Fatah al-Islam in Lebanon: Anatomy of a Terrorist Organization

The objective of this study is to provide through an in-depth investigation of the Fatah Al-Islam organization, emergence, programs, and external links, and the inner operation of this underground Salafi-jihadi group. By divulging secret confession statements to the public, it has uncovered many of the mysteries that surrounded the evolution and goals of the group. On the other hand, and more important, it has examined the application of certain conventional approaches to the study of terrorist behavior. The findings, based on the biographies of FI terrorists, seem to negate much of the advanced explanation about political violence. Economic destitution, poverty, lack of education, young age, and marital disruption for instances do not determine adherence to the group. Members of the jihadi group of FI stem from a diversified occupational background, not lacking in education, mature, married, and influenced by various motivations, specifically religious dogma.     

The Third Mountain: A Meditation on Chaos and Order

Thinking is a way of being that isalways in danger of clinging to merelyconceptual distinctions. The oppositionbetween Chaos and Order bounds all modesof Western thought, and this means that italways manages to impose Order at some level orother: for example, the kind of Order thatdivides Chaos from Order, or my project fromyour project, or silence from speech. This wayof thinking is not necessarily regrettable,but it is or can become an impediment. Thispaper interprets the relation between Chaos andOrder in Western thought, using the work ofSartre, Hegel, Nietzsche, Derrida, Heidegger,and Wittgenstein as its principal examples. Italso speculates on the possibility of a way ofbeing that does not reject dualism, but doesnot cling to it either.     

INTERGOVERNMENTAL IMPLEMENTATION OF BUILDING CODES WITH LATERAL FORCE PROVISIONS

Building-code revisions and land-use planning are recognized as potential solutions to the threat posed by hazardous structures in seismically active regions. Their implementation, however, is problematic and several Impediments to action on building codes are analyzed. The authors recommend a system of incentives to overcome these barriers including federally subsidized insurance, low interest loans, and joint state-local policy ventures with technical assistance provided by federal agencies.