Settle it

The article describes the armed conflict in the Sahel region, lasting for ten years and affecting three countries: Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The objective of research is to characterise and assess the activities of the regional organisation ECOWAS in the context of Sahel peace-settlement. The Sahel conflict was a direct consequence of destruction of the Libyan state, as a result of the civil war and NATO military intervention in 2011, which created conditions for rebel invasion to Mali in January 2012. The ECOWAS initially tried to solve the conflict by means of mediation, at the same time considering deployment of peacemakers. The war in the Sahel region involved international terrorist groups and resulted in an attempt to establish an Islamic state in Northern Mali. The radicalisation of insurgents led to a collapse of peace talks in early 2013. The French military intervention in January 2013 had only temporary effect due to employment of guerrilla tactics by the terrorists. The ECOWAS troops were deployed to Mali, but the conflict further expanded to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger. The Sahel conflict poses a serious threat to the entire Community, because it has caused degradation of social and political situation in the affected countries and tends to spread to the South to the Gulf of Guinea. The ECOWAS peace-settlement efforts have not yet succeeded due to limited personnel and resources of the organisation, however, cooperation among its member-states has so far proved useful in preventing the spread of terrorist operations to the South towards the Gulf of Guinea. The armed conflict in the Sahel region has resulted in military coups d’état in Mali and Burkina Faso, which is a matter of concern for the ECOWAS that aims at strengthening democracy and good governance among member-states. The research resulted in revelation of the dilemma for the ECOWAS: to continue support to military regimes in Sahel to combat terrorism or impose sanctions against them. The author argues that sanctions can be counterproductive and allow extremists to strengthen their positions in the Sahel region.

모의총포 및 사제폭발물에 의한 테러 발생 위험성에 관한 연구

On July 8, 2022, the world was shocked when the former Prime Minister of Japan was shot and killed by a homemade gun. In recent years, accidents by simulated guns or homemade explosives have occurred one after another. In Korea, where the management of firearms and explosives is relatively strict, firearms are being converted and traded illegally, and gun control, such as the death of a police officer due to a simulated gun, is at a dangerous level. Therefore, we will analyze the current state of management of simulated guns and homemade explosives, as well as improving the problems of the current Act on the Safety Management of Guns, Swords, and Explosives (hereafter, the Gunpowder Act). In addition, this study was conducted for the purpose of examining the possibility of being used in crimes and terrorism by unspecified majority and suggesting countermeasures.
 For this purpose, literature research and a case study were conducted as a research method. For the literature study, we reviewed academic journals, contributions, and government agency research reports for related prior research papers to derive areas that need improvement in reality by examining the regulations of the Guns and Explosives Act related corporations. In addition, we searched for publications published by newspapers or the National Police Agency, police white papers, and related data published by the National Assembly member's office, confirmed objective facts, and studied representative domestic and foreign cases that have occurred so far.
 As a result of this study, problems such as gun licensing, gun management, illegal possession/modification and smuggling of guns, education issues when obtaining permission to possess firearms, and non-compliance with safety rules were derived under the Guns and Explosives Act. There were also loopholes in gun management using 3D printers. As revealed in the case, these vulnerabilities can be used not only for simple crimes in the future, but also for terrorism. Therefore, as a further measure, it is necessary to establish and practically operate legal and institutional measures, measures of related institutions, administrative agencies, and legislative branches, and cooperative governance between the public, private, military, police and academia.
 In Korea, guns and explosives that can actually be used as weapons, such as guns, swords, explosives, gas sprayers, electroshock weapons, and crossbows, are thoroughly managed under the Guns and Explosives Act based on a relatively stable state of security, so accidents are rare. However, there are legal and institutional problems that control this, and there are constant exposure to illegal activities, such as crimes caused by simulated guns and homemade explosives, which are not stipulated in the relevant laws. There is a possibility that these vulnerabilities may be used by domestic autonomous terrorist groups or groups linked to international terrorist organizations for terrorism targeting an unspecified majority. Therefore, in order to maintain the current state of security, it is necessary to prepare practical measures such as supplementation of legal and institutional devices such as the Guns and Firearms Act.

Temporary Scheme of Modern Jihadism

Based on the propaganda materials of the international terrorist organization Islamic State*, the article examines the temporal scheme and the historical narrative of jihadist propaganda. Studies of the politics of memory and historical narratives of organizations of radical Islamism are practically absent due to the inaccessibility of the source base. This study is based on the official jihadist propaganda materials coming from the propaganda bodies of the Islamic State*, and on the corpus of sources of spontaneous propaganda of supporters of radical Islamism. Due to the extremely different socio-cultural basis of its supporters, jihadist propaganda is forced to operate not with an integral narrative, but rather with a set of plots, building a discrete narrative about the past. These plots correspond to the ethnic myth scheme proposed by Smith A. D. Despite the fact that modern jihadism is not an ethnic community due to the orientation towards internationalism and universalism of the dogma, the commonality of religious and, more importantly, political ideas make it possible to analyze the historical narrative of radical Islamism from the point of view of an ethnosymbolic approach. The study of representations of the past, characteristic of a modern jihadists, is carried out because of the types of cultural memory identified by Jan Assman. The study main historical points fixing the temporal scheme of the Islamic State*; and some stable ideas about the past of Islamic civilization, characteristic of jihadist propaganda. Of particular interest is the mythology of the centuries-old global conspiracy against the Muslim Ummah, which is in many ways the key concept of the jihadist narrative, as well as the eschatological representations of jihadist propaganda.