Testing the Universality of the Gender Equality–Peace Thesis: The Influence of Increased Gender Equality on Terrorism in Turkey

Gender inequality has been empirically linked to the incidence of terrorism, as a motivator for women’s involvement in terrorism, and political and social violence more generally. Although these studies demonstrate that advances in gender equality on average decrease terrorism, it is unclear how these influences translate to individual nations or conflicts. Because Turkey has witnessed consistent but unequal regional advances in gender equality, it provides an ideal setting to examine how these developments have influenced terrorist violence. Analyzing data from Turkey’s 81 provinces from 2000–2013, this study finds important regional differences in the influence of gender equality on terrorism.     

Discrimination and ethnic conflict: a dyadic analysis of politically-excluded groups in sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT

The literature on political exclusion and conflict tends to treat grievance-based mechanisms with broad-brush strokes and does not differentiate between types of political exclusion. This study disaggregates politically-excluded groups into two subgroups: groups that experience political discrimination from the state, and groups without political power that are not explicitly discriminated against. We posit that discriminated groups are more likely to experience grievances and therefore are more prone to conflict than excluded groups that are not actively discriminated against. We further posit that the effect of discrimination on conflict is moderated by interactions with economic inequalities and the share of elites. Using dyadic data for 155 ethnic groups in 28 Sub-Saharan African countries, we find that among politically-excluded groups it is indeed discriminated groups that are responsible for most of the association between political exclusion and conflict. Groups that face active, intentional, and targeted discrimination by the state are significantly more likely to be involved in conflict than excluded groups who do not face this explicit form of discrimination. Additionally, we find that discriminated groups who also experience economic inequalities are less likely to engage in conflict, whilst an increased presence of elites within discriminated groups can precipitate the chances of conflict.     

Terrorist violence and the enrollment of psychology in predicting Muslim extremism: critical terrorism studies meets critical algorithm studies

Discourse on terrorist violence has long facilitated an especially liberal form of securitisation. Originally evoked in reference to anarchists and communists, a rational consideration of terrorist violence, inaugurated by the concept, asks for deferred judgement about the nature of, or reasons behind, violence related to terror on the premise that state and international legal norms governing the legitimate use of violence fail to circumscribe the proper capacities of the state to regulate and explain terrorism. Where sovereign powers along with their military and civilian instruments of coercion are deemed unable to regulate violence effectively, analysts of terrorist violence and their readership are invited to consider and cultivate new sensibilities. Beginning in the 1980s, studies by psychologists found renewed urgency among a growing cadre of interdisciplinary terror experts who found religion, Islam especially, a key variable of analysis. I situate their contributions in a longer history of secular and racialising discourse about terrorist violence. Central to this history are practices of reading, translating, interpreting and archiving texts. Evidence for the argument is based on the analysis of an algorithm that allegedly predicts the likelihood of terrorist strikes by counting words spoken by al-Qa?ida leaders and correlating their frequency with over 30 psychological categories.     

空间互适共生视角下黔北傩戏永续传承体系的重构与路径研究

空间环境孕育和成就了文化,具有代表性的在地文化沉淀下来后,则成为环境的象征符号并反作用于空间环境。在设计少数民族传统文化在空间和环境中新的活动、形式乃至构成体系时,必须充分考虑尊重少数民族传统文化所生发的土壤,观照少数民族传统文化艺术形式的特征,尊重以黔北傩戏为代表的少数民族传统文化的历史文脉与当地空间环境交互的特点,才能使黔北傩戏的活力在新的时代焕发新的光彩。在开辟新的黔北傩戏传承思路时,应当以当代黔北傩戏的发展需求为要义,创造一个满足当代人对以黔北傩戏为代表的少数民族传统文化加深交互、产生需求的环境,利用当代媒介环境的需求来启发社会活动,并塑造与人的需求、文化的发展需求相适应的环境和空间。     

中国少数民族特色村寨的空间分布格局研究

中国少数民族村寨具有独特的文化、美学、经济和社会价值。自2013年国家民委公布了首批少数民族特色村寨名单以后,2017年又评选出第二批少数民族特色村寨。通过空间分析法对两批少数民族特色村寨进行省际、区际及族际的定量与定性考察,认为当前特色民族村寨主要集中在西南、华中、华南三大区域,基本呈西南多、东北少的不均衡分布格局。     

我国跨境民族语言认同研究的现状与展望

语言认同是一种复杂的文化心理趋同现象,是其它认同的基础,深刻地影响着人们的语言行为。跨境民族的国家通用语认同、民族语认同和外语认同直接关系到国家发展战略、边疆民族地区社会安全稳定和民族语言文化的传承与保护。我国的跨境民族多,但国内学者关于跨境民族语言认同的研究还很少。基于现有语言认同研究相关文献,本文分析讨论了语言认同的基本概念和跨境民族语言认同研究现状,并提出了未来研究我国跨境民族语言认同的路径和建议。     

论恐怖主义的社会解构

作为一种极端的解构力量，恐怖主义对于国际秩序的威胁和损害不仅在于通过制造恶性事件以破坏国际社会的安全稳定，更在于借助销蚀主流价值而削弱国际秩序的观念基础。因此，国际社会有必要将评估和应对恐怖主义的社会解构纳入反恐治理的基本范畴。其中，以“伊斯兰国”组织为代表的恐怖主义力量进行社会解构的行为策略，可以分为以动摇当代领土政治、颠覆主流生命伦理和创设替代政治秩序为主要构成的重释再造，以动员恐怖袭击、滋长恐怖气氛和催生仇恨敌对为主要构成的“木马”植入，以“黑色经济”“黑色宣传”和“黑色技术”为主要构成的反向利用。目前，国际社会的反恐路径注重结合预防恐怖主义的内向防御逻辑与打击恐怖主义的外向进攻逻辑。沿着这一思路，国际社会可以综合采取加强反恐实践中的逆向战略、修正反恐叙事中的敌意话语和联通反恐治理中的不同系统等多种举措以应对恐怖主义的社会解构。     

后"伊斯兰国"时期恐怖意识形态蔓延:一个新的讨论框架

当前，国际联军打击“伊斯兰国”战事已进入尾声，然而，地面战场的失败并不意味着“伊斯兰国”思想的消亡。从萨拉菲-吉哈德主义极端意识形态发展脉络框架下考察，“伊斯兰国”在这一思想脉络中的独特历史地位塑造了它当前与未来的思想发展方式。国际社会需要认识到，当前反恐战争所面对的“战败者”可能并不认为自己已经失败，其意识形态过去近半个世纪危机式发展赋予了“伊斯兰国”面对失败的独特抵抗能力。“基地”组织在2011年被击溃后的历史也证明，在可预见的未来，“伊斯兰国”将很有可能继续在扩大其基本怀旧式叙事、赋予战败以合法性的同时，还将通过“全球恐怖商标”下的“特许经营”模式，将一种“暴力即思想”的恐怖思想内核进一步扩散并升级。国际社会打击“伊斯兰国”战争，可能刚刚到一个需要进行“中期评估”的时候，这场战争远未结束。     

Setos' way to manage identities and well-being: shame and pride,opposition and openness

The paper examines how the tiny ethno-cultural group of Setos constructs its identity in the multicultural context. The study examines the validity of three acculturation models and tests earlier findings on the relationship between identity and well-being. The results suggest that Setos have clearly adopted a multicultural identity strategy while not merging different identities, and that they have managed to separate the material well-being from the pride of their identity. Despite its small size and peripheral location, the Setos' way to preserve their identity in a constantly changing context is an interesting lesson for other indigenous groups, and also for bigger neighbors.     

Suicide squad: Boko Haram’s use of the female suicide bomber

Boko Haram first began using the tactic of suicide bombings in 2011 and in 2014 started using female suicide bombers. This research focuses on gender differences in the use of suicide bombers. The data were collected using open sources from June 16, 2011 to June 15, 2018. Using this longitudinal data, trends are described over that 7-year period, focusing on the use of females. A majority of the suicide bombings target civilians in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. More than half of the bombers were women and girls, some as young as 7?years old, and there were more than 60 incidents where the bomber was below the age of 15. More female bombers were used to targets civilians, whereas men were used more often to target government, police, and military targets. Female suicide bombers were used in Cameroon, whereas males were used more often in Nigeria. Additionally, females used suicide belts or vests, whereas men carried out the overwhelming majority of vehicle-borne suicide bombings. In many cases, the use of the women as bombers involved coercion. The unprecedented use of female suicide bombers, particularly young girls, should be a focus of policy moving forward.