Lone Wolf Terrorist or Deranged Shooter? A Study of Ideological Active Shooter Events in the United States, 1970–2014

This study explores the threat of ideological active shooter attacks in the United States. In particular, to understand if these events constitute a new brand of “lone wolf terrorism” or if they are simply “deranged shooters” that happen to be ideological. The results show that ideological and non-ideological active shooters share very similar profiles. Despite the similarities, ideological extremism seems to influence the way these offenders prepare, execute, and conclude their attacks. Most ideological active shooters are “loners” whose attacks tend to be motivated by ideology. Given their sophistication and lethality, ideological active shooters represent a serious threat to national security.     

Explaining Lone Wolf Target Selection in the United States

The rise in lone wolf terrorist attacks worldwide in recent decades makes understanding the types of targets lone wolves choose a crucial locus of research, yet this topic remains understudied. In light of this lacuna, this article analyzes 84 lone wolf terrorist attacks that occurred in the United States between 1940 and 2012, identifies patterns in lone wolf target selection, and proposes and tests causal explanations for these patterns. I find that (1) a majority of lone wolves select civilian targets in familiar areas and (2) this is due to their relative weakness and their ideology.     

The Enigma of Lone Wolf Terrorism: An Assessment

Lone wolf terrorism remains an ambiguous and enigmatic phenomenon. The boundaries of lone wolf terrorism are fuzzy and arbitrary. This article aims to define and analyze the main features and patterns of lone wolf terrorism in fifteen countries. Lone wolf terrorism is shown to be more prevalent in the United States than in the other countries under study. The cross-national analysis suggests that in the United States lone wolf terrorism has increased markedly during the past three decades; a similar increase does not appear to have occurred in the other countries under study. The numbers of casualties resulting from lone wolf terrorism have been relatively limited, and there is no evidence that the lethality of lone wolf terrorism is on the increase. The rates of psychological disturbance and social ineptitude are found to be relatively high among lone wolf terrorists. Lone wolf terrorists tend to create their own ideologies that combine personal frustrations and aversion with broader political, social, or religious aims. In this process, many lone wolf terrorists draw on the communities of belief and ideologies of validation generated and transmitted by extremist movements.     

Key Issues and Research Agendas in Lone Wolf Terrorism

This article builds on recent contributions to the academic literature on lone wolf terrorism to critically examine key issues that are germane to the current state of play in this field of study. It finds that, overall, the recent academic literature still suffers from considerable problems regarding quality and rigor, including definitional, conceptual, methodological, and inference issues. By providing a critique of these issues, the article attempts to advance the scholarly debate on lone wolf terrorism and inspire greater dialogue and collaboration between scholars. Directions for future research are also outlined.     

Far-Right Lone Wolf Homicides in the United States

Little is known about the nature of far-right lone wolf terrorism and how this form of violence varies across different types of suspects. Relying on data from the Extremist Crime Database (ECDB), we comparatively examine characteristics of far-right homicides in the United States perpetrated by suspects with no evident affiliations with domestic terrorist organizations. Surprisingly, we found that this form of lone wolf terrorism has generally not increased during the past decade. We also found important differences, such as in suspects’ mental health, in statuses of homicide offenders who operate alone compared to those who associate or act with others.     

“Serbs” in Bela krajina: a (deliberately) forgotten minority?

There are three constitutionally recognized national/ethnic minorities in Slovenia: the Italians, the Hungarians and the Roma. In addition, there are other ethnic groups that could perhaps be considered as “autochthonous” national minorities in line with Slovenia's understanding of this concept. Among them is a small community of “Serbs” – the successors of the Uskoks living in Bela krajina, a border region of Slovenia. In this article we present results of a field research that focused on the following question: Can the “Serb” community in Bela krajina be considered a national minority? On the basis of the objective facts, it could be said that the “Serbs” in four Bela krajina villages are a potential national minority, but with regard to their modest social vitality and the fact that they do not express their desire for minority status, the realization of special minority protection is questionable.     

The ghost of essentialism and the trap of binarism: six theses on the Soviet empire

This article endeavors to open a new critical space for Soviet studies and for nationalities studies more generally. Through analyses of recent trends in Soviet studies, the article dismantles the frequently used opposition between subjective and objective approaches to Soviet empire and suggests instead that truths and categories, whether considered “subjective” or “objective,” are constructed discursively, through legitimizing certain interpretive models over the others. The article also argues against disciplinary avoidance of “what is” questions (e.g. “what is a nation?”) and claims that an excessive concern for (re)producing essentialism should not hinder scholarly inquiry. Several new lines of inquiry for the study of the Soviet empire are suggested and also applicable in nationalities studies more generally: research on the role of symbolic violence in manufacturing consent and research concerning the role of affect in producing linkages between the performative life of a singular human being and the pedagogical discourse of a nation or empire. The article also offers an analysis of the Soviet Union as an empire in becoming and it advocates for postcolonial approaches within Soviet studies. The practical dimensions of Soviet rule are exemplified with data from the Baltic borderlands in the postwar years.     

Lives on the border: language and culture in the lives of ethnic Russian women in Baltinava,Latvia

This study draws on ethnographic research conducted in a small village, Baltinava in Latvia, 2.5 kilometres from the border with Russia. The research examines how ethnic Russian women create a specific Latvian Russian identity by contrasting themselves from ethnic Latvians and Russians who live in Russia and identifying with both groups at the same time. To narrate their lives and to make them meaningful, real and/or perceived “attributes” are combined to draw boundaries between “us” and “them.” Thus, the same thing such as language can be used not only both to distinguish themselves from Russians in Russia or Latvians but also to form coherent identities and to emphasize similarities. This study suggests that ethnicities cannot be reduced to a list of set ethnic groups that are very often used in official government statistics. Ethnic identities have to be viewed as fluid and situational. Moreover, this study shows the dialectic nature of ethnicity. On the one hand, external political, historical and social processes create and recreate ethnic categories and definitions. Yet, on the other hand, the women in this study are active agents creating meaningful and symbolic ethnic boundaries.     

Endgame? Sports Events as Symbolic Targets in Lone Wolf Terrorism

This article explores how terrorists acting alone or in small groups have used sports events as symbolic targets in their performance of terrorism. Drawing on a comparative analysis of the attacks on the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and the 2013 Boston Marathon, it is argued that terrorist target selection of major sports events should be understood in relation to the grievances and desires of the perpetrators. The article finds that rather than being the primary target of their attacks, sports events are among a broader range of densely crowded spaces that terrorist actors may seek to target as part of their violent struggle against their adversaries. The findings are contextualized in relation to broader patterns and trends in lone wolf terrorism, including the significance of a copycat phenomenon and inspiration effect.     

Public service as a calling: An exploration of a concept

Several years ago, the public administration faculty of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University issued their famous “Blacksburg Manifesto” the public Administration and the Governance Process: Refocusing the American Dialogue. In this document they call for a substantive change in the American Dialogue regarding the role of the public administrator. Nothing that the founding fathers viewed public service as a “calling”, as did the populists, Progressives, and New Dealers, they suggest that today’s government officials should percive themselves as “trustees” with a sense of a calling in serving for a cause. This call for a renewed convenant stimulated this researcher to speculate on the nature of the calling, its origins, definitions, applications, and its applicability as a psychological motivator for effective. productive performance in the public sector.

Our exploration for understanding starts with an examination of Western society’s earliest written record of man’s behaviour, the Bible, which is replete with stories of divine calls, first from God to the individual, and then to a group or society. We also review subsequent religious and secular calls, noting their universality and the reciprocal phenomena of “good” and “evil” which such calls exemplify. Thus, God’s call to Moses to lead the Jews out of Egypt is balanced by the fombat-driven calling of the city-state of Sparta.

We also not that the calling is subject to a hierarchy process. Plato writes about the natural endowments of individuals which creates three social classes that are called upon to serve the state; artisans, warriors, and philosopher-kings. Later on Eusebius defines a difference in the intensity and degree of suffering suffering between those professing a “high calling” and those following their“calling”.

This study also considers the meaning of the word “calling”. The researcher proposes a modification of its meaning which is less sacred and more secular in context. “Klesis Diakonis”, two separate Greek words, in combination, can be defined as a “call to joyous service”. This secular interpretation of the calling, frees it from its classic, religious association, and provides for its application to non-religious endeavor.

In conclusion, it is suggested that upon further research and study, the concept of a calling can be a vital and significant motivator, indded, part of the critical psychological and emotional makeup for those individuals in our society who are not fulfilled by material rewards. It is hypothesized here that the public-minded individual can find his or her calling through the medium of public service, can help restore the sacredness of public service as a public as a public trust, and can satisfy his or her search for self-fulfillment through the redefined concept of the calling.     

Understanding Immigration and Psychological Development

Abstract

Approximately one in five children in the U.S. are born to immigrant families in which at least one parent is foreign-born. Existing theoretical frameworks suggest that immigration experiences can increase acculturative stress and lead to developmental psycholopathology in immigrant children. These models, however, do not account for levels in the environment that trigger this stress and/or serve as forms of resilience. Drawing from Bronfenbrenner's multilevel, bioecological model of development, this paper presents a framework that charts environmental processes which generate or buffer acculturative stress and, therefore, mediate the impact of immigration on psychological well-being. Empirical research shows that Mexican immigrants, on the whole, fare better than U.S.-born groups in terms of mental health outcomes. These results are explained in the context of the presented theoretical model. Though further research is needed, preliminary evidence suggests that encouraging “enculturation,” as opposed to “acculturation,” has positive mental health repercussions for Mexican American children. Further research using the presented theoretical framework as well as policies and practices that incorporate and leverage the cultural strengths of Mexican immigrant children should be pursued.     

What We Talk About When We Talk About Management Effects: A Substantively Motivated Approach to Panel Data Estimation

In recent years, the field of public management has begun to make use of panel data sets in quantitative research about governance and public policy. While panel data permit researchers to undertake more advanced and nuanced analyses than cross-sectional data, these benefits are not realized if methods designed for cross-sectional data are used instead. This article outlines different approaches to panel data estimation, illustrating differences in the estimates produced by each approach using data from 1,000 Texas public school districts drawn across 11 years. Our findings suggest that researchers should be cautious in differentiating between relationships that occur “between” organizations and those that occur “within” an organization.     

Instrumental and cultural considerations in constructing European identity among ethnic minority groups in Lithuania in a generational perspective

Research on European identity focuses mainly on majority populations in Western European countries without differentiating among specific population groups and generations, and, above all, disregarding ethnic minority groups living in Central and Eastern Europe. This paper addresses this gap by investigating the development of European identity among three ethnic minority groups in Lithuania: Belarusians, Poles, and Russians. Theoretically, the project is based on the instrumental approach, which argues that European identity is closely related to perceived benefits from “being European,” and on the cultural approach, which holds a common history, ancestry, and culture responsible for the development of European identity. Existing research has, above all, emphasized the importance of instrumental considerations. Analyzing qualitative interviews collected in the FP7 research project “ENRI-East,” the paper compares how young and adult members of ethnic minority groups construct European identity due to “instrumental” and “cultural” considerations. The results show that both instrumental and cultural considerations are relevant and further development of European identity depends on which age group or ethnic minority group an individual belongs to.     

The ethnic and non-ethnic politics of everyday life in Bulgaria's southern borderland

Ethnicity is found in real-world contexts where non-ethnic forms of identification are available. This conclusion is drawn from an empirical study carried out in the multiethnic town of Kurdzhali in Southern Bulgaria, where members of the Bulgarian majority live alongside the Turkish minority. Drawing on the “everyday nationhood” agenda that aims to provide a methodological toolkit for the study of ethnicity/nationhood without overpredicting its importance, the study involved the collection of survey, interview, and ethnographic data. Against the expectations of some experienced scholars of the Central and Eastern Europe region, ethnic identity was found to be more salient for the majority Bulgarians than for the minority Turks. However, the ethnographic data revealed the importance of a rural–urban cleavage that was not predicted by the research design. On the basis of this finding, I argue that the “everyday nationhood” approach could be improved by including a complementary focus on non-ethnic attachments that have been emphasized by scholarship or journalism relevant to the given context. Rather than assuming the centrality of ethnicity, such an “everyday identifications” approach would start from the assumption that ethnic narratives of identity always have to compete with non-ethnic ones.     

Scientific capacity building and the ontologies of herbal medicine in Ghana

Abstract

The Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine, a large herbal medicine research center in Ghana, has received important research equipment and training through a transnational research collaboration involving the Japanese International Cooperation Agency. By situating this project in regional debates about traditional medicine research priorities and the ontologies of plant medicine, this article argues that the collaboration had the perceived effect of standardizing research practices oriented toward drug discovery rather than the rationalization of crude drug preparations. This shows that “capacity-building” components of research collaborations should not be taken as the transfer of neutral goods from one location to another. They are charged with the political potential to make crucial decisions about the objects of research in postcolonial Africa.     

CACOPHONIES IN THE CONTEMPORARY CHORUS ABOUT CHANGE AT PUBLIC WORKSITES,AS CONTRASTED WITH SOME STRAIGHT-TALK FROM A PLANNED CHANGE PERSPECTIVE

The New Public Management (henceforth NPM) has coalesced into a movement in a short period of time, virtually worldwide. Thus, inter alia, we hear about the allegedly-new focus on the “customers” of public services, which are to be provided by “public intrapreneurs” as well as by cadres of employees at all levels who are “empowered.” And so on and on—through the conventional organizational litany including cross-training, total quality, performance measurement, and eventuating in strategic planning. These emphases make for a pleasing, even convincing, organizational libretto.

If the “chorus” proclaiming the NPM libretto is both ubiquitous as well as insistent, however, the chanting is often loosely-coupled, curiously directed, and at times even contradictory—at times so much so as to alert one's native cunning about what forces are really at work. Hence, the reference here to the “chorus” and also the “cacophonies” this essay detects in NPM's ardent vocalizing. This reflects our judgment that, in equal measure, NPM combines ubiquity, too much of some useful things, unreconciled diversities, and issues at sixes-and-sevens.

But this essay also urges that NPM can “walk its talk.” In effect, several emphases will at once help explain how NPM was all-but-predestined to experience serious shortfalls, as well as prescribe how NPM can rise about these limitations. Particular attention gets directed at appropriate guidelines interaction and structural arrangements.

Four emphases relate to these critical-cum-constructive ambitions. In preview, NPM 1. seldom even attempted detailing a useful approach to applications;

2. typically neglected systemic or millieu characteristics within which applications occurred;

3. usually did not specify a useful front-load in designs: i.e., training in values, attitudes, and interaction skills that would facilitate developing a “cultural preparedness” for appropriate applications; and

4. seldom specified supportive structural/managerial arrangements.

This essay proposes to do better.

This essay takes a direct if dual approach to describing the New Public Management “chorus” and its “cacophonies.” To begin, introductory attention goes to NPM as a “liberation” of theory and practice beyond the classic conservatisms of Public Administration. Then, four limitations of this NPM “chorus” will be detailed, and this quartet of “cacophonies” also implies ways to enhance NPM applications, as well as urges a stark warning against overselling.     

The interdependence of mobility and faith–an introduction

The introduction to the special issue draws together theoretical and analytical strands that run through the four papers. As the four papers illustrate, devotion and mobility, belief and trajectory, go hand in hand. The main argument is that the religious movements discussed in this special issue are not local phenomena attempting to transcend fixed boundaries: they are transcendence, in the sense that they always are (and have been) part of the border land between global and vernacular, modern and traditional. They are not at the border: they are the border. Concepts such as mobility, postcoloniality and translocality are being discussed, which in turn lead to a problematization of concepts such as “Africa” and “Diaspora”. A second strand that combines the various papers is that trajectories along which religious practitioners travel are not nicely established routes, rather these are constantly “interrupted”; travellers move between localities, hopping from one hub to another. Such an approach allows a focus on networks and concrete interactions; and it destabilizes the assumed homogenous tracts along which Africans (or Pentecostalists) venture into the world “out there”.     

Administrative Styles in the OECD: Bureaucratic Policy-Making beyond Formal Rules

As we know from comparative public policy, bureaucracies contribute to a considerable degree to the contents and the ways of policy-making. One important driver of administrative policy-making are their specific “styles” or “cultures”. “Administrative styles” are understood here as the standard operating procedures and routines that characterize the behavior and activities of administrative bodies in initiating, drafting and implementing policy. In this article, we convey the concept of Administrative Styles to the level of International Organizations (IOs) and apply it to the Organization for Economic Development and Co-Operation (OECD). The article proceeds in three steps: First, the concept of administrative styles is introduced and refined. Drawing on expert interviews with OECD staff, we secondly show that consideration of OECD administrative styles significantly advances the literature’s understanding of the organization. Finally, we give an outlook on new research avenues and the relevance of our findings for the study of International Public Administrations (IPAs) more generally.