The most interesting and important papers on the crisis anthropology and the adjacent areas in October 2020
- “The Islamic State's Pattern of Sexual Violence: Ideology and Institutions, Policies and Practices” by Mara Redlich Revkin, Elisabeth Jean Wood. Journal of Global Security Studies, Published: 02 November 2020
- “Unholy Alliances and their Threat: The Convergence of Terrorism, Organized Crime and Corruption” by Emilio C. Viano. International Annals of Criminology, Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 November 2020
- “Motives Don't Matter? Motive Attribution and Counterterrorism Policy” by Daphna Canetti, Joshua Gubler, Thomas Zeitzoff. Political Psychology, First published: 02 November 2020
- “Family Matters: A Preliminary Framework for Understanding Family Influence on Islamist Radicalization” by Nicolò Scremin. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Published online: 08 Nov 2020
- “Illuminating terror: content analysis of official ISIS English-language videos from 2014 to 2017” by Yuanbo Qi. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, Published online: 10 Nov 2020,
- “Strategic communications: The Pakistan military’s use of social media against terrorism” by Muhammad Khalil Khan, Cornelius B Pratt. Media, War & Conflict, First Published November 17, 2020
- “Counter‐terrorism policies in the Middle East: Why democracy has failed to reduce terrorism in the Middle East and why protecting human rights might be more successful” by Nancy A. Morris, Gary LaFree, Eray Karlidag. Criminology & Public Policy, First published: 17 November 2020
- “The End of the Sahelian Exception: Al-Qaeda and Islamic State Clash in Central Mali” by Edoardo Baldaro &Yida Seydou Diall. The International Spectator, Published online: 18 Nov 2020
- “Governance, Fragility and Insurgency in the Sahel: A Hybrid Political Order in the Making” by Morten Bøås &Francesco Strazzari. The International Spectator, Published online: 18 Nov 2020
- “The Truth Is Out There: The Prevalence of Conspiracy Theory Use by Radical Violent Extremist Organizations” by Gregory J. Rousis, F. Dan Richard & Dong-Yuan Debbie Wang. Terrorism and Political Violence, Published online: 19 Nov 2020
Abstract
The Islamic State (IS), which controlled significant territory in Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2017, engaged in a wide repertoire of violence against civilians living in these areas. Despite extensive media coverage and scholarly attention, the determinants of this pattern of violence remain poorly understood. We argue that, contrary to a widespread assumption that the IS wielded violence indiscriminately, it systematically targeted different social groups with distinct forms of violence, including sexual violence. Our theory focuses on ideology, suggesting it is a necessary element of explanations of patterns of violence on the part of many armed actors. Ideologies, to varying extent, prescribe organizational policies that order or authorize particular forms of violence against specific social groups and institutions that regulate the conditions under which they occur. We find support for our theory in the case of sexual violence by IS by triangulating between several types of qualitative data: official documents; social media data generated by individuals in or near IS-controlled areas; interviews with Syrians and Iraqis who have knowledge of the organization's policies including victims of violence and former IS combatants; and secondary sources including local Arabic-language newspapers. Consistent with our theory, we find that the organization adopted ideologically motivated policies that authorized certain forms of sexual violence, including sexual slavery and child marriage. Forms of violence that violated organizational policies but were nonetheless tolerated by many commanders also occurred and we find evidence of two such practices: gang rape of Yazidi women and forced marriage of Sunni Muslim women.
Keywords:
Abstract
Since the tragedy of September 11, 2001 (9/11) there have been a growing awareness and recognition of the expanding threat presented by the transmutation and convergence of international organized crime and terrorist groups. There is a semantic debate on whether these organizations are “converging” or “transforming.” Regardless, this worrisome development is complicated and progressively difficult to combat and calls for law enforcement, intelligence and military interventions. While the United States and other countries have been dealing with the post-9/11 world of persistent problems like Iraq, Afghanistan, al Qaeda, “Islamic State in Iraq and Syria” (ISIS), Syria, and more, the links between organized crime and terrorism could prolong these challenges and generate further disruptions and menace to global security and development. There are strong operational needs and requirements that bring organized crime and terrorists together for collaboration and even seamless transitions within the same general operation. However, there are substantial hurdles that make a total teamwork between the two groups not so easily achievable. For example, organized crime normally avoids the publicity and the indiscriminate killings often used by terrorists. However, it is clear that the merging of international organized crime and terrorist groups is growing and presents unique challenges and opportunities. This paper examines this ongoing transmutation, convergence and cooperation between transnational organized crime and terrorism, and offers examples and recommendations on how to prevent it and defeat it.
Keywords:
transnational organized crime terrorism convergence divergence interchanges intervention strategies crimen organizado transnacional terrorismo convergencia divergencia intercambios estrategias de intervención criminalité transnationale organisée terrorisme convergence divergence échangeurs stratégies d’intervention 跨国有组织犯罪 恐怖主义 收敛 分歧互换干预策略 الجريمة المنظمة عبر الوطنية الإرهاب التقارب تشعب التبادلات.
Abstract
Across three studies, two experiments, and two different countries (Israel and the United States), we examine how perceptions among members of the public regarding the motives of terrorists' influence support for counterterrorist policy. We find that while perceptions that terrorists are motivated by “hatred” (rather than by a “lack of opportunity”—economic or otherwise) strongly correlate with support for harsher counter‐tactics, and that these perceptions can be changed by providing information from “experts” on the “true” motivations of the outgroup, these changes in perception do not appear to cause change in support for counterterrorism policy. Our findings suggest that among the public, counterterror policy is not as instrumentally driven as much current research assumes.
Abstract
This explorative study presents some theoretical reflections on the influence that family may exert in the context of Islamist radicalization. In doing so, a new preliminary framework consisting of four levels of analysis is introduced and its relevance illustrated using examples from the Palestinian, Indonesian, Chechen and, more broadly, Western context. If sufficiently adaptive, the proposed framework may not only raise the analyst’s awareness of the “bigger picture” in which family’s influence on radicalization should be investigated. It can also serve as a useful analytical model to uncover certain trends and characteristics of family’s attitudes toward terrorism in specific contexts, rendering the framework valuable from both a theoretical and practical analysis.
Abstract
This paper sheds light upon ISIS global-level media operations based on an empirical analysis of 79 official English-language videos using the Braddock and Horgan’s analytical guideline for content analysis. This study results in a quantifiable assessment of videos based on their release dates, language, media centres, duration, musical arrangement, and many other production characteristics, and concludes that ISIS has created a highly sophisticated propaganda apparatus and media operation system with a strong ability to cope with the circumstances and various real-world events that ISIS faces on the ground. Additionally, ISIS’s message contains argumentative moves, and without the knowledge of what these moves are and how they respond to existing dialogues, our understanding of the group’s message in certain dimensions remains partial and incomplete.
Keywords:
Abstract
This study examines the Pakistan military’s strategic use of social media in encouraging and sustaining public support for the ongoing war against terrorism in Pakistan. Its findings indicate that the military used significantly different types of strategic frames in response to a fast-changing, evolving security situation in the country. Framing was used strategically to facilitate public–military and people-to-people engagements. Motivational frames were the most dominant forms of communication used to generate dialogue between the military and the public in the war against terrorism and to enhance public participation in it. This study also indicates that different frames used by Pakistan’s military on social media significantly mediated military engagement with different segments of society during the critical phases of Pakistan’s ongoing war against terrorism.
Abstract
Most quantitative research examining predictors of country‐level terrorism have used worldwide samples which potentially obscures regional or country‐specific effects. This may be especially problematic for regions in which common predictors of political violence differ from what is expected based on worldwide patterns. In this paper we explore the possibility that this situation exists for several key predictors of terrorism in the Middle East since the 1980s. For much of the past thirty years US policy has focused on the promotion of democracy and reduction of state‐based human rights violations in the Middle East, yet very few studies have quantitatively examined the effects of these variables on terrorism among Middle Eastern countries. Using Global Terrorism Data for 18 Middle Eastern countries from 1980 to 2016, we find annual increases in state‐based human rights violations and increasing democratization are both related to increases in terrorist attacks.
Policy Implications
Our results suggest that counter‐terrorism policies that discourage state‐based acts of repression, and foster state‐based legitimacy hold more promise for reducing terrorism than policies that focus on the promotion of democracy in Middle Eastern countries.
Abstract
Until the beginning of 2020, the Sahel was something of an exception with respect to international rivalry between jihadists. This came to an end when violent clashes involving supporters of Al-Qaeda and those affiliated with the Islamic State were recorded in central Mali. The violent escalation that has taken place between Katiba Macina and Islamic State in the Greater Sahara in the inner Niger Delta should be framed as a battle between a dominant power whose position has begun to be contested, and a rising challenger trying to exploit the situation. More specifically, the rise of Islamic State appears directly connected to the material and symbolic crisis of the system of governance established by Katiba Macina in the area under its control. As the result of a process that cuts across various developments in the recent history of Mali, the conflict between the two jihadist movements threatens to unlock a new and more violent phase in Mali’s longstanding crisis.
Abstract
Once a region that rarely featured in debates about global security, the Sahel has become increasingly topical as it confronts the international community with intertwined challenges related to climate variability, poverty, food insecurity, population displacement, transnational crime, contested statehood and jihadist insurgencies. This Special Issue discerns the contours of political orders in the making. After situating the Sahel region in time and space, we focus on the trajectory of regional security dynamics over the past decade, which are marked by two military coups in Mali (2012 and 2020). In addressing state fragility and societal resilience in the context of increasing external intervention and growing international rivalry, we seek to consider broader and deeper transformations that can be neither ignored nor patched up through the framework of the ‘war on terror’ projected onto ‘ungoverned spaces’. Focusing especially on the mobilisation of material and immaterial resources, we apply political economy lenses in combination with a historical sociological approach to shed light on how extra-legal governance plays a crucial role in the deformation, transformation and reformation of political orders.
Abstract
This project examined conspiracy theory use across three types of groups: radical violent extremists (RVE), nonviolent extremists, and moderates. Using the theory of significance quest, or the desire for one’s life to have meaning, the current project determined whether RVE groups were more likely to use conspiracy theories and promote loss of significance in violent passages than the other groups. Using text analysis software, researchers coded passages from six groups—two from each level of extremism—for conspiratorial and/or violent content. RVE groups were significantly more likely than the other groups to use conspiracy theories and promote violence. This pattern held for groups focused on radical Islamic fundamentalism as well as white supremacy groups. The pattern was more complex for loss of significance: in violent passages, Neo-Nazis were significantly more likely than ISIS and Al-Qaida to promote loss of significance. Implications of the findings are discussed.
