Terrorism: An Identity Theory Perspective

The present article outlines the role of personal, social, and cultural identity in religiously and ethnically motivated terrorism. It is proposed that terrorism represents the confluence of a cultural identity strongly based in collectivism and in fundamentalist adherence to religious or cultural principles, a social identity based in sharp contrasts between one's own group and groups perceived as threats, and a foreclosed and authoritarian sense of personal identity or, less often, a diffused and aimless personal identity. Examples from religious-extremist and ethnic conflicts in which terrorism has been employed are used to illustrate the tenets advanced here. Recommendations for addressing and preventing the threat of terrorism are discussed.     

Misuse of Passports: Identity Fraud,the Propensity to Travel,and International Terrorism

The misuse of passports is intrinsically connected with international terrorism. Terrorist groups and their operatives demonstrate a propensity to travel in order to meet, organize, train, plan, reconnoiter targets, and deploy for attacks. To travel surreptitiously, terrorist activists and operatives typically make use of improperly obtained, altered, or counterfeit passports and visas. The present study addresses three key issues relating to the terrorist misuse of passports: (a) the role of passport misuse in the operational activities of international terrorist networks; (b) the ways in which terrorist elements acquire seemingly genuine passports; and (c) the various international covenants, agreements, and related action plans intended to constrain terrorists’ ability to move surreptitiously across borders. The analysis describes a terrorism cycle, a complex array of key activities that together serve as enablers for international terrorism. The role of passports and surreptitious travel is examined for each stage of this terrorism cycle.     

Al Qaeda,Trends in Terrorism,and Future Potentialities: An Assessment

The Manhattan trial of four men linked to Osama bin Laden was the result of the largest overseas investigation ever mounted by the U.S. government. The trial generated thousands of pages of documents and the testimony of dozens of witnesses with some knowledge of bin Laden's group. What was learned from the trial is that bin Laden's organization experienced severe cash flow problems in the mid-1990s; that the U.S. government has had some real successes in finding informants within bin Laden's organization; that bin Laden has taken steps to acquire weapons of mass destruction; that the training of bin Laden's followers in his camps in Afghanistan is quite rigorous, featuring tuition on a wide range of weapons and explosives and terrorism techniques; and that bin Laden's group operates transnationally, its membership drawn from four continents. Finally, the trial underlines the strengths and limits of the law enforcement approach to bin Laden.     

Terrorism,Civil Liberties,and Political Rights: A Cross-National Analysis

This article examines the effect terrorism has on civil liberties and political rights across a wide range of democracies and regions. This study includes an analysis of the influence domestic and international terrorist attacks have on civil liberties and political rights in 48 democratic states from 1971–2007. The results from a time series cross-national analysis reveal that terrorism weakens civil liberties and political rights. However, certain types of democracies are more affected by terrorism than others. These findings have important implications for democracy and counterterrorism strategies in democratic states.     

Football Fan Subculture in Russia: Aggressive Support,Readiness to Fight,and Far Right Links

This article provides a characterisation of the right-wing football fan subculture in Russia, focusing on its relationship with the far right. It explores the virtual network across fans, hooligans, and the far right scene, and it identifies common narratives between the football fan subculture and Russia’s far right. Using the technique of the Grounded Theory Method, this article attempts to explain the link between the football subculture and the Russian far right, discussing the potential to mobilise football fans for right-wing actions. A key basis for interaction between the football subculture and right-wing activists is provided by the combination of the supporters’ readiness for fights and their sense of oppression from state policies.     

Religious Terrorism,the Media,and International Islamization Terrorism: Justifying the Unjustifiable

This study examines the relationship between the Hizbullah and Islamic Brotherhood organizations, the media, and the hypothesized outcomes of their symbiotic relationship, International Islamization Terrorism. It revisits the effects of the media on the propensity of Muslim zealots for conflict and terrorism by sampling 2,619 individuals in 8 European Union countries, and empowers the field with some foundations for Islamist violence.‐     

An Exploratory Analysis of Fertility Differentials in India

The association between improving economic conditions and declining growth of population has led economists and demographers to hypothesise a direct relationship between indicators of economic development and fertility rates. Using recent National Family Health Survey data and the 1991 Census to explore factors contributing to fertility rates in India, we found that economic variables explain 70 per cent of the interstate variations in India's fertility rates. However, several non-economic variables explain an even greater proportion, for example, indicators of female autonomy explain 84 per cent of the variations. Our analysis demonstrates that to successfully explain Indian fertility rates, models must rely heavily on non-economic variables.     

Terrorism as Transnational Advocacy: An Organizational and Tactical Examination

This article attempts to shed light on the dynamics and machinations within terrorist organizations by incorporating a heretofore overlooked literature which is directly applicable, that of transnational advocacy networks (TANs). Terror networks have been described using every possible analogy, from multinational corporations to organized crime to the anthropomorphic classic “cut off the head, and the body will die.” In reality, terrorist organizations function in much the same way, and using many of the same techniques, as transnational advocacy networks concerned with issues like the environment or human rights. By describing these characteristics, and comparing TANs and Terror TANs (TTANs), this article aims to offer insight into the tactics and motivations that define modern, as well as the much heralded post-modern, terrorism.     

Terrorism Research: Past,Present, and Future

Research on terrorism and counterterrorism draws on many disciplines, including Politics, History, Sociology and Anthropology. Yet there are concerns about scope, methodology, impact, and the level of public debate. An agreed definition of terrorism is unattainable: there should be more focus on particular acts rather than labelling whole movements. The threat of terrorism should be kept in proportion. Understanding its causes, and associated belief-systems, is crucial to conducting effective counterterrorist operations. Evaluations of the effectiveness of both terrorism and counterterrorism need to encompass more factors, including terrorism's deadliest legacies: wars on terror that fail, and a habit of violence.     

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.     

Terrorism,Crime, and Transformation

This article argues that some of today's terrorist groups have transformed into transnational criminal organization (TCO) who are more interested in profits than politics. This dynamic has important implications for policymakers as some traditional, politically motivated terrorist groups further profit-minded agencies under a political banner. The author argues that there are different degrees of transformation; some terrorists commit criminal acts to support political operations, while others view profit-driven criminal acts as their end game. The articles further argues that unlike some observers suggest, TCOs and terrorist groups will not cooperate with each other to advance aims and interests, instead utilizing their "in-house" capabilities to undertake criminal or political acts.     

Terrorism in Italy: Analysis of a problem

The author, after a short premise in which the phenomenon under examination is analyzed on the basis of the study of individual motivations, considers, in the context of the present Italian moral crisis, the social and interpersonal factors that violent terrorism generate.

The inquiry then moves on to attempt to identify the aims of terrorism through the observation of the subsequent phases through which it develops.

After a short survey of some sociological and psychological theories of the causes of the phenomenon, the author concludes that the problem of terrorism cannot be solved through the threat of more serious sanctions for the crimes committed but through the reorganization and restructuring of the state, and the elimination of the insecurity and tension that are among the main causes of the phenomenon.     

Multiple Winning Formulae? Far Right Voters and Parties in Eastern Europe

Abstract

Can theories explaining far right voting in Western Europe be extended to post-communist Eastern Europe? We address this question with a comparative demand-side analysis of far right parties and their voters in four post-communist countries: Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia. Our findings indicate the emergence of two distinct types of far right party. While the Latvian and Lithuanian far right resemble the new radical right (NRR) model, the Bulgarian far right comes closer to the welfare chauvinist ideal type. The far right mobilised anti-Semitic voters in Latvia, Slovakia and Bulgaria. In all four cases, the far right was especially successful in capturing the votes of ethnic majority members who are the most opposed to their country’s formerly dominant ethnic group.     

Poverty,Ideology and Terrorism: The STAM Bond

This article focuses on the role of ideology in the decision of people who are not from societies’ worst-off socioeconomic groups to join a left-wing terrorist organization. Taking up the sociological perspective of Max Weber, Clifford Geertz, and Raymond Boudon, the author introduces the concept of the “terrorist of the first hour” and considers ideology as a type of social bond. The concept of ideology is here broken down into four dimensions: Social, Temporal, Affective, and Moral (STAM bond). This article also presents data on the ages, sex, educational level, and occupation of the Italian people arrested (2,730) or convicted (528) for crimes of terrorism from 1970 to 2011. Data on Italian terrorists were provided by the General Department of Prisoners of the Ministry of Justice. ¹ 1. The research was conducted between February and July 2011. The author wishes to sincerely thank Sebastiano Ardita—the Director of the General Department of Prisoners of the Ministry of Justice—who gave authorization to collect data on Italian people arrested or convicted of terrorism of which only the Ministry of Justice is in possession. This article considered only data regarding terrorists working to subvert internal order. The articles of the Italian Penal Code regarding “internal” terrorism are articles 270, 270 bis, and 306, and since 2001 further articles have been introduced in order to combat international terrorism.