Terrorism Studies Commons^™

Do "Suicide Bombers" Really Commit Suicide?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

By Israel Oron (Ostre), Ph.D., Psychologist, National Program for Suicide Prevention, Ministry of Health, Israel, and The Department for Psychology, Health and Ethics/ University of Haifa, Israel.

[Dr. Oron (Ostre) was formerly Psychologist, Behavior Section/The Department of Criminal Investigations & Intelligence, Israel Police HQ].

This article applies a psychological approach to explore and to explain the behavior of Palestinian terrorists who blow themselves up in the light of their own words. It is shown that terrorists have no suicidal intent; hence, their behavior is not an act of suicide. Psychological analysis point to a behavioral reaction to stress situations that …

Delegitimizing Al-Qaeda: A Jihad-Realist Approach, Paul Kamolnick

ETSU Authors Bookshelf

Disrupting, dismantling, and ultimately defeating al-Qaeda based and inspired terrorism is a declared policy of the U.S. Government. Three key strategic objectives have been identified for accomplishing this: attacking al-Qaeda’s terror network, undermining radicalization and recruitment, and hardening homeland defense. The present monograph proposes a distinct "jihad-realist" approach for undermining radicalization and recruitment to al-Qaeda. First, a brief discussion of six means for ending terrorist organizations is provided. Second, the premises of a jihad-realist approach are described. Third, a jihad-realist shari’a case against al-Qaeda’s terrorism is presented. In conclusion, key assertions are summarized, and several specific policy recommendations offered for …

Transnational Armed Conflict: A “Principled” Approach To The Regulation Of Counter-Terror Combat Operations, Geoffery S. Corn, Eric Talbot Jensen

Faculty Scholarship

Transnational armed conflicts have become a reality. The increasing sophistication of terrorist organizations, their increasingly transnational nature, and their development of military strike capabilities, push and will continue to push States to resort to combat power as a means to defend against this threat. Relying on the factual fiction that the acts of such terrorists must be attributable to the States from which they launch their operations, or on the legal fiction that the use of military combat power to respond to such threats is in reality just extraterritorial law enforcement, fails to acknowledge the essential nature of such operations. …

FaçAde: The Utilization Of Cultural Agents By Non-State Actors To Mobilize Target Populations, Areej Omar Qasqas

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis introduces a theoretical model explaining non-state actors' use of cultural agents to mobilize target population. It is this thesis of this study that non-state actors utilize such cultural symbols to mobilize target population into a collective action movement. The methodology used in this thesis project is a case study approach. The case study focuses on Al Qaeda and its use of the cultural symbol of Palestine.

An Analysis Of Factors Affecting The Effective Use Of Knowledge Management In Counter Improvised Explosive Device (C-Ied) Operations, Umit Gencer, Rafael E. Landaeta, Resit Unal, C. Ariel Pinto, Gokay Sursal

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Improvised Explosive Device (IED) is a weapon of choice and is likely to remain a major component of the Global War on Terrorism. It is critical that gaps in knowledge transfer are quickly addressed in order to more effectively equip personnel to counter IED (C-IED) threat. Therefore, the military must analyze the current Knowledge Management (KM) programs in C-IED arena in order to maximize transfer of knowledge derived from experience and skill to staffs and finally to commanders. This study investigates the factors that influence effective use of KM in C-IED operations in the military. The study suggests that effective …

Identifying Factors That Influence Terrorist Decisions And Target Selection, Barry C. Ezell, Joshua Behr, Andrew Collins

VMASC Publications

Currently, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) elicits probabilistic judgements from the intelligence community on actions terrorists may take to attack the continental U.S. For example, how likely is the adversary to choose agent 'x' over 'y' or target 'a' over target 'b'? Eliciting these types of judgements is difficult and time consuming. The National Academies and others have suggested that a better approach may be to elicit information on adversary's preferences, perceptions, and capabilities and use this information to calculate probabilities of interest to DHS. Some terrorist groups are thinking about using weapons of mass destruction (WMD), each …

Carlos Figueroa On State Power And Democracy: Before And During The Presidency Of George W. Bush. By Andrew Kolin. New York, Ny: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. 251pp., Carlos Figueroa

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

State Power and Democracy: Before and During the Presidency of George W. Bush. By Andrew Kolin. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. 251pp.