Terrorism in Western Europe

Terrorism in Western Europe
Author: Jan Oskar Engene
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2004-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781781008584

This important book examines why terrorism prevails in the otherwise stable and advanced democracies of Western Europe and why some countries have been more severely hit than others. The author maps the trends in internal terrorism in 18 Western European countries since 1950 and explains those trends, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective. He uses a unique data set called TWEED, which covers around 9000 terrorist attacks and records the activities of about 200 terrorist groups over the post-war period. Offering a historical and comparative approach to terrorism, unlike the more usual focus on contemporary threats and developments, this book will appeal to political and social scientists and students, especially those working in comparative politics or on the causes of conflict. Academics interested in European studies and more specifically the conditions and developments of European democracy, and policymakers concerned with the development of the terrorist threat in Europe will also find the book of great interest.

West European Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism

West European Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism
Author: P. Chalk
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 239
Release: 1996-09-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0230374190

The book examines the dynamic of West European terrorism and counter-terrorism as it has evolved since the late 1960s. It assesses past, present and future terrorist trends and analyzes the internal security policies that have been initiated by the member states of the European Union (EU), both singularly and collectively, to combat terrorism in Western Europe. Throughout the book the theme of liberal democratic legitimacy and accountability is stressed, something that is brought particularly to bear on the latest EU internal security provision - the Maastricht Third Pillar.

NATO's Secret Armies

NATO's Secret Armies
Author: Daniele Ganser
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2005-06-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135767858

This fascinating new study shows how the CIA and the British secret service, in collaboration with the military alliance NATO and European military secret services, set up a network of clandestine anti-communist armies in Western Europe after World War II. These secret soldiers were trained on remote islands in the Mediterranean and in unorthodox warfare centres in England and in the United States by the Green Berets and SAS Special Forces. The network was armed with explosives, machine guns and high-tech communication equipment hidden in underground bunkers and secret arms caches in forests and mountain meadows. In some countries the secret army linked up with right-wing terrorist who in a secret war engaged in political manipulation, harrassement of left wing parties, massacres, coup d'états and torture. Codenamed 'Gladio' ('the sword'), the Italian secret army was exposed in 1990 by Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti to the Italian Senate, whereupon the press spoke of "The best kept, and most damaging, political-military secret since World War II" (Observer, 18. November 1990) and observed that "The story seems straight from the pages of a political thriller." (The Times, November 19, 1990). Ever since, so-called 'stay-behind' armies of NATO have also been discovered in France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and Turkey. They were internationally coordinated by the Pentagon and NATO and had their last known meeting in the NATO-linked Allied Clandestine Committee (ACC) in Brussels in October 1990.

The Threat Of Terrorism

The Threat Of Terrorism
Author: Juliet Lodge
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2019-07-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000306364

This book is concerned with terrorism in West European liberal democratic states and with the way in which they react, as a group in the European Community, to international terrorism. It interprets terrorism as a means of attempting to effect political change by the indiscriminate use of violence.

Radicalization in Western Europe

Radicalization in Western Europe
Author: Carolin Görzig
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2014-09-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317812662

Employing a theoretical framework based on the concept of identity loss, this book seeks to understand why increased integration has stimulated greater radicalization among the Muslim populations in Western Europe. Through extensive field research in four European countries – the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and France – the authors investigate three key questions: 1) Why are 2nd and 3rd generations of Muslims in Europe more radical than their parents?; 2) Why does Europe experience more "home-grown terrorism" today than thirty or forty years ago?; 3) Why do some European countries feature more radical Muslim communities than others? The book reveals that these three puzzling questions can be solved when analyzing the loss of individuality if the face of integration and identification with European society. While Individualist and structural approaches fail to explain radicalization of Muslims in Europe, this study, by framing radicalization through coupling the public discourse with identity loss, provides a much needed insight into the process of radicalization. Explaining radicalization and gaining an understanding of the drivers of radicalization is crucial to prevent and mitigate intercultural alienation, to further develop immigration policies, redress integration failures as well as to avoid dangerous oversimplifications. This book contributes not only to understanding why greater integration is matched by increasing radicalization, but its insights also contribute to developing ideas about how radicalization can be prevented or overcome and integration policies can be enhanced. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism and counter-terrorism, radical Islam, war and conflict studies, European politics, IR and security studies.

Terrorism in Europe (RLE: Terrorism & Insurgency)

Terrorism in Europe (RLE: Terrorism & Insurgency)
Author: Yonah Alexander
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2015-04-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317449320

This study places terrorist acts in Europe in their historical perspective by examining terrorist and anarchist movements in late nineteenth century Europe. The political and legal aspects of modern terrorism are discussed in detail and the themes and variation in political terrorism are examined fully. In addition, selected case studies of contemporary terrorist movements are considered in the context of the political tradition of the particular country. A comprehensive picture of European terrorism, in its historical and more contemporary ideological and political aspects emerges from this work.

The Politics of Counterterrorism in Western Europe

The Politics of Counterterrorism in Western Europe
Author: Tracy Ann Higgins
Publisher:
Total Pages: 200
Release: 1994
Genre: Europe
ISBN:

European nations, the victims of left and right wing, separatist, and transnational terrorism, share a desire to deter terrorist violence within their own borders. This provides an incentive to develop effective domestic counterterrorist policies as well as to corrdinate counterterrorism programs among European nations in order to be more effective in the prevention of terrorist violence. Some attempts have been made to improve police and judicial cooperation both within the EU and internationally, and this has had a positive effect on counterterrorism operations. However progress in the area of counterterrorism strategy in Europe continues to be unsatisfactory as it is still the source of internal policy battles and many diplomatic disputes.

The European Union's fight against terrorism

The European Union's fight against terrorism
Author: Christopher Baker-Beall
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2016-07-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1526100827

This book examines the language of the European Union's response to the threat of terrorism. Since its re-emergence in the wake of the September 11 attacks, the 'fight against terrorism' has come to represent a priority area of action for the EU. Drawing on interpretive approaches to international relations, the book outlines a discourse theory of identity and counter-terrorism policy, showing how the 'fight against terrorism' structures the EU's response through the prism of identity, drawing our attention to the various 'others' that have come to form the target of counter-terrorism policy. Through an extensive analysis of the wider societal impact of the 'fight against terrorism' discourse, the various ways in which this policy is contributing to the 'securitisation' of social and political life within Europe are revealed.

Imagining Far-right Terrorism

Imagining Far-right Terrorism
Author: Josefin Graef
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2022-02-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 1000534995

Imagining Far-right Terrorism explores far-right terrorism as an object of the narrative imagination in contemporary Western Europe. Western European societies are generally reluctant to think of far-right and racist violence as terrorism, but the reasons for this remain little understood. This book focuses on the extraordinarily complex case of the National Socialist Underground (NSU) in Germany, and high-profile instances of racist violence in Sweden and Norway. The author analyses the narratives surrounding far-right and racist violence, drawing on a broad range of empirical sources. Her account attributes the limits of imagining violence as far-right terrorism to elite practices of narrative control that maintain positive images of the liberal-democratic order in counterpoint to its two constitutive "others" – the far-right and racialised minorities. Situated broadly within the scholarly tradition of critical terrorism studies, the book breaks new ground in research on far-right terrorism by following its narrative traces across time, public spaces of contestation, and national borders. It also draws on material and findings originally written in German, Swedish, and Norwegian, which were previously not available in English. This much-needed volume will be of particular interest to students and researchers of terrorism and political violence, right-wing extremism, European politics, and communication studies.

A Transnational History of Right-Wing Terrorism

A Transnational History of Right-Wing Terrorism
Author: Johannes Dafinger
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2022-03-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000548279

A Transnational History of Right-Wing Terrorism offers new insights into the history of right-wing extremism and violence in Europe, East and West, from 1900 until the present day. It is the first book to take such a broad historical approach to the topic. The book explores the transnational dimension of right-wing terrorism; networks of right-wing extremists across borders, including in exile; the trading of arms; the connection between right-wing terrorism and other forms of far-right political violence; as well as the role of supportive elements among fellow travelers, the state security apparatus, and political elites. It also examines various forms of organizational and ideological interconnectedness and what inspires right-wing terrorism. In addition to several empirical chapters on prewar extreme-right political violence, the book features extensive coverage of postwar right-wing terrorism including the recent resurgence in attacks. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of right-wing extremism, fascism, Nazism, terrorism, and political violence.