The Enemy Within? The Connection between Insider Threat and Terrorism

ABSTRACT

While the threat from terrorism has gained widespread acknowledgment over the last decade, the infiltration of organizations by “terrorist” insiders has not, and the potential dangers these individuals present has not been fully explored. There is a need to understand the wider aspects of insider threats, including motivations and attack methodologies, and to be able to demonstrate the potential devastation that could be caused. Organizations can attempt to mitigate the potential for insider infiltration by both terrorist and other hostile actors, and if such individuals were within an organization, there are procedures and strategies that can be employed to prevent exploitation of existing organizational vulnerabilities and detection of insiders. This article provides an informed and new approach to the connection between insider threat and terrorism.     

The Ideological Evolution of Horst Mahler: The Far Left–Extreme Right Synthesis

In the late 1990s, Horst Mahler, a former leader of the Red Army Faction and scion of the radical left, announced his affinity for the extreme right and joined the National Democratic Party of Germany (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands; NPD)—Germany's principal far right party. Later distancing himself from party politics, he founded the Deutsches Kolleg, a far right think tank that promotes German nationalism. Although ostensibly now a rightist, Mahler has synthesized much of his original left-wing ideology into a far right Weltanschauung that features nationalism, anti-Americanism, and anti-Semitism, with a strident critique of capitalism. As such, it has the potential to appeal to some segments of the contemporary anti-globalization movement, the international extreme right, and even Islamists.     

The hung authorities ‐1993 onwards

Overview and scrutiny committees were intended to provide a counterbalance to executive decision-making. This paper presents an 'audit' of local government scrutiny based upon research conducted over the last five years. Three key findings emerge from the review of evidence to date: the research findings are remarkably consistent over time and between authors; all research concludes that, in general, overview and scrutiny is still struggling; although a mixed picture emerges when examining progress on individual roles for scrutiny. Indeed, research indicates that scrutiny is - in some authorities - making a valuable contribution in terms of policy review but is still failing to hold the executive to account effectively. The relationship between scrutiny and performance management remains underdeveloped, whilst external scrutiny constitutes a marginal activity for most authorities. The paper concludes that such findings reflect the importance of local political and organisational factors which dictate the boundaries and shape of overview and scrutiny: representing a triumph of local context over government-prescribed structural and constitutional change.     

Convergence: The Useful Myth?

Many academics have questioned the thesis (most prominently associated with Osborne and Gaebler's Re-inventing government ) that there is an inevitable and global convergence towards a particular, new style of public management. Yet, despite the ongoing production of scholarly evidence of global diversity, pronouncements of convergence continue to be made by politicians, civil servants and some academics.
In this paper it is suggested that, better to understand this apparent controversy, a more subtle conceptualization of convergence is needed. First, convergence can take place at different stages or levels — for example, there can be convergence in debate, convergence in reform decisions, convergence in actual practices, or, ultimately, convergence in results. There is no automatic succession from one stage to the next: the momentum of convergence can (and frequently does) stall or dwindle at any point. Furthermore, it should be recognized that convergence claims may have a value of their own, whether or not they lead to actual convergence of practice or improvements in outcomes. Convergence, in short, may be a useful myth.     

The Stasi–Meinhof Complex?

The extent of the East German Ministry for State Security's involvement with militant left-wing terrorist organizations that operated in West Germany remains one of the most contentious issues with respect to the legacy of left-wing terrorism in Germany. Fueled by new archival evidence and much speculation, the topic has been the subject of many unfounded and sensationalist assertions. This article seeks to provide a chronological reassessment based on the current state of knowledge, and thus seeks to make a contribution to a growing literature on state involvement with terrorist groups. While the East German spy agency at times colluded with terrorist groups, the degree of support fluctuated considerably and there is no evidence that a state actor “created” the armed groups or “directed” their activities.     

The Initiation of Local Authority Referendums: Participatory Momentum or Political Tactics? The UK Case

Local authority-initiated referendums have been a cornerstone of the UK Government's drive to improve citizen participation at the local level. Authorities have increasingly made use of local referendums since the 1990s, but little research has been carried out to explain and qualify this surge. Focusing on a case study of a recent referendum in Greater Manchester, and comparing it to other significant local referendums, this article analyses their initiation according to Morel's (2007) functional model. Findings reveal that referendums were most often held to smooth over divisions within local parties or assemblies, to legitimate a controversial decision or to weaken political adversaries. Local authorities therefore never employed referendums as genuine participatory tools, but rather as a pragmatic and tactical solution to a given political problem. Consequently, the long-term impact of local referendums on citizen participation remains questionable.     

The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend … The Dynamics of Self-Defense Forces in Irregular War: The Case of the Sons of Iraq

This article assesses the effect that leveraging civilian defense force militias has on the dynamics of violence in civil war. We argue that the delegation of security and combat roles to local civilians shifts the primary targets of insurgent violence toward civilians, in an attempt to deter future defections, and re-establish control over the local population. This argument is assessed through an analysis of the Sunni Awakening and ancillary Sons of Iraq paramilitary program. The results suggest that at least in the Al-Anbar province of Iraq, the utilization of the civilian population in counterinsurgent roles had significant implications for the targets of insurgent violence.     

The threat of autocracy diffusion in consolidated democracies? The case of China,Singapore and Australia

The majority of today’s authoritarian regimes have little hope of promoting autocracy beyond their own borders, let alone to consolidated democratic countries. However, China and Singapore are two prominent examples of non-democratic countries whose soft power arsenals have given them some global appeal beyond that enjoyed by most authoritarian regimes. But to what extent has China’s and Singapore’s power of example influenced consolidated democracies in terms that the latter wanting to replicate some political practices or even norms in these non-democratic regimes? In this article, we engage recent works to examine this question in relation to how Australians perceive the political example offered by China and Singapore. Focusing our analysis on several prominent polls conducted recently by the Lowy Institute for International Policy, we suggest that at present there is little evidence of a causal impact of the rise of authoritarian powerhouses such as China and Singapore on how Australians view democracy at home. Through these case studies, this article sheds some light on the theoretical as well as practical questions about the inherent impediments of authoritarian diffusion in consolidated democracies.     

Development: The devil we know?

Post-development theories have been accused of not having a future programme, and a number of authors has concluded that we are better off pursuing development as we know it. But the lack of instrumentality is not in itself a weighty argument against the analysis. At its best, 'post-development' offers an explanation of why so many development projects seem to fail. Two contributions are emphasised here: that transformation through development is linked to the agencies of elites, and that technical constraints imposed on developers shape the way in which they construct the problem. There is a need for extending the analysis, however. Including how development interventions are transformed in encounters with target populations gives a less rigid picture of the power of development, and can expose some of the problematic premises on which development interventions are based. In this way, post-development can offer a contribution to the practitioners of development.     

Aid and Power – The Next Generation

The Aid Effect. Giving and Governing in International Development

David Mosse and David Lewis

London: Pluto, 2005, pp. 232, £60 and £18.99, ISBN 0 725 32387 1 and 0 745 32386 3

The Will to Improve. Governmentality, Development, and the Practice of Politics

Tanya Murray Li

Durham: Duke University Press, 2007, pp. 392, £70 and £18.99, ISBN 0 822 34008 9 and 0 822 34027 5

The Whiteness of Power. Racism in Third World Development and Aid

Paulette Goudge

London: Lawrence & Wishart, 2003, pp. 224, £16.99, ISBN 0 853 15957 2

The Paternalism of Partnership. A Postcolonial Reading of Identity in Development Aid

Maria Eriksson Baaz

London: Zed, 2005, pp. 224, £50 and £18.99, ISBN 1 842 77411 4X and 1 842 77415 8

Inclusive Aid: Changing Power and Relationships in International Development

Edited by Leslie Groves and Rachel Hinton

London: Earthscan, 2004, pp. 212, £70 and £19.99, ISBN 1 844 07032 8 and 1 844 07033 6     

The Legacy of the Northern Way?

Abstract

The Northern Way (NW) was a pan-regional, multi-level initiative between three English northern regions, set up to promote economic growth and close a £30 billion output gap. Some limited research on progress prior to 2006 exists, but hardly anything about achievements between 2008 and closure in 2011. This paper redresses the limitations with data from existing evaluations and key stakeholder interviews. Findings reveal that partners developed good collaborative working, gathered robust data on critical economic and social issues, and learnt much during 2004–2008. Between 2008 and 2011, activities were refocused on a narrower set of critical priorities and partners developed real policy learning and became a credible voice for the Northern regions. After closure, it became evident that NW left a ‘vacuum’ as an effective coordinator of evidence and views from three Northern regions. Many issues that it sought to address remain as critical today as they did when it was created.