Search

Begin New Search Topic Terrorism Content Type Journal Article

351. Germany's Involvement in Extraordinary Renditions and Its Responsibility under International Law

Author:
Laura Tate Kagel
Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
German Politics and Society
Institution:
German Politics and Society Journal
Abstract:
As investigative journalists and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) increasingly uncover the nature and scope of a U.S. government program known for transferring terrorist suspects outside of normal legal and administrative channels, the role of European states has come under scrutiny. To a large degree, these states have erected a “wall of fog,” as a report from the German Institute of Human Rights describes it, blocking access to information that would allow for independent assessments of the human rights implications of the counterterrorism practice known as “extraordinary rendition.”
Topic:
International Law and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Germany, and Egypt

352. The UN Security Council’s Response to Terrorism: Before and After September 11, 2001

Author:
Hilde Haaland Kramer and Steve A. Yetiv
Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
HILDE HAALAND KRAMER and STEVE A. YETIV argue that the UN Security Council’s response to global terrorism has been more forceful and comprehensive since September 11 and that it has broken some new ground. The authors posit that although the UN remains controversial in the United States, Washington benefited from its response to September 11, as imperfect as it was.
Topic:
Terrorism, United Nations, 9/11, and UN Security Council
Political Geography:
Global Focus and United States of America

353. Fixing Failing States: The New Security Agenda

Author:
Pauline H. Baker
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
Weak and failing states rank among the world’s greatest threats to international peace and security today. While major threats to world peace used to come mainly from ideological, military, or economic competition among competing states, in modern times lethal threats are growing within states from communal tensions among rival factions, extremists groups with radical political agendas, and faltering regimes clinging to power and asserting militaristic ambitions. These are the driving forces of a growing world disorder.1 Recent events highlight this paradigm shift in the strategic environment. North Korea is a failing state with an inward-looking regime and a negative view of the world. Its own insecurities, including its fear of a US invasion, are motivating it to pursue nuclear capabilities that have increased its isolation further and exacerbated tensions.2 Lebanon is a weak state that successfully cast off fifteen years of Syrian military occupation, but was unable to assert its sovereignty and fill the vacuum left behind. Hezbollah used that opportunity to assert itself as a “state within a state,” with dual power bases in the government and in the south, where its autonomous security forces launched a devastating war with Israel in July 2006. Then there is Sudan, a country with the highest risk of internal violence that has stonewalled effective international action to stop the continuing humanitarian crisis in Darfur, described by the US State Department as genocide. 3 Internal weaknesses within these states have increased the threat of nuclear proliferation, precipitated an interstate war, and worsened an ongoing humanitarian crisis, respectively. Though the origins of state weakness go back decades, the curtain was raised on the era of failing states—if one can call it that—by the tragedy of September 11, 2001. One year after the biggest terrorist attack on the US in history, the 2002 US National Security Strategy stated that America is threatened more by failing states than it is by conquering states, overturning decades of US national security thinking. Overnight, we went from looking at security through a “big power” lens to seeing it from a “small power” lens. Much of the rest of the world has come to see security challenges from that perspective as well.
Topic:
Security, Terrorism, Fragile/Failed State, and Geopolitics
Political Geography:
Global Focus and United States of America

354. Suicide terrorism and strategic decision-making in Sri Lanka

Author:
Eleanor Pavey
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cultures & Conflits
Institution:
Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:
Depuis les années 1990, on assiste à l'émergence du terrorisme suicidaire en tant qu'élément-clef dans la prise de décision stratégique de plusieurs organisations terroristes. Les attentats du 11 septembre et, plus récemment, les attentats-suicides en Irak ont attiré l'attention des média sur ce phénomène. Pourtant, ce terrorisme suicidaire n'est pas récent. Il n'est pas non plus le résultat d'un fanatisme religieux en général, ni d'un radicalisme islamiste en particulier. A travers le cas sri lankais, cet article tente de mettre en lumière quelques uns des facteurs qui ont été négligés dans l'analyse de ce phénomène souvent mal compris.
Topic:
Terrorism
Political Geography:
Sri Lanka

355. A biometric national identity card for the British: antiterrorism as justification

Author:
Laurent Laniel and Pierre Piazza
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cultures & Conflits
Institution:
Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:
A partir des années 1980, les gouvernements britanniques ont commencé à mettre en avant l'argument de la lutte antiterroriste dans leurs discours visant à justifier le besoin d'instaurer une carte nationale d'identité dans leur pays. Mais ils ne sont jamais parvenus à démontrer rigoureusement comment un tel document permettrait de lutter efficacement contre le terrorisme. Le caractère peu probant et souvent fragile de l'argumentaire antiterroriste, davantage mobilisé depuis le 11 septembre 2001, constitue une des principales explications à l'ampleur des résistances suscitées par l'Identity Cards Bill, projet gouvernemental d'encartement biométrique des citoyens britanniques lancé en 2002. En dépit de grandes difficultés, les autorités sont finalement parvenues à faire aboutir ce projet en 2006, mais en infléchissant leur discours, devenu à la fois plus prudent et plus ambigu, et en faisant valoir le caractère incontournable de prétendues obligations internationales.
Topic:
Security, Science and Technology, and Terrorism

356. RESONANCES: Saudis in Iraq: Patterns of Radicalization and Recruitment

Author:
Thomas Hegghammer
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cultures & Conflits
Institution:
Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:
Dans cet article, Thomas Hegghammer analyse, au travers d'un échantillon de deux cent cinq « martyrs » saoudiens tués en Irak depuis 2003, les différentes trajectoires ayant conduit de jeunes Saoudiens établis d'embrasser le combat et une mort probable sur le champ de bataille irakien. L'étude de leurs trajectoires individuelles et collectives permet d'avoir une image plus complexe et détaillée de leurs antécédents, de leurs motivations, de leurs modes de recrutement ainsi que de leur rôle dans l'insurrection irakienne. En montrant que leur origine géographique et sociale ne joue pas un rôle déterminant, que des motivations plus généralement sociales et politiques jouent un rôle crucial et qu'il s'agit d'une génération différente de celle des « Arabes afghans » et de l'ancien réseau Al-Qaïda, cet article remet en question nombre de représentations communes du phénomène. Il montre également que, contrairement à ce qui est généralement dit, le « contingent » saoudien ne semble pas jouer un rôle crucial dans l'insurrection en Irak.
Topic:
Terrorism
Political Geography:
Iraq and Saudi Arabia

357. Political Offence and Terrorism in Belgium: from Noble to Vile

Author:
Martin Moucheron
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cultures & Conflits
Institution:
Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:
The 19th December 2003 law inserting specific terrorist infractions in the penal Code sets a new step in the evolution of the political offence in Belgium: the "political" moral element in the definition of those infractions has indeed been conceived as an aggravating circumstance, opposing in that way the principle of the "régime de faveur" (preferential treatment) established by the newborn Belgium and progressively restricted in its application. At a larger scale, this "de-politization" of the political offence through terrorism can lead to contemporary governmentality and democratic model which seem to induce an exclusion of ideology out of the field of what Foucault calls "the conditions of true and false". La loi du 19 décembre 2003 inscrivant au Code pénal des infractions terroristes spécifiques marque une nouvelle étape dans l'évolution du délit politique en Belgique. En effet, l'élément moral « politique » retenu dans la définition de ces infractions est conçu comme une circonstance aggravante, et contredit ainsi le principe du régime de faveur établi aux premières heures de la Belgique et progressivement restreint dans son application. Plus largement, cette « dé-politisation » du délit politique à travers le terrorisme renvoie à la gouvernementalité et au modèle démocratique contemporains, qui semblent induire une exclusion de l'idéologie hors du champ de ce qui constitue, selon Foucault, les « conditions du vrai et du faux ».
Topic:
Terrorism
Political Geography:
Europe, France, and Belgium

358. Favourable Situations for the Jihadist Recruitment. The Neighborhood of Principe Alfonso (Ceuta, Spain)

Author:
Javier Jordán and Humberto Trujillo
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Athena Intelligence Journal
Institution:
Athena Intelligence
Abstract:
The Spanish mass media have transmitted during the past weeks various news concerning the presence of jihadist activities in the cities of Ceuta and Melilla (two enclaves of Spain in North Africa): including the detention of suspected jihadists implicated in the terrorist attack of Casablanca in May 2003; the expulsion from the Spanish Army of three members belonging to professional troops for their supposed sympathy with radical Islam; and the appearance of a declaration on a internet forum from a group called Nadim al-Magrebi, calling for jihad against Spain and demanding expressively for the 'liberation' of both cities through terrorist attacks.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Europe, Spain, and North Africa

359. The Attraction for Success: the'Hezbollah in Venezuela' Case

Author:
Manuel R. Torres
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Athena Intelligence Journal
Institution:
Athena Intelligence
Abstract:
A lo largo del verano de 2006, de manera paralela a la crisis desatada entre Hezbollah en el Libano y el Estado de Israel, hizo su aparición ante la opinión púiblica una organización que proclamaba ser "Hezbollah en Amtrica Latina". Aunque su "presentación en sociedad" se produjo el 29 de julio de 2005 (fecha en la que se crea su primera página web), fue en los albores del conflicto militar en el Líbano cuando este grupúsculo adquirió mayor notoriedad. La preocupación ante la posibilidad de que organizaciones terroristas de inspiración yihadista estuviesen extendendo sus tentáculos por en Sudamérica confirió, a las proclamas procedentes de este grupo una considerable publicidad y reabrió el debate sobre las posibles derivas del fenómeno terrorista en esta región.
Topic:
Terrorism
Political Geography:
South America, Latin America, and Central America

360. The Geneva Conventions and New Wars

Author:
Renee De Nevers
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
RENÉE DE NEVERS explores how ‘‘new’’ wars—ranging from civil wars to asymmetric war—and new warriors, including warlords, private security companies, and children, fit within the Geneva Conventions. Although the nature of warfare and warriors has changed from the time the Conventions were adopted in 1949, she challenges the view that the Conventions should be abandoned. Rather, she argues, the Conventions should be revitalized to address a broader spectrum of war, because this will generate greater international support for U.S. efforts to combat terrorism.
Topic:
Terrorism, War, and Geneva Convention
Political Geography:
Global Focus and United States of America