The Impact of Technology and Communications upon International and Transnational Terrorism

The purpose of this inquiry is to examine the nature of terrorism, primarily in European and Western industrial nations. Specifically the article (1) examines the impact that has resulted from technological advances in communication and weapons and (2) discusses the necessity of international cooperation in the effort to defeat terrorism. The article documents that terrorism is a serious threat to Western democracies including the United States as well as an international threat. The conclusion of the article is that it has become more difficult to counter terrorism due to technological advances which have delivered greater destructive power into the hands of a few fanatics. The primary technological effects discussed are (1) those relating to communication which has enabled terrorists to establish a “world-wide network” and (2) the addition of toxins and nuclear weapons to the arsenal of the terrorist. As an international problem, however, the difficulty of countering terrorism is not rooted in the technological sophistication of the terrorist but in international disputes about the question, “what is terrorism”. Nations appear to be unable to mount an international assault against terrorism due to the great difficulty of arriving at a commonly accepted definition of terrorism. This article discusses the obstacles to defining terrorism encountered by the international community and the role that bilateral and multinational agreements have played in countering terrorism.     

Bankrupting Terrorism: The Role of US Anti-terrorism Litigation in the Prevention of Terrorism and Other Hybrid Threats: A Legal Assessment and Outlook

Global terrorist networks are dependent on receiving financial support from a variety of sources, including individuals, charities and corporations. Also known as terrorist financing, the potential of terrorism finance to resemble a global threat has been recognised and also its closeness to other international crimes such as money laundering and organized crime. As a result, possible responses have to constitute co-ordinated, multi-lateral and multi faceted actions under the umbrella of a wide range of international stakeholders such as the United Nations Security Council and the Financial Action Task Force. Combating terrorism requires a ??holistic?? approach which allows for a mix of possible responses. Besides ??kinetic?? security operations (such as targeted killings) and the adoption of criminal prosecution measures another possible response could be the use of US styled transnational civil litigation by victims of terrorism against both, terrorist groups and their sponsors. Corporations, both profit and non profit, such as banks and other legal entities, as well as individuals, are often complicit in international terrorism in a role of aiders and abettors by providing financial assistance to the perpetrators (cf. UN Al-Qaida Sanctions List: The List established and maintained by the 1267 Committee with respect to individuals, groups, undertakings and other entities associated with Al-Qaida). Such collusion in acts of terrorism gains additional importance against the background of so called ??Hybrid Threats??, NATO??s new concept of identifying and countering new threats arising from multi-level threat scenarios. This article discusses the potential impact of US terrorism lawsuits for the global fight against terrorism.     

城市反恐重要目标安全防范试点与研究

“9·11”以来,国际恐怖活动与反恐斗争的较量已经持续了十余年,但以全球化为背景的恐怖主义威胁不仅没有消失,反而持续存在且更加突出.“三股势力”和由于各种原因导致的个体暴力恐怖威胁将成为今后相当长一段时间内影响我国安全与稳定的主要因素.借鉴国内外相关研究和城市反恐试点单位的成功做法,提出如下对策建议：一是建立党政领导,部门参与的反恐防范工作格局;二是加强防范恐怖犯罪公众教育,增强公众的防范意识;三是建立统一高效的情报信息工作机制;四是明确责任,建章立制,夯实基础;五是制定应对预案,通过演练予以巩固完善;六是强化检查考核,促进防范责任和措施落实.     

我国面临的国际恐怖犯罪现状与应对策略

国际恐怖主义犯罪是威胁当今国际社会安全的非传统安全因素,近年来,国际恐怖组织、个人,以及境内外“东突”恐怖势力、“藏独”恐怖势力、邪教恐怖势力,尤其是境内外“东突”及“藏独”势力的恐怖主义犯罪已经对我国构成了现实威胁。针对威胁,公安机关应积极推动我国反恐立法,完善反恐工作机制,参与国际反恐合作,重视情报、舆论引导和群众工作,加强安全防范和预案演练,以有效遏制和消除国际恐怖主义犯罪。     

Victims of Terrorism Policies: Should Victims of Terrorism be Treated Differently?

Producing large-scale victimization is one of the prime goals of terrorists worldwide. A regular characteristic not only of the unparalleled attacks of 9/11, with its more than 3,000 direct fatalities, is to provoke maximum public attention by producing as many casualties as possible. Victims fall prone to such events due to a terrorist preference for soft and symbolic targets. Not surprisingly, victims of terrorism receive particular attention when counter-terrorism policies are formulated. In practise, however, compensation and support for those directly or indirectly affected by terrorist acts is often rather poor. This article aims to analyse (i) the situation of victims of terrorism in a theoretical victimological framework, and (ii) legislation in favour of victims of terrorism from a comparative perspective. Significant differences can be found not only within Europe where victim policies are basically EU and CoE guided but likewise in comparison with the policies in the US and Israel, which have both implemented particular legislation for victims of terrorism decades ago. This article argues for the adoption of a principled approach to compensation based on social solidarity instead of tort law rules. Further attention is drawn to a particularly unprivileged group: those individuals who become victims of terrorist threats abroad and who, as a consequence of the territorial limitations applicable to compensation rules, have no access to victim compensation schemes in their home countries.     

Government protection against terrorism and crime

A game theoretic model is developed where a government protects against a terrorist seeking terrorism and criminal objectives. A terrorist can recruit a benefactor providing funds by remaining ideologically pure, or may resort to crime. The model accounts for the players’ resources, unit costs of effort, unit benefit and valuations and contest intensities for terrorist and crime objectives. We determine and quantify how these factors and the government impact a terrorist’s terrorism and crime efforts and relative ideological orientation on a continuum from being highly ideological to being highly criminal. We also consider how the terrorist group is impacted by support of benefactor(s), the central authority’s ability to impose greater sanctions for terrorist activities compared to criminal actions and the ideological orientation of the group’s leadership. We discuss insights from the model and consider a few historical perspectives.     

Counter-terrorism: measures to fight against the foreign terrorist fighter phenomenon and the use of ICT for the recruitment of terrorists

Terrorism, in all its manifestations, has redefined national and international security landscapes in recent years. The impact of terrorist organisations has mushroomed, and they are becoming increasingly complex. There is evidence to point to the fact that the planning, recruitment, coordination and perpetration of terrorist acts has been largely assisted by the proliferation of networking hardware such as computers, cell-phones, and internet access. In addition, the availability of various digital tools and software has amplified the ease of communication, regardless of location. Strategy to date has been dominated by law enforcement and military actions, as exemplified in most international initiatives against terrorism. In some cases, this has elicited sympathy for the terrorist organisations because of resulting unintended civilian casualties. There is now recognition that a shift in strategy to a more civil society focussed approach which addresses the underlying causes may be more effective.     

武力打击国际恐怖主义的合法性问题

武力打击国际恐怖主义的合法性问题关系到国际法律秩序的前途与联合国集体安全体制的命运。通过对美国武力反恐政策与实践在国际法学界引发的争议、国际法上自卫权规则和安理会授权武力强制措施的适用性、国际恐怖主义泛滥对自卫权理论和规则的发展方向的影响 ,以及联合国在武力反恐中的作用等问题的分析 ,我们可以看到 ,虽然现有国际法理论和规则并不完全支持武力反恐 ,但是完全排除受害国使用武力反恐既不合理也不可行。为了既有效打击恐怖主义又不滥用武力 ,现行国际法和联合国体制都需要改革 ,以建立一个由和平措施和武力措施共同构成的反恐机制。     

析国家作为恐怖主义的主体问题

恐怖主义主体是否包含国家的问题是困惑恐怖主义法律定义的一个现实障碍。对此问题,发展中国家与西方发达国家认识不一,从历史看,国家恐怖主义是个人或组织团体恐怖主义的根源,而且国家恐怖主义的危害与当量是个人及团体恐怖主义所无法比拟的;学者的学说、国家和联合国内的反国家恐怖主义的努力也说明了国家恐怖主义犯罪的存在;国家的恐怖主义刑事责任追究可依公约以特殊方式进行;国际关系与国际政治行为的民主化与文明化,也要求坚持公理、正义与法律,要求反国家恐怖主义。     

The role of prosecutors in ensuring human rights compliant responses to terrorism

Since 9/11 the threat from terrorism has been regarded as ‘exceptional’, a threat that requires military and sometimes even extra-judicial responses. But experience has shown that these responses can have unintended and counterproductive results. Many experts now believe that criminal justice and rule of law-based responses to terrorism are often more legitimate, effective and sustainable. The paper argues that prosecutors have a vital role to play in promoting appropriate criminal justice responses to terrorism. Yet with no international court with jurisdiction over terrorist crimes, prosecutors carry the primary responsibility to work with their local law enforcement agencies to bring terrorist suspects to justice before national courts, while ensuring that no misuses or abuses of authority have occurred. To deliver on this mandate, prosecutors must remain vigilant and ensure that the counter-terrorism actions of police, corrections and other law enforcement authorities are lawful and respectful of human rights. This will often require immense courage under fire.     

中国反恐的国际视角分析

中国反恐的国际视角是在关注和解决国内产生恐怖主义的原因基础上,应研究影响国内恐怖主义活动外部原因,总结国际联合反恐成效与经验,探索新形势下加强反恐国际合作的思路,在更加开阔的国际视野下开展中国反恐斗争,从而更有力地打击和防范针对中国的恐怖活动并更有效地履行中国反恐的国际义务。     

The Threat Environment Created by International Terrorism from the German Police Perspective

International terrorism motivated by Islamist ideology poses completely new challenges to the security authorities of the affected states in terms of manner of commission and impact. The present contribution describes the threat created by international terrorism from the German police perspective. It begins by describing the threat represented by the terrorist crime phenomenon in terms of motivation, perpetrator and crime profiles, and organisational structure. This is followed by comments on how and to what extent international terrorism threatens German interests, as well as how German legislators have reacted. However, the main emphasis is placed on the counter-strategies of the German security authorities, in particular on mutual networking and intensified efforts to close ranks with other actors engaged in the battle against international terrorism.     

英国涉恐资产冻结法律制度介述及其对我国的借鉴

冻结涉恐资产可以有力地斩断恐怖组织及其人员实施恐怖活动的经济基础,因而冻结措施成为金融反恐的重要手段。英国《2010年涉恐资产冻结法》对涉恐资产冻结的相关措施作了专门的系统规定,该法令规定的冻结措施具有期限性、非终局性、冻结对象的广泛性等特征。我国的涉恐资产的冻结措施应当借鉴英国涉恐资产冻结的相关法律制度,注意不同法律制度间的相互配合,注重涉恐资产冻结中的权利保障,加强国际法和国内法的衔接,以便更好地实现打击恐怖活动犯罪的目的。     

Eternal Return? Social Science Perspectives of ‘Upstream’ Terrorist Activities

The 9/11 attacks stimulated an unprecedented academic interest in the study of terrorism; bringing a range of new disciplinary perspectives, theoretical frameworks and empirical tools to the subject. Within a broad social science perspective, this paper seeks to draw on these cross-disciplinary resources to understand pre-attack terrorist activities. In doing so, the paper first reviews some of the key themes relating to the study of terrorism including (but not restricted to) empirical values, the duplication of knowledge, points of consensus, and the focus on individual and deterministic features. The paper then examines conceptualizations of ‘terrorism as a process’ as they relates to pre-attack activities and considers current analyses relating to this issue. Here, temporal features of attack cycles are particularly prominent. The third area of analysis draws from a range of social science disciplines – including environmental psychology, human geography, sociology and criminology – to investigate the prospects of furnishing these accounts with spatial detail. These discussions are organized by a number of overarching arguments. These include: the importance of inter-relationships between counter-terrorism practice and precise understandings of terrorist action; and of exercising caution over deterministic pathways of action and accounts that focus too heavily on the individual level of action.     

Fear of terrorism: media exposure and subjective fear of attack

In many Western countries, citizen knowledge of terrorist events is intrinsically shaped by the style of broadcasted messages published by the media. Media discourses regarding terrorist acts raise questions about how such rhetoric elicits fear in people who typically experience such events through news reports. However, we do not fully understand the impact of the media on perceptions of terrorism as clearly as we understand the relationship between the media and fear of crime. This study examines how media sources accessed actively (e.g. through newspapers; Internet) or passively (e.g. through television; radio) influence knowledge and fear of terrorism. We find receiving information about terrorism from multiple media sources increases fear of terrorism, but media sources accessed passively are not as influential as media sources accessed more actively. These results highlight how media consumption from various sources may affect one’s fear of terrorism, and further illustrates how the role of perceived knowledge may exacerbate or mitigate fear. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Interdiction and Indoctrination: The Counter‐Terrorism and Security Act 2015

Lying behind the recent Counter‐Terrorism and Security Act 2015 is the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters which has sparked international and national attention. The 2015 Act deals with many facets of counter terrorism legislation, but its two principal measures are singled out for analysis and critique in this paper. Thus, Part I of the Act seeks to interdict foreign terrorist fighters by preventing suspects from travelling and dealing decisively with those already in the UK who pose a risk. Part V of the Act implements the second, broader aspect, of legislative policy, reflecting the UN emphasis on ‘Countering Violent Extremism’, through the statutory elaboration and enforcement of the ‘Prevent’ element of the long‐established Countering International Terrorism strategy, which aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremism. These measures are explained in their policy contexts and set against criteria of effectiveness, personal freedom, and accountability.     

Terrorism Risk Forecasting by Ideology

The purpose of the present study is to produce foresights on terrorism. For the first time in the literature, we test the predictive validity of risk terrain modeling to forecast terrorism. Because the relevant literature suggests that target selection and the places where terrorist attacks occur are related to a group’s strategies, we also investigate whether and how violent terrorist acts vary with respect to their surroundings in the same jurisdiction when the ideology is the point of comparison. Separatist and leftist terrorist groups committed 1152 violent terrorist acts between 2008 and 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey. Our analysis begins with a comparison of targets and risk factors by the ideology of the perpetrators for 857 separatist and 295 leftist terrorist incidents. After identifying high-risk locations, we test the predictive validity of risk terrain modeling. The study results showed that context and spatial influence—the risky areas of terrorism—vary by the nature of the ideology in the jurisdiction. Practical implications also are discussed.     

International terrorism and mental health: recent research and future directions

International terrorism has become a major global concern. Several studies conducted in North America and Europe in the aftermath of terrorist attacks reveal that international terrorism represents a significant short-term and long-term threat to mental health. In the present article, the authors clarify the concept and categories of terrorism and then present central findings from studies conducted in the United States and Europe, which mainly focus on negative impacts on mental health, such as emotional stress and PTSD. Furthermore, the authors outline experiments that focus on social interaction processes thought to be triggered by international terrorism and which are assumed to be related indirectly to mental health processes. Next, they highlight the potential positive outcomes on the resilience side, in line with the current theory on posttraumatic growth in adversity. Finally, theoretical and practical implications as well as limitations and future directions are discussed.     

Situational prevention of terrorism. Remarks from the field of counterterrorism in the Netherlands on Newman and Clarke’s Policing Terrorism

In this paper I shall discuss how criminal investigation might contribute to a situational approach to terrorism. Therefore I discuss Policing Terrorism by Newman and Clarke, and confront it with experiences from work in the field of counterterrorism: criminal investigations at the Dutch National Police Agency (NPA). I demonstrate that Newman and Clarke have too narrow a scope on policing terrorism, in particular when it comes to the role of criminal investigation. They restrict their focus to local police work in the phases immediately before and after a terrorist attack. This is unfortunate because case files show that criminal investigators play a central role in the prevention of terrorism. They intervene in earlier phases of terrorist preparation, target a wider range of terrorist offences than terrorist attacks, and prosecute radicals for their non-terrorist offences. Furthermore, criminal investigations offer insights that might be of help in developing an SCP approach to terrorism.     

试析当前“东突”暴力恐怖犯罪的新特点及其防范对策

我国当前面临最大的恐怖主义威胁是具有恐怖主义、宗教极端主义及民族分裂主义特征的“三股势力”,影响新疆社会稳定的因素主要是“东突”等恐怖组织策动的以民族分裂为宗旨的暴力恐怖犯罪活动.暴力恐怖犯罪危害极大,反恐防暴斗争形势十分严峻,打击和遏制新疆地区暴力恐怖犯罪活动,是一项长期而艰巨的任务.本文着重阐述“东突”暴力恐怖犯罪的新特点,分析其发展态势,并在此基础上提出防范此类暴力恐怖犯罪的对策.