The old terrorism: a dataset, 1860 – 1969

ABSTRACT

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, research on terrorism has grown exponentially. Data limitations, however, have made temporal generalization difficult. Most terrorism datasets extend back only to the 1970s, which inhibits the ability to quantitatively examine earlier waves of terrorism. To address this limitation, this article presents a dataset of over 250 terrorist organizations formed between 1860 and 1969. These data, which have global coverage, include country-year information on group formation, allowing scholars to examine the relationship between various country-year factors and the emergence of terrorist organizations. To illustrate their usefulness, these data are used to examine the relationship between democracy and terrorist group formation. Following several recent studies, the empirical analysis reveals a curvilinear or inverted u-shaped relationship between terrorism and democracy.     

国际恐怖主义犯罪的现状及其发展趋向研究

国际恐怖主义犯罪已成为危害当今世界政治、经济和社会安全的重要而突出的非传统安全因素。在政治多极化、经济全球化、社会信息化的时代背景下,国际恐怖主义犯罪频繁发生,破坏规模增大,覆盖范围更广,并往往与民族和宗教问题交织在一起。正确分析国际恐怖主义犯罪的现状,并研判其发展趋势,将有利于科学制定反恐策略、有效遏制和消除国际恐怖主义犯罪。     

恐怖爆炸仍为世界和平的主要威胁

当前,在恐怖活动当中。恐怖爆炸袭击占主导地位,并呈现不断恶化的趋势,袭击方式主要是自杀式恐怖爆炸,袭击目标转向平民和民用设施,伤亡人数逐年递增。且多为平民和警察。恐怖活动不断向中东、南亚等少数地区集中。恐怖爆炸威胁着世界和平。     

论恐怖主义犯罪的概念

恐怖主义是一种思想体系或思潮,而恐怖主义犯罪是具体的行为。通过对恐怖主义概念的缺失之处分析,认为,所谓恐怖主义,是指个人或组织通过实施一些具有破坏性的行为或手段,以追求对社会和民众造成恐怖气氛和恐惧心理或者重大社会影响的一种思想体系和思潮,而在这种理论体系和思潮指导下实施的犯罪行为,就是恐怖主义犯罪。     

The effects of the second Intifada,terrorist acts,and economic changes on adolescent crime rates in Israel: A research note

Designed as a field quasi-experiment, this study analyzes the differences in Jewish adolescent crime rates before and after the inception of the second Intifada (September, 2000). Data covers the years between 1996 and 2003. The study focused on the relationship between the number of terrorist acts, the number of deaths in these acts, economic changes, and crime rates (murder, manslaughter, assault, mugging and robbery and property-related). The findings of the study were analyzed in terms of current theories on the impact of social and security-related stress on adolescents. The results show that the second Intifada has had significant effects on male adolescent crime rates. In particular, the number of terrorist acts was significantly associated with the following offences: assault, robbery, and manslaughter. No significant differences were found for adolescent female crime rates. Economic changes were significantly negatively related both to male adolescent crime for all the offences studied, as well as to property-related female offences.     

论认定恐怖主义组织之机构模式

从法律依据和认定主体的角度来分类,认定恐怖主义组织的机构模式主要有两种：一是司法认定模式;二是行政认定模式。前者是最基本的认定模式,后者是对前者的有益补充。中国显然采取行政认定模式作为有益的补充。参照外国的先进经验,中国关于恐怖主义组织的行政认定模式需在两个方面加以改进：一是构建严格的认定程序,要体现出认定程序的高法律层次性、详细性、全面性和正当性;二是增加司法审查程序,以保证认定行为的合法性与准确性。     

Exploring the Terrorist Nature of Political Assassinations: A Reinterpretation of the Orsini Attentat

This paper reassesses the suggestion, advanced among others by David George, that the 1858 failed attentat by the Italian patriot Felice Orsini against Napoleon III can be considered as a paradigmatic instance of “terrorist assassination.” Drawing on a new interpretation of the acts of Orsini's trial, the paper argues that Orsini's motivations were to a large degree “idiosyncratic”; however, it also discusses evidence suggesting that the significant collateral damage caused by the attack was, in Orsini's mind, one of the aims of the action and cannot be portrayed as unintended.     

EU's Fight Against Terrorist Finances: Internal Shortcomings and Unsuitable External Models

This article offers an analysis of the European Union's (EU) efforts in the fight against terrorist finances. Following the 9/11 attacks, the EU has adopted the relevant United Nations counterterrorism resolutions as well as the special recommendations of Financial Action Task Force. In addition, the EU has developed its own measures spanning across all of its three pillars. There is, however, a cause for concern that some of these measures have not been properly implemented, while others have been criticized on legal, transparency, legitimacy, and efficiency grounds. These shortcomings are not only due to EU's own internal obstacles, but also result from the EU's uncritical adoption of the prevailing smart sanctions and money-laundering regimes, which are based on a number of unwarranted assumptions that do not reflect the nature of contemporary terrorist threats in Europe.     

The Strength of Weak Terrorist Ties

The current age of technology, mass communication, and globalization makes networks analysis an especially useful tool for understanding cell-based terrorism. Some concepts from traditional networks analysis may be especially relevant. The Strength of Weak Ties hypothesis (SWT) is particularly promising and will be used here to demonstrate the usability of traditional networks analysis for studying modern terrorism. The findings suggest that the strength of weak terrorist ties may improve Al Qaeda's operational capabilities despite the group's decentralization following the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan beginning in 2001.     

Doctrines for Jihadi Terrorist Training

Based on an in-depth review of jihadi discourse on terrorist training and preparation, this article finds considerable differences between leading jihadi theorists on issues such as how training should be defined, its ultimate purpose, and where and how to prepare jihadi fighters. However, they all agree on the importance of training, and that ideological indoctrination and spiritual preparation should take precedence over physical and military training. The preparatory process must produce battle-hardened, martyrdom-seeking fighters, whose primary strength lies in their spiritual determination, their patience, and a willingess to employ savagery against the enemy.