Understanding Terrorism in America

Understanding Terrorism in America PDF Author: Christopher Hewitt
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134472269
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
Christopher Hewitt's comprehensive book surveys the characteristics and causes of terrorism and governmental responses to it. He also examines the organizational structure of terrorist networks, how they are financed and their ideological agendas. Groups covered include: Islamic fundamentalists, white and black racists, black nationalists, revolutionary communists, neo-Nazis, militant Jewish groups, anti-abortionists and émigré groups. This book is essential reading for students of American politics and terrorism. It also provides a highly readable account for interested readers wishing to know more about a topic which has recently become tragically relevant to world affairs.

Understanding Terrorism

Understanding Terrorism PDF Author:
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1506385842
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 555

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Book Description


Understanding Terror Networks

Understanding Terror Networks PDF Author: Marc Sageman
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812206797
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
For decades, a new type of terrorism has been quietly gathering ranks in the world. America's ability to remain oblivious to these new movements ended on September 11, 2001. The Islamist fanatics in the global Salafi jihad (the violent, revivalist social movement of which al Qaeda is a part) target the West, but their operations mercilessly slaughter thousands of people of all races and religions throughout the world. Marc Sageman challenges conventional wisdom about terrorism, observing that the key to mounting an effective defense against future attacks is a thorough understanding of the networks that allow these new terrorists to proliferate. Based on intensive study of biographical data on 172 participants in the jihad, Understanding Terror Networks gives us the first social explanation of the global wave of activity. Sageman traces its roots in Egypt, gestation in Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan war, exile in the Sudan, and growth of branches worldwide, including detailed accounts of life within the Hamburg and Montreal cells that planned attacks on the United States. U.S. government strategies to combat the jihad are based on the traditional reasons an individual was thought to turn to terrorism: poverty, trauma, madness, and ignorance. Sageman refutes all these notions, showing that, for the vast majority of the mujahedin, social bonds predated ideological commitment, and it was these social networks that inspired alienated young Muslims to join the jihad. These men, isolated from the rest of society, were transformed into fanatics yearning for martyrdom and eager to kill. The tight bonds of family and friendship, paradoxically enhanced by the tenuous links between the cell groups (making it difficult for authorities to trace connections), contributed to the jihad movement's flexibility and longevity. And although Sageman's systematic analysis highlights the crucial role the networks played in the terrorists' success, he states unequivocally that the level of commitment and choice to embrace violence were entirely their own. Understanding Terror Networks combines Sageman's scrutiny of sources, personal acquaintance with Islamic fundamentalists, deep appreciation of history, and effective application of network theory, modeling, and forensic psychology. Sageman's unique research allows him to go beyond available academic studies, which are light on facts, and journalistic narratives, which are devoid of theory. The result is a profound contribution to our understanding of the perpetrators of 9/11 that has practical implications for the war on terror.

Understanding Terrorism

Understanding Terrorism PDF Author: Fathali M. Moghaddam
Publisher: Amer Psychological Assn
ISBN: 9781591470328
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
This analysis brings the many resources of psychological science and practice to bear on the problem of terrorism by providing empirically-based theory and interventions for understanding, intervening and preventing this challenge to international security. It addresses many of the conceptual and definitional issues associated with terrorism, especially those arising from the complex historical and cultural variations in its meaning, motives and consequences. Terrorism, by definition, attempts to change the psychological state of its targets, so psychologists are well-positioned to cast light on this phenomenon. In this work, international experts offer an analysis of the psychosocial basis of terrorism and suggest ways to prevent it, including both strategies to eliminate the conditions that give rise to terrorism as well as effective ways to treat victims of terrorism.

Understanding Terrorism

Understanding Terrorism PDF Author: James M. Poland
Publisher: Pearson College Division
ISBN: 9780132457767
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
UNDERSTANDING TERRORISM: GROUPS, STRATEGIES, AND RESPONSES, 3/e is fully updated and brings together today's most crucial lessons and discoveries for analyzing terrorism and terrorist strategies, and defining effective countermeasures. It brings together both theory and practice, helping students realistically assess threats; understand terrorist acts and their impact; and examine police and governmental responses. This Third Edition reflects today's latest trends, including an escalation of suicide bombings, increased terrorist sophistication, the decline in state-sponsored terrorism, terrorist resistance in Iraq, and the evolution of antiterrorism legislation. It also presents new coverage of hardening targets, anti-terrorism technology, and international cooperation.

Terrorism in America

Terrorism in America PDF Author: Kevin Borgeson
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning
ISBN: 0763755249
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Using existing fbi data and ethnographic data, this edition compares and contrasts domestic sources of terrorism in the united states to those in other countries, while also discussing efforts by domestic terrorists to form alliances with foreign groups.

Why Terrorism Works

Why Terrorism Works PDF Author: Alan M. Dershowitz
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300145659
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
DIVThe greatest danger facing the world today, says Alan M. Dershowitz, comes from religiously inspired, state sponsored terrorist groups that seek to develop weapons of mass destruction for use against civilian targets. In his newest book, Dershowitz argues passionately and persuasively that global terrorism is a phenomenon largely of our own making and that we must and can take steps to reduce the frequency and severity of terrorist acts. Analyzing recent acts of terrorism and our reaction to them, Dershowitz explains that terrorism is successful when the international community gives in to the demands of terrorists—or even tries to understand and eliminate the “root causes” of terrorism. He discusses extreme approaches to wiping out international terrorism that would work if we were not constrained by legal, moral, and humanitarian considerations. And then, given that we do operate under such constraints, he offers a series of proposals that would effectively reduce the frequency and severity of international terrorism by striking a balance between security and liberty./div

America's Culture of Terrorism

America's Culture of Terrorism PDF Author: Jeffory A. Clymer
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 0807861510
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
Although the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 shocked the world, America has confronted terrorism at home for well over a century. With the invention of dynamite in 1866, Americans began to worry about anonymous acts of mass violence in a way that differed from previous generations' fears of urban riots, slave uprisings, and mob violence. Focusing on the volatile period between the 1886 Haymarket bombing and the 1920 bombing outside J. P. Morgan's Wall Street office, Jeffory Clymer argues that economic and cultural displacements caused by the expansion of industrial capitalism directly influenced evolving ideas about terrorism. In America's Culture of Terrorism, Clymer uncovers the roots of American terrorism and its impact on American identity by exploring the literary works of Henry James, Ida B. Wells, Jack London, Thomas Dixon, and Covington Hall, as well as trial transcripts, media reports, and the cultural rhetoric surrounding terrorist acts of the day. He demonstrates that the rise of mass media and the pressures of the industrial wage-labor economy both fueled the development of terrorism and shaped society's response to it. His analysis not only sheds new light on American literature and culture a century ago but also offers insights into the contemporary understanding of terrorism.

Psychology of Terrorism

Psychology of Terrorism PDF Author: Bruce Michael Bongar
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195172493
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 511

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Book Description
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Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy

Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy PDF Author: Paul R. Pillar
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0815798741
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
The United States government-backed by the overwhelming support of the American public-takes a hard line against international terrorism. The tenets of official U.S. counterterrorist policy are: make no concessions or deals with terrorists; bring them to justice for their crimes; isolate and apply pressure on states that sponsor terrorism; and bolster the counterterrorist capabilities of countries willing to work with the United States. While these tenets are sound principles, their application, specifically overseas, raises difficult questions. Does the "no deal" policy actually deter terrorists acts? Are there cases where agreements might reduce terrorism, while advancing other U.S. interests? Do isolation and pressure really force offending states to alter their support for terrorists? What factors affect the willingness, not just the capability, of foreign governments to help the United States in counterterrorism? In this critical study, a career CIA officer provides a guide to constructing and executing counterterrorist policy, urging that it be formulated as an integral part of broader U.S. foreign policy. In the first four chapters, Paul R. Pillar identifies the necessary elements of counterterrorist policy, he examines why the United States is a prime terrorist target, and he reveals why the counterterrorist policies that seem strongest are not always the most effective. Chapter 5 examines the widely varying nature of terrorist groups and the policy tools most appropriately applied to them. Chapter 6 focuses on states that sponsor terrorism (including Iran, Libya, North Korea, and Cuba), along with those that enable it to occur (particularly Greece and Pakistan). Pillar examines ways in which the American public's perspective toward terrorism can actually constrain counterterrorist policy, and he concludes that terrorism cannot be "defeated" only reduced, attenuated, and to some degree, controlled. The final chapter summarizes his recommendations f