Terrorism Today Research Articles

To die or to kill? An analysis of suicide attack lethality

ABSTRACTThose who study terrorism are familiar with the claim that suicide attacks are the most lethal form of terrorism today. Suicide attacks kill more people on average than non-suicide attacks, thereby justifying why terrorist organizations use this costly method of attack and explaining in part why suicide tactics have proliferated. However, extant empirical support for this claim is largely insufficient, focusing only on macro-level analysis of lethality data. Using data from the Global Terrorism Database, this study examines variation in lethality among suicide and non-suicide attacks based on geographic location, attack type, and target/victim type. It also introduces a new metric—the lethality ratio—to measure costs and benefits of attacks in terms of lives lost. It finds that, although suicide tactics are generally more lethal than non-suicide tactics, they also come at greater costs to the organization. This analysis also finds behavior that is inconsistent with the premise that terrorist groups are focused on maximizing lethality while reducing costs in all cases; that despite certain advantages, suicide attacks may remain a suboptimal tactic from the perspective of the terrorist group; and that additional criteria may help explain why suicide tactics are used.

Ethics, Decision-Making, and Risk Communication in the Era of Terroredia

Terrorism today is one of the most frequent global severe stress situations. The advanced and widespread new media and information technologies as well as modern tactics of terrorism make the public of any nation in exposure, directly and indirectly, to uncertain potential acts of terrorism. The relationship between terrorists and media personnel has grown widely influential, and has been described recently by the term terroredia, in which the public is the main target of both terrorism and the media. Both responsibility and rationality are fundamental weights for the effectiveness of risk communication during times of terrorism. This paper critically analyzes how policymakers in several Western countries have communicated to the public, through the media, the risk of terrorist attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against their individuals and societies. The study uncovers that rationality and responsibility are lacking in Western media decision-making regarding the risk of ISIL's potential activities.

International Terrorism and the American Dream: A Dialectical Fairytale

Today’s framing of terrorism in the international system is part of our contemporary dreamworlds of mass consumption set against images of the American Dream. These dreamworlds provide the hegemonic discourses of a European universalist foreign policy that kills huge numbers of innocent non-combatants for political purposes, acts of terrorism, while denying that such acts constitute terrorism. The violence used is represented as a necessary and shared sacrifice for the American Dream, suggesting a unity, otherwise lacking, supposedly in “self-defense” against terrorism. In reality, what is being consumed are not actions against terrorism and aggressive war, but aggressive war and terrorism themselves masquerading as a defense of the imagined communities of the nation and “the West”. The focus of this article is especially on media and Hollywood films, including social media. The work draws on both world-systems analysis, international relations scholars, and theorists of culture, media and communication to analyze the uses of terrorism today. Simultaneously the article draws on critical theorists and public intellectuals, from Edward Said to Judith Butler to Pope Francis, to critique the binary Orientalist oppositions of today’s pan-European discourses on international terrorism, in ways that expose their complexities and realities, historically and currently.

Reasons behind the success of the “Islamic State”

Terrorism today entails a wide range of diverse threats. Currently, the most dangerous such threats are posed by ‘the “Islamic State” (IS). The aim of this paper is to identify the key factors for the dramatic rise of the “Islamic State” to power and significance. Its success has been the sum total of a number of diverse and mutually linked factors. Those fall into the two categories of endogenic reasons associated with the activities undertaken by the “Islamic State” and the exogenic factors, which apply to various developments and processes which have also contributed to IS advancement. Despite the “Islamic State” s loss of influence and resources, it is bound to continue to destabilize the international scene and pose a security threat for years to come. One should therefore give priority to learning about the reasons behind its success as such knowledge may help not only defeat IS but also prevent other Islamic and terrorist organizations from rising to power in the future.

Zagrożenie terroryzmem w XXI wieku – analiza wybranych determinantów

Zagrożenie terroryzmem w XXI wieku – analiza wybranych determinantów

_____ While Black

Millennials are defined by their savvy integration of digital communication technologies and by their seamless incorporation of difference that has been communicated through formal policies and multicultural representations. Although diverse media platforms and people appear commonplace within the millennial milieu, this generation still faces what Amiri Baraka describes as the changing same. The changing cultural landscape has not drastically shifted power relations nor has it dramatically transformed how we mediate blackness under postrace. This article will examine the real and imagined body of the slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin, particularly how his body has animated White racial humor and rage, and has activated a new civil rights movement informed by hip hop. The Florida-based author will situate Martin within the post-hip-hop generation and address state policies policing Martin and other Black youth. Vaudevillian blackface minstrelsy as a form of race play will provide a historical backdrop for a discussion about new media blackness, such as mobile gaming, and social media postcards of theme parties and race-planking called trayvoning. The author not only will address Martin as a specific site to project of collective racial longing but will also point to ways minoritized Y’ers are a part of the collective new dream defenders to challenge racial terror today.

Key characteristics and trends of international terrorism

Terrorism today is a global problem. While having a long history this challenge has undergone significant transformation, which causes some difficulties in identifying it. Characteristics of the terrorism can be described through detailed classification. Here are some major features of the modern terrorism: global level, greater autonomy, flexibility, network structure, use of extremist interpretation of Islam.

A Pedagogy of Empathy for a World of Atrocity

An act of atrocity is an act of violence that is perceived to exceed the boundaries of what a legitimate punitive measure--either against an individual or a collective group of people-would be for retribution for the unjust infliction of an injury. Atrocities are enacted, experienced, witnessed, and translated. They take multiple forms. What makes an act of violence an act of atrocity (rather than a pain-ridden event such as a death by accident, sudden disease, or other uncontrollable natural events) is not only the element of deliberation behind it, but also the affective horror and the poetics of disavowal that the act generates in its documentation and dissemination. Such acts do not disappear with mourning or grief, but exceed any sort of narrative of closure or containment. At the core of what Jameson has called the hurts of history, these acts circulate through time space and across cultures, from past to present, from distant imagined objects of study onto the screens, whiteboards, and transparencies of classrooms. The study of torture, atrocity, and other forms of calculated violence is necessary to disrupt the senseless and yet somehow timeless myths of modernity and enlightened subjectivity that infuse classrooms, it demands that we take a closer look. Some of the questions the author points toward in this article include: (1) How does the study of historical terror and torture throw light upon the political and cultural dynamics of spectatorship, witnessing, and complicity that still function to support global violence and terror today? (2) How do educators bring these pressing issues ethically and empathetically into the classroom? The writers and artists whose representations are studied here all have witnessed and meticulously recorded horrific instances of human atrocity. Is the one who witnesses and records the violence simply a medium through which the violence is remembered, or are they an agent reproducing the violence? Language: en

The Liberal Left Opts for Terror

For a century, intellectual debate on political violence has been dominated by efforts to romanticize the extremist and to invest him with the aura of the altruistic “freedom fighter.” It is astonishing that in the post-9/11 era, the terrorist's image continues to remain habitually mystified and ennobled, while terror attacks are justified as self-defense. “Terrorist discourse” is indicative of the universality of the intellectual position of the Left with regard to terror, national discrepancies notwithstanding. The present article evaluates leftist liberals' attitudes towards terrorism in the 20th-century Russian Empire, Europe, the U.S., and especially Israel—one of the epicenters of terrorism today. The article proposes to examine psychological responses to terrorism in conjunction with a range of contemporary reactions to threats, acknowledged or displaced with an assortment of mental constructs and rationalizations.

The terrorist threat to the UK in the post–9/11 decade

<p class="p1"><span class="s1">T</span>he overall task for this special issue is to assess the emergency response to terrorism, in particular the threat posed by violent jihadist terrorism. Clearly, planning for emergency responses will have value against other threats and hazards, so it will be difficult to separate out the arrangements made to deal specifically with the aftermath of terrorist attacks, and those to meet other emergencies, for example major natural disasters. A sense of proportion is also needed when examining terrorist risks: the actions of greedy market-makers and incompetent bankers in the recent past is doing much more damage to our national welfare and national security than terrorism today.

COUNTERTERRORISM AND THE NEW AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

The tenets of American exceptionalism—defined as its civil religion—have shifted over time, and exceptionalism's most recent iteration has alarming ramifications, demonstrated through US counterterrorism policy. In crucial respects, the American project can be compared to ancient Rome: in its civil universalism; its sense of exceptional destiny; its use of sacred symbols; and its militarization. Global terrorism today threatens America's sense of divine blessing, its civil-religious identity. The mindset undergirding current US counterterrorism, especially the extensive use of drone attacks, should be normatively criticized as a sharp deviation from the traditional ethos of exceptionalism. The new ethos is one of ruthlessly purging the world of alleged threats rather than redeeming/transforming the world.

Indonesia

The fight against terrorism must depart from the settlement of the core of problems. One of the most important roots of terrorism today is the injustice and imbalance in the system of international relations which in turn fosters an attitude of double standards to the holders of international domination and hegemony, the US and its Western allies. Only with the creation of a new international order which is fair, then terrorism can be reduced, thus creating world peace.

Nizam, la Tanzim (System, not Organization): Do Organizations Matter in Terrorism Today? A Study of the November 2008 Mumbai Attacks

The decline of the terrorist organization and the phenomenon of “homegrown” or “leaderless” jihad have led to the perception that the terrorist threat has moved from commander-cadre organizations to diffused networks or cells and individuals. However, using the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, this article demonstrates that organizations do matter in terrorism. In other words, to produce successful and high impact attacks, terrorists do need some form of organization. Even leaderless jihad is not truly leaderless or devoid of some form of organization as the proponents of this concept claim. Moreover, even as the environmental entropy—reduction in the capacity of the environment to support an organization—has become distinctly pronounced in respect of terrorism, some groups did not have to make the same tradeoff as others due to their favorable position vis-a-vis the state they operate in. Therefore, these groups are capable of producing attacks of high operational sophistication with (a) strong organization and (b) state support to maintain that organization.

Suicide bombers in Western literature: demythologizing a mythic discourse

In facing the challenge of suicide terrorism today on a global scale, it is tempting to attribute the phenomenon to cultural or religious behavior patterns observed solely in non‐Western countries. Yet recent scholarly research on its possible cultural or religious origins has led less to convincing and satisfactory results than to an unresolved aporia between arbitrariness and contingency. By the same token, little notice is taken of the fact that, in Western history and literature, actions and figures can be found whose development and strategies conspicuously resemble those of today’s suicide bombers. A series of such analogous examples in Western literature from antiquity to the present is explored in order to provide deeper insights into situational and systemic factors at work beyond cultural and religious determinants. To more effectively counter suicide terrorism, alternative policies are proposed with the vision of a peaceful coexistence of diverse cultures and religions.

Six-legged soldiers: using insects as weapons of war

The emir of Bukhara used assassin bugs to eat away the flesh of his prisoners. General Ishii Shiro during World War II released hundreds of millions of infected insects across China, ultimately causing more deaths than the atomic dropped on Japan. These are just two of many startling examples found in Six-legged Soldiers, a brilliant portrait of the many weirdly creative, truly frightening, and ultimately powerful ways in which insects have been used as weapons of war, terror, and torture. Beginning in prehistoric times and building toward a near and disturbing future, the reader is taken on a journey of innovation and depravity. Award-winning science writer Jeffrey A. Lockwood begins with the development of bee bombs in the ancient world and explores the role of insect-borne disease in changing the course of major battles, ranging from Napoleon's military campaigns to the trenches of World War I. He explores the horrific programs of insect warfare during World War II: airplanes dropping plague-infested fleas, facilities rearing tens of millions of hungry beetles to destroy crops, and prison camps staffed by doctors testing disease-carrying lice on inmates. The Cold War saw secret government operations involving the mass release of specially developed strains of mosquitoes on an unsuspecting American public-along with the alleged use of disease-carrying and crop-eating pests against North Korea and Cuba. Lockwood reveals how easy it would be to use insects in warfare and terrorism today: In 1989, domestic ecoterrorists extorted government officials and wreaked economic and political havoc by threatening to release the notorious Medfly into California's crops. A remarkable story of human ingenuity-and brutality-Six-Legged Soldiers is the first comprehensive look at the use of insects as weapons of war, from ancient times to the present day.

The Role of U.S. Insurance Regulators in Responding to Climate Change

ABSTRACT: This article addresses three key issues set forth in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' (NAIC) Climate Change & Global Warming Task Force charter: 1. Implications of climate change on the insurance sector 2. Insurers' knowledge of potential climate change impacts 3. Recommendations on steps that regulators could take to assure that they are adequately monitoring insurers' activities with regard to managing the financial condition and performance of insurance markets The physical and economic aspects of the first question are dealt with in a previous article in the journal Science, and are summarized here. (3) The closely related issue of insurance availability and affordability is handled in depth elsewhere. (4) The balance of this article treats the second two questions, and offers twelve specific recommendations for activities in which the NAIC can play a leadership role. I. INTRODUCTION: IMPLICATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE FOR INSURERS AND THEIR CUSTOMERS A. Property and Business Interruption 1. Liability Risks B. Health and Healthcare Infrastructure II. THE STATE OF INSURERS' KNOWLEDGE AND ACTIVITIES ON CLIMATE CHANGE III. THE ROLE OF INSURANCE REGULATORS A. Stay current on the science B. Require that insurers collect and analyze more comprehensive data on weather-related losses and their insurance implications C. Raise the standards of practice for catastrophe modeling and create a non-propriety modeling and data-collection entity D. Support risk-based pricing based on improved understanding of climate-related risks in combination with insurer accountability and attention to availability and affordability issues E. Promote the development of climate friendly insurance products and premium incentives through model laws and/or regulations F. Take the lead on a coordinated national effort to improve disaster-resilience through the adoption, enforcement, and implementation of improved building codes G. Promote Rebuilding Right following losses H. Promote partnerships with policyholders for loss mitigation I. Safeguard reserves and surplus based on an understanding of climate change, and encourage prudent investments in technologies and industries that will be part of the solution J. Communicate industry needs and priorities to federal and local governments with lead responsibility for implementation K. Encourage or require public disclosure of insurer risk analysis of climate change L. Encourage or require insurers to minimize their own carbon footprint IV. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION: IMPLICATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE FOR INSURERS AND THEIR CUSTOMERS The insurance sector serves as a national and, increasingly, global integrator of catastrophe costs across all sectors of the economy as well as a messenger of these impacts through the terms and price signals it projects to its customers. The insurance sector provides a critical function within the global economy by contributing to peace of mind for homeowners and the levels of certainty and risk spreading that businesses need in order to invest and grow. At various points in history, including the Great Dust Bowl of the 1930s, the urban riots of the 1960s, and terrorism today, watershed events or trends ushered in profound structural changes within the insurance industry. While entirely different in their specifics, each of these watersheds had in common an element of acute surprise followed by the subsequent realization that the future would be different from the past. Global warming is the next watershed of this type. The growing destructive power of extreme weather events coupled with increasing insured exposures poses a material financial challenge to insurers. …

The Torturer's Dilemma: A Theoretical Analysis of the Societal Consequences of Torturing Terrorist Suspects

Terrorism today is one of the main threats to Western civilization. Almost as dire a threat is the fight against terrorism itself. A broad spectrum of antiterrorism measures may significantly change the nature of society by destroying those forms of cooperative activity that underlie Western culture. This threat becomes obvious with an analysis of mathematical models of human moral behavior.

Introduction

As is generally known, terrorism is neither a new phenomenon nor a concept of a purely legal nature. Why then did we decide to devote a complete issue of the Journal to this topic? There are two main reasons. The first and obvious one is that terrorism today ranks among the top priorities on the public agenda. The second reason derives from the observation that counter-terrorism measures have recently acquired many novel aspects. In this regard, ‘9/11’ marks a turning point: the attacks on the US have led to states waging a ‘war on terror’, and in the process fundamentally transforming the legal framework available to combat terrorism. Therefore, we would submit that it is not post-9/11 terrorism, but post-9/11 responses to terrorism that make the difference and justify the need to take stock five years after that tragic event. This issue of the Journal endeavours to inquire into the role prosecution and punishment can and do play in addressing contemporary internationalized terrorism. The collection of essays brings together a range of perspectives on the matter; contributions address criminal-law related questions at the interface of international law and national law. Most of the essays are written by scholars of international law or criminal law, some by practitioners; all are experts in this field and we are grateful that they have accepted our invitation to contribute.

A region in turmoil: South Asian conflicts since 1947

Since 2001 there has been considerable interest in the individual conflicts that have engulfed the states of South Asia, from the long insurgency of Myanmar, through the struggle of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, the Maoist insurgency in Nepal, the unrest in the Punjab and Assam, the Bangladeshi war of independence, the gruelling conflict in Kashmir, to the intractable conflicts of Afghanistan and the current ?War on Terror?. In A Region in Turmoil: South Asian Conflicts since 1947, Rob Johnson explains and evaluates the historic and political roots of conflicts in South Asia in a systematic and thematic way. To date, few accounts have attempted to draw together the conflicts of the South Asian region as a whole, and they are rarely examined in the regional or global context. The failure to take a regional perspective in the past has meant that important connections have not always been understood in the West, and the view from South Asia has perhaps not been fully explored. The author addresses this gap, illustrating the causes, developments, context and conclusions (or absence of them) of conflicts in the South Asian region. The subject is vitally important, not least because the two leading states, India and Pakistan, are both nuclear powers who have resorted to war with each other on a number of occasions since independence. In addition, the insurgencies of the last fifty years continue to destabilize the states of the region, and now the rest of the world. The global context of these campaigns are analyzed from the end of empire, through the Cold War, to the global effort against terrorism today. Highly topical, this book will be of interest not only to students and scholars, but to a wide general audience as well.

A Corrective That Goes Too Far?

John Mueller's six propositions are a welcome corrective to many of the exaggerated, even breathless, declarations about the threat of terrorism today. It is hard to fault Mueller's general theme a...