Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> Terrorism

No country has experienced more acts of terrorism over a prolonged period than Israel. The frequency of attacks has propelled Israel toward innovative methods to address the threat. Indeed, treating so many victims of physical and psychological trauma has given rise to the new field of terror medicine.

In a gripping narrative, terrorist expert Leonard A. Cole describes how different segments of Israeli society have coped with terrorism--survivors of attacks, families of victims, emergency responders, doctors and nurses, and, in the end, the general population. He also interviews...

From Pablo to Osama is a comparative study of Colombian drug-smuggling enterprises, terrorist networks (including al Qaeda), and the law enforcement agencies that seek to dismantle them. Drawing on a wealth of research materials, including interviews with former drug traffickers and other hard-to-reach informants, Michael Kenney explores how drug traffickers, terrorists, and government officials gather, analyze, and apply knowledge and experience. The analysis reveals that the resilience of the Colombian drug trade and Islamist extremism in wars on drugs and terrorism stems partly...

"Terrorism and the State" is a volume on the political economy of terrorism. Emphasizing the role of ideological systems in the definition of political violence, this book is theoretical, historical, and critical. It first presents and refutes the two most commonly expressed definitions of terrorism: the absolutist view, a simplistic picture of international deviance on the part of fanatics, and the liberal relativistic view, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Both views focus on the definition of behaviors rather than on the real relations of domination and subjugation...

While terrorism is hardly a new phenomenon, terrorism by the state and its opponents reached new levels in the twentieth century. Drawing together veteran experts on terrorism with authorities in Islam, media studies, American history, and social psychology, Dr. Howard presents a volume which lends fresh interpretations to such major issues as the origins, the impact, and the appropriate personal and public responses to terrorism. The volume covers a wide range of relevant topics, from an examination of insurgency, counterinsurgency, and terrorism during the struggle for Mexican...

Although religion-based terrorism was certainly not uncommon before the events of September 11, 2001, there is now a greater call for an explanation of these actions. In this new study, Al-Khattar seeks to define religion-based terrorism as seen by the followers of different religious traditions in order to facilitate understanding of this international problem. He discusses religion-based terrorism from three perspectives (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and offers a theoretical analysis from a criminological perspective of the justifications for such acts. Interviews with leaders from...

There is a wide spectrum of potential threats to the U.S. homeland that do not involve overt attacks by states using long-range missiles or conventional military forces. Such threats include covert attacks by state actors, state use of proxies, independent terrorist and extremist attacks by foreign groups or individuals, and independent terrorist and extremist attacks by residents of the United States. These threats are currently limited in scope and frequency, but are emerging as potentially significant issues for future U.S. security. In this comprehensive work, Cordesman argues that new...

Terrorism and its manifestations continue to evolve, becoming deadlier and more menacing. This study considers the evolution of terrorism since 1968 and how airlines and governments have attempted to deal with this form of violence through a series of nonforce strategies. Using historical examples, we see how governments, particularly the United States, attempted to counter politically motivated aerial hijacking with metal detectors, legal means, and, finally, in frustration, counterviolence operations to subdue terrorists. As nations witnessed aerial hijacking and sieges, the requirement...

The September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon raised numerous questions about American and international aviation security. Former Director of Security of the International Air Transport Association Rodney Wallis suggests that the failure to maximize U.S. domestic air security, which left air travelers vulnerable to attack, lay largely with the carriers themselves. He contends that future policies should parallel the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization. Wallis considers the Aviation and Transportation Security Act adopted by the U.S....

Several democratic countries have used emergency powers to restrict or suspend individual liberties in order to fight terrorism more effectively. Emergency powers are controversial in their potential to undermine democracy and civil liberties. Freeman challenges popular arguments of both the supporters of emergency powers, who focus on their expected effectiveness, and the critics, who focus on the dangers. In reality, the recent experiences of four different democratic states that have invoked emergency powers show that a positive outcome is just as likely as negative...

Presenting a picture of the world giving rise to Islamic terrorism, "From the Terrorists' Point of View" argues that terrorism arises from a deep and pervasive identity crisis in Islamic societies. The account presented in these 10 chapters is shaped by the author's first-hand experiences of life in the Islamic world, as well as his more than quarter-century of research on the psychology of conflict and radicalism. Moghaddam shows us why individuals who are recruited into terrorist organizations are convinced it is the only viable alternative. They believe there are no effective legal...

As shocking as the attacks of 9/11 were, we have been too quick to view the post-9/11 struggle against terrorism as entirely new and unprecedented. Without denying certain novel aspects of Al Qaeda and its affiliates, the newness of its purpose and methods has been overemphasized. Many aspects of contemporary terrorism bear a striking resemblance to past movements. Others represent the culmination of trends evolving over decades. Even seemingly novel characteristics of terrorist methods may be more the outcome of earlier developments than a truly new phenomenon. The increased lethality of...

R. William Johnstone served on the transportation security staff of the 9/11 Commission, and wrote this book to build upon and supplement the Commission's work. In its pages, he explains the aviation security system failure on 9/11, uses that as a means for evaluating post-9/11 transportation security efforts, and proposes remedies to continued shortcomings.

"9/11 and the Future of Transportation Security" is based on information originally provided to the 9/11 Commission, augmented by unpublished reports and a wealth of other material that has come to light since the issuance of the...

Given that the war on terror is currently being fought the way crime typically is--after the fact--this country cannot protect its citizens from future terrorist events solely in this way. Instead, measures must be taken to actually stop terrorists before they can attack. Here, the authors argue that government anti-terrorism policy must pay much more attention to reducing opportunities for terrorist attacks by protecting vulnerable targets, controlling the tools and weapons used by terrorists, and removing the conditions of everyday life that make these attacks possible. While some of...

Suicide bombers are often compared to smart bombs. From the point of view of their dispatchers, they are highly effective, inexpensive forms of weaponry, and there is no need to invest in their technological development. Suicide bombers are in fact smarter than smart bombs because they can choose their own target--and they can react to circumstances on the ground, changing their target, or their timing, in an instant, to ensure the maximum damage, destruction, and death. Of course, unlike smart bombs, suicide bombers think and feel, they have histories, stories, beliefs, desires--in short,...

The nature and goals of terrorist organizations have changed profoundly since the Cold War standoff among the U.S., Soviet, and Chinese superpowers gave way to the current "polyplex" global system, in which the old rules of international engagement have been shattered by a new struggle for power among established states, non-state actors, and emerging nations. In this confusing state of global disorder, terrorist organizations that are privately funded and highly flexible have become capable of carrying out incredibly destructive attacks anywhere in the world in support of a wide array of...

Since the early twentieth century, technological transfers from the United States to Latin American countries have involved technologies of violence for social control. As the chapters in this book illustrate, these technological transfers have taken various forms, including the training of Latin American military personnel in surveillance and torture and the provision of political and logistic support for campaigns of state terror. The human cost for Latin America has been enormous--thousands of Latin Americans have been murdered, disappeared, or tortured, and whole communities have been...

The prevailing mood of my early and Ann s mid-fifties has been one of the sense of an ending, surely, but more than that, of a gathering urgency. . . . Fewer of the moments between us feel rehearsed, or forced. And now, just as we had begun to glimpse something like wisdom, glimmering over the horizon, the world smacks the hell out of us. I am strangely grateful, even so, if only for the felt return, in recent days, of the possibility of strong emotion.
On the day of the terrorist attacks, a man begins writing down things said by his family and friends. The trauma appears to have...