Violent Extremism

Violent Extremism
Author: Caroline Logan
Publisher: UCL Press
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2023-11-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1800081979

Violent extremism has galvanized public fear and attention. Driven by their concerns, the public has pushed for law enforcement and mental health systems to prevent attacks rather than just respond to them after they occur. The prevention process requires guidance for practitioners and policymakers on how best to identify people who may be at risk, to understand and assess the nature and function of the harm they may cause, and to manage them to mitigate or prevent harm. Violent Extremism provides such guidance. Over 10 chapters, prepared by leading experts, this handbook illuminates the nature of violent extremism and the evolution of prevention-driven practice. Authors draw on the literature and their experience to explain which factors might increase (risk factors) or decrease (protective factors) risk, how those factors might operate, and how practitioners can prepare risk formulations and scenario plans that inform risk management strategies to prevent violent extremist harm. Each chapter is crafted to support thoughtful, evidence-based practice that is transparent, accountable and ultimately defensible. Written for an international audience, the volume will be of interest to law enforcement and mental health professionals, criminal justice and security personnel, as well as criminologists, policymakers and researchers. Praise for Violent Extremism ‘In Violent Extremism, Logan, Borum and Gill have assembled the most celebrated scholars and practitioners in anticipating and mitigating violence. This extraordinary accomplishment could transform the future of risk assessment.’ John Monahan, University of Virginia ‘Scholarly, scientific and so very practical, this is the book we have been waiting for. It should be read, and re-read, by every practitioner and researcher working on violent extremism.’ John Horgan, Georgia State University ‘Since the early 2000s, the field of assessing violent extremism risk has developed apace. This landmark text authoritatively takes stock of past and current theory, research and practice, and provides a coherent vision for the future.’ Christopher Dean, Cardiff Metropolitan University

Violent Extremism

Violent Extremism
Author: Caroline Logan
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2021-12-21
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1000523683

This edited book presents international perspectives on the role of mental health problems in understanding and managing the risk of violent extremism. The chapters included in this book address two themes. First, they describe the research findings on the nature and prevalence of the range of mental health problems (psychosis, personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, autism spectrum disorders) in young people and adults who have in the past, committed acts of violence motivated at least in part by extremist ideologies, or who have attempted or threatened such acts, or who for other reasons are thought to be at risk of doing so. Second, the chapters examine what is known about the relationship – or the functional link – between mental health problems and violent extremism. The focus of this book is on clinical practice and understanding the nature of the challenge faced by practitioners and their response to it. It will therefore be of interest to mental health practitioners, service managers and commissioners, and policy makers with a remit to understand and mitigate risk of radicalisation and violent extremism. The chapters in this book were originally published in The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology.

Routledge Handbook of Transnational Terrorism

Routledge Handbook of Transnational Terrorism
Author: Nicolas Stockhammer
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 585
Release: 2023-08-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000903117

This handbook provides contributions by some of the world-leading experts in the field on recent phenomena and trends in transnational terrorism. Based on the methodological approach of a trend-and-key factor analysis of transnational terrorism and processed on the virtual platform "Foresight Strategy Cockpit" (FSC), the volume seeks to examine what potential future variants of transnational terrorism may evolve. Focusing on the latest structural developments in the sphere of politically or religiously motivated violence, the handbook considers the tactical, strategic, and not least the systemic dimension of terrorism. Divided into seven thematic sections, the handbook’s contributions cover a wide range of issues, dealing among others with strategic and hybrid terrorism, the systemic dimension of extremist violence, prevalent actors, counter-narratives, the crime terror-nexus, the role of digitalization and the spiral dynamic between Islamist and right-wing terrorism. The expert contributions provide a condensed overview of current developments, structural linkages and important academic debates centering around transnational salafi-jihadi terrorism, but also right-wing terrorism and counter-terrorism. A key objective of the work is to make the effects of prevention/preemption, (de-) radicalization and (non-) intervention both transparent and assessable. As such, it contributes well-founded strategies, feasible solutions and options for policy-makers and counter-terrorism experts. This volume will be of great interest to students of terrorism and counter-terrorism, political violence and security studies.

Ethics and Terrorism

Ethics and Terrorism
Author: Max Taylor
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2021-11-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000481247

This book provides a unique insight into the ethical issues and dilemmas facing practitioners and researchers of terrorism and counterterrorism. Ethics play a central if, largely, unrecognised role in most, if not all, issues relevant to terrorism and political violence. These are often most noticeable regarding counterterrorism controversies, while often virtually absent from discussions about academic research practice. At a minimum, ethical issues as they relate to terrorism have rarely been explicitly addressed in a direct or comprehensive manner. The chapters in this edited volume draws on the experience of both practitioners and researchers to explore how a regard to ethical issues might influence and determine research and practice in counter terrorism, and in our understanding of terrorism. Ethics and Terrorism recognizes that there are conflicting and often irreconcilable perspectives from which to view terrorism and terrorism research. In calling for greater attention to these issues, the goal is not to resolve problems, but to explore and clarify the assumptions and dilemmas that underpin our understanding of the personal, institutional and societal ethical boundaries and constraints around terrorism and responses to it. This book will be of value to practitioners and researchers, and to policy makers and the broader interested community. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Terrorism and Political Violence.

From Traitor to Zealot

From Traitor to Zealot
Author: Daniel Koehler
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2021-11-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108842941

Explore the world of radicalization through the stories of those who switched between extreme political or religious ideologies.

Terrorist Minds

Terrorist Minds
Author: John Horgan
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2023-12-26
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0231552602

What makes a person want to become a terrorist? Who becomes involved in terrorism, and why? In what ways does participating in violent extremism change someone? And how can people become deradicalized? John Horgan—one of the world’s leading experts on the psychology of terrorism—takes readers on a globe-spanning journey into the terrorist mindset. Drawing on groundbreaking personal interviews as well as decades of research from psychologists and others, he traces the pathways that lead people into violent extremism and explores what happens to them as their involvement deepens. Horgan provides an up-to-date, evidence-based understanding of the patterns, motives, and mentalities of violent extremists from the Islamic State and al-Shabaab to white supremacists and incels. He argues that there is not a straightforward psychological profile of a terrorist, in part because of the great variety of today’s extremists, who are able to attract a more diverse pool of recruits than ever before. But even though there is no one-size-fits-all profile, psychological study can provide crucial insight into why and how people become terrorists. Accessible and nuanced, Terrorist Minds is an essential book for readers interested in what psychology can explain about extremist behavior.

Religious Diversity in Australia

Religious Diversity in Australia
Author: Douglas Ezzy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2024-03-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1350334464

This book documents the structure of religious diversity in Australia and examines this diversity in the context of the law, migration, education, policing, the media and interfaith communities. Focusing on Melbourne and Tasmania, it articulates the benefits and opportunities of diversity, alongside the challenges that confront religious and ethnic minorities, including discrimination and structural inequalities generated by Christian and other forms of privilege. It articulates constructive strategies that are deployed, including encouraging forms of belonging, structured ways of negotiating disagreement and respectful engagement with difference. While scholars across the West are increasingly attuned to the problems and promises of growing religious diversity in a global age, in-depth empirical research on the consequences of that diversity in Australia is lacking. This book provides a rich, well-researched, and timely intervention.

Crimes Committed by Terrorist Groups

Crimes Committed by Terrorist Groups
Author: Mark S. Hamm
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2011
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1437929591

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Examines terrorists¿ involvement in a variety of crimes ranging from motor vehicle violations, immigration fraud, and mfg. illegal firearms to counterfeiting, armed bank robbery, and smuggling weapons of mass destruction. There are 3 parts: (1) Compares the criminality of internat. jihad groups with domestic right-wing groups. (2) Six case studies of crimes includes trial transcripts, official reports, previous scholarship, and interviews with law enforce. officials and former terrorists are used to explore skills that made crimes possible; or events and lack of skill that the prevented crimes. Includes brief bio. of the terrorists along with descriptions of their org., strategies, and plots. (3) Analysis of the themes in closing arguments of the transcripts in Part 2. Illus.

Militant Islam

Militant Islam
Author: Stephen Vertigans
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2008-10-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1134126395

Militant Islam provides a sociological framework for understanding the rise and character of recent Islamic militancy. It takes a systematic approach to the phenomenon and includes analysis of cases from around the world, comparisons with militancy in other religions, and their causes and consequences. The sociological concepts and theories examined in the book include those associated with social closure, social movements, nationalism, risk, fear and ‘de-civilising’. These are applied within three main themes; characteristics of militant Islam, multi-layered causes and the consequences of militancy, in particular Western reactions within the ‘war on terror’. Interrelationships between religious and secular behaviour, ‘terrorism’ and ‘counter-terrorism’, popular support and opposition are explored. Through the examination of examples from across Muslim societies and communities, the analysis challenges the popular tendency to concentrate upon ‘al-Qa’ida’ and the Middle East. This book will be of interest to students of Sociology, Political Science and International Relations, in particular those taking courses on Islam, religion, terrorism, political violence and related regional studies.