Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:21:55.108Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2.5 - Terrorism Research

Current Issues and Debates

from Part II - Psychology and Criminal Behaviour

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2021

Jennifer M. Brown
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
Miranda A. H. Horvath
Affiliation:
University of Suffolk
Get access

Summary

This chapter sets out the field of terrorism studies and reviews the main issues and research directions that characterise the field today. The history of the discipline is summarised and terrorism and its ‘near neighbour’ hate crime are defined and compared before turning to the developments that have dominated the research agenda over the last ten years.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ackerman, G.A., & Asal, V. (2011). Understanding and combating mass casualty terrorism. National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, University of Maryland.Google Scholar
Ackerman, G.A., & Halverson, J. (2016). Attacking nuclear facilities: Hype or genuine threat? Nuclear Terrorism, 111–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ackerman, G.A., & Snyder, L. (2002). Would they if they could? Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ackerman, G.A. & Pinson, L.E. (2014). An army of one: Assessing CBRN pursuit and use by lone wolves and autonomous cells, Terrorism and Political Violence, 26 (1), 226245.Google Scholar
Ackerman, G.A. (2018). Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) terrorism. In Routledge Handbook of Terrorism and Counterterrorism (pp. 240252). Routledge.Google Scholar
Akhmedova, K., & Speckhart, A. (2006). A multi-causal analysis of the genesis of suicide terrorism. In Victoroff, J. (Ed.), Tangled roots: social and psychological factors in the genesis of terrorism. IOS Press.Google Scholar
Ali, F. (2008, July 9–12). From mothers to martyrs. Paper presented at the 31st Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, Paris.Google Scholar
Alonso, R. (2006). Individual motivations for joining terrorist organizations: A comparative qualitative study on members of ETA and IRA. In Victoroff, J., (Ed.), Tangled roots: Social and psychological factors in the genesis of terrorism. IOS Press.Google Scholar
Arnold, G. (2013). Extra-judicial targeted killing. International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 27(3), 319323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asal, V., & Blum, A., (2005). Holy terror and mass killings? Reexamining the motivations and methods of mass casualty terrorists, International Studies Review, 7(1), 153155.Google Scholar
Asal, V.H., Ackerman, G.A., & Rethemeyer, R.K. (2012). Connections can be toxic: Terrorist organizational factors and the pursuit of CBRN weapons, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 35(3), 229254.Google Scholar
Atran, S. (2003). The genesis of suicide terrorism. Science, 299, 15341539.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beck, C.J., & Miner, E., (2013). Who gets designated a terrorist and why? Social Forces, 9(13), 837872.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bjørgo, T., & Horgan, J. (Eds.). (2008). Leaving terrorism behind: Individual and collective disengagement. Routledge.Google Scholar
Boddie, C., Watson, M., Ackerman, G. &Gronvall, G.K. (2015). Assessing the bioweapons threat. Science.Google Scholar
Borum, R. (2004). Psychology of terrorism. University of South Florida.Google Scholar
Bradford, E., & Wilson, M.A. (2013). When terrorists target schools: an exploratory analysis of attacks on educational institutions. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 28, 127138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradford, E.J., & Wilson, M. A. (2015). Tactical targeting: a theoretical perspective of terrorist attacks on schools. In Stedmon, A. & Lawson, G. (Eds.), Hostile intent and counter-terrorism: human factors theory and application (pp. 233244). CRC Press.Google Scholar
Breiger, R.L., Schoona, E., Melamedb, D., Asal, V., & Rethemeyer, R.K. (2014). Comparative configurational analysis as a two-mode network problem: A study of terrorist group engagement in the drug trade. Social Networks, 36, 2339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corner, E., & Gill, P. (2015). A false dichotomy? Mental illness and lone actor terrorism. Law and Human Behavior, 39, 2334.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corner, E., Bouhana, N., & Gill, P. (2018). The ultifinality of vulnerability indicators in lone actor terrorism. Psychology, Crime and Law, 25(2), 111132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crenshaw, M. (2006) Have motivations for terrorism changed? In Victoroff, J., (Ed.), Tangled roots: Social and psychological factors in the genesis of terrorism. IOS Press.Google Scholar
Crenshaw, M., Dahl, E., & Wilson, M. (2017). Comparing failed, foiled, completed and successful terrorist attacks: Final Report Year 5. Report to the Office of University Programs, Science and Technology Directorate, US Department of Homeland Security. START.Google Scholar
Dunbar, E. (2003). Symbolic, relational, and ideological signifiers of bias-motivated perpetrators: Toward a strategy of assessment. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 73, 203211.Google Scholar
Dunbar, E., Quinones, J., & Crevecoeur, D.A. (2005). Assessment of hate crime perpetrators: The role of bias intent in examining violence risk. Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, 3, 119.Google Scholar
Dunne, M., Purdie, D., Cook, M., Boyle, F., & Najman, J. (2003). Is child sexual abuse declining? Evidence from a population-based survey of men and women in Australia. Child Abuse Neglect, 27(2), 141152.Google Scholar
Enders, W., & Sandler, T. (2006). The political economy of terrorism. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
EUCPN. (2019). European Crime Prevention Monitor 2019/1: Radicalisation and violent extremism. European Crime Prevention Network.Google Scholar
Gill, P., Horgan, J., Samuel, T., & Cushenbery, L. (2013). Malevolent creativity in terrorist organisations. Journal of Creative Behavior, 447(2), 125151.Google Scholar
Gill, P., Lee, J., Rethemeyer, K.R., Horgan, J., & Asal, V. (2014a). Lethal connections: the determinants of network connections in the provisional Irish Republican Army, 1970–1998. International Interactions, 40, 5278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gill, P., Horgan, J. & Deckert, P. (2014b). Bombing alone: tracing the motivations and antecedent behaviors of lone-actor terrorists. Journal Forensic Science, 59(2).Google Scholar
Greenberg, M.D., Chalk, P., & Willis, H.H. (2006). Maritime terrorism: risk & liability. RAND.Google Scholar
Gregory, T. (2015). Drones, targeted killings, and the limitations of international law. International Political Sociology, 9, 197212.Google Scholar
Hafez, M., & Mullins, C. (2015). The radicalization puzzle: a theoretical synthesis of empirical approaches to homegrown extremism. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 38, 958975.Google Scholar
Hall, N. (2013). Hate crime. Routledge.Google Scholar
Hanes, E., & Machin, S. (2014). Hate crime in the wake of terror attacks: evidence from 7/7 and 9/11. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 30(3), 247267.Google Scholar
Hasisi, B. (2012). Ethnic profiling in airport screening: lessons from Israel, 1968–2010. American Law and Economics Review, 14(2), 517560.Google Scholar
Hayes, R.E., & Schiller, T. (1983). The impact of government activity on the frequency, type and targets of terrorist group activity: the Italian experience, 1968–1982. Defense Systems.Google Scholar
Hayes, R.E. (1991). Negotiations with terrorists. In Kremenyuk, V.A. (Ed.), International negotiation: analysis, approaches, issues. Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Hegghammer, T., & Nesser, P. (2015). Assessing the Islamic State’s commitment to attacking the West. Perspectives on Terrorism, 9(4), 1430.Google Scholar
Hoffman, A. (2010). Voice and silence: Why groups take credit for acts of terror. Journal of Peace Research, 47(5), 615626.Google Scholar
Hoffman, B., (1997). Why terrorists don’t claim credit. Terrorism and Political Violence, 9(1), 16.Google Scholar
Horgan, J. (2003) The search for the terrorist personality. In Silke, A. (Ed.), Terrorist, victims and society: psychological perspectives on terrorism and its consequences. John Wiley.Google Scholar
Horgan, J. (2005). The psychology of terrorism. Routledge.Google Scholar
Horgan, J. (2009). Walking away from terrorism: accounts of disengagement from radical and extremist movements. Routledge.Google Scholar
Jackle, S., & Konig, P.D. (2017). The dark side of the German “welcome culture”: investigating the causes behind attacks on refugees in 2015. Western European Politics, 40(2), 223251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, B.A., Chan, E.W., & LaTourrette, T. (2012). Assessing the security benefits of a trusted traveler program in the presence of attempted attacker exploitation and compromise. Journal of Transportation Security, 5(1), 134.Google Scholar
Jacobson, D., & Kaplan, E.H. (2007). Suicide bombings and targeted killings in (counter-) terror games. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 51(5), 772792.Google Scholar
Jenkins, B.M. (1987). The future course of international terrorism. In Wilkinson, P & Stewart, A. M. (Eds.), Contemporary research on terrorism. Aberdeen University Press.Google Scholar
Jenkins, B.M., Johnston, J., & Ronfeldt, D. (1977). Numbered lives: Some statistical observations from 77 international hostage episodes. RAND Corporation.Google Scholar
Jensen, M., Yates, E., & Kane, S. (2020). Characteristics and targets of mass casualty hate crime offenders. Report to the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice. https://start.umd.edu/pubs/START_BIAS_MassCasualtyHateCrimeOffenders_Nov2020.pdfGoogle Scholar
Jolliffe, D., & Farrington, D. (2019). The criminal careers of those imprisoned for hate crime in the UK. European Journal of Criminology. Online first. https://doi-org.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/10.1177/1477370819839598Google Scholar
Joubert, L. (2013). The extent of maritime terrorism and piracy: A comparative analysis. Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies, 41(1), 111137.Google Scholar
Kaplan, E., Mintz, A., Mishal, S., & Samban, C. (2005). What happened to suicide bombings in Israel? Insights from a terror stock model. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 3, 225235.Google Scholar
Kaplan, E.H., Mintz, A., & Mishal, S. (2006). Tactical prevention of suicide bombings in Israel. Interfaces, 36(6), 553561.Google Scholar
Kearns, E. (2019). When to take credit for terrorism? A cross-national examination of claims and attributions. Terrorism and Political Violence. Online first. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2018.1540982Google Scholar
Kearns, E., Conlon, B., & Young, J. (2014). Lying about terrorism. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 37(5), 422439.Google Scholar
Kretzmer, D. (2005). Targeted killing of suspected terrorists: extra-judicial executions or legitimate means of defence? The European Journal of International Law, 16( 2), 171212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krueger, A.B., & Maleckova, J. (2006). Education, poverty and terrorism: Is there a causal connection? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 17, 119144.Google Scholar
Kruglanski, A. W. (2006). The psychology of terrorism: “syndrome” versus “tool” perspectives. In Victoroff, J. (Ed.), Tangled roots: Social and psychological factors in the genesis of terrorism. IOS Press.Google Scholar
Kydd, A.H., & Walter, B.F. (2006). The strategies of terrorism. International Security, 31(1), 4979.Google Scholar
Lemanski, L., & Wilson, M.A. (2016). Targeting strategies in single issue bomb attacks. Security Journal, 29, 5371.Google Scholar
Lum, C., Kennedy, L., & Sherley, A. (2005). Knowledge claims and the study of terrorism. In Victoroff, J. (Ed.), Tangled roots: Social and psychological factors in the genesis of terrorism. IOS Press.Google Scholar
Lumsden, K., Goode, J., & Black, A. (2019). “I will not be thrown out of the country because i’m an immigrant”: Eastern European migrants’ responses to hate crime in a semi-rural context in the wake of Brexit. Sociological Research Online, 24(2), 167184.Google Scholar
Marsden, S.V. (2017). Reintegrating extremists: deradicalization and desistence. Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, P. (2019). The rules of security: staying safe in a risky world. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McCauley, C.R. (2006). Jujitsu politics: terrorism and response to terrorism. In Kimmel, P. R. & Stout, C. E. (Eds.), Collateral damage: the psychological consequences of America’s war on terrorism (pp. 4565). Praeger.Google Scholar
McCauley, C.R. (2008, July 9–12). Models and Measures of Political Radicalization. Paper presented at the 31st Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, Paris France.Google Scholar
McCauley, C.R. (2018). Explaining homegrown Western jihadists: the importance of Western foreign policy, 2018. International Journal of Conflict and Violence, 12, 110.Google Scholar
McCauley, C.R., & Moskalenko, S. (2008). Mechanisms of political radicalization: Pathways toward terrorism. Terrorism and Political Violence, 20, 405433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCauley, C.R., & Moskalenko, S. (2017). Understanding Political radicalization: the two-pyramids model. American Psychologist, 72(3), 205216.Google Scholar
McDevitt, J., Levin, J., & Bennett, S. (2002). Hate crime perpetrators: an expanded typology. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 303317.Google Scholar
Mills, C.E., Freilich, J.D., & Chermak, S.M. (2017). Extreme hatred: revisiting the hate crime and terrorism relationship to determine whether they are “close cousins” or “distant relatives.” Crime & Delinquency, 63(10), 11911223.Google Scholar
Mullen, B., Montague, M., Corry, M., Murphy, M., & Monyneaux, Z. (2007, September 27–30). Societal and personal reactions to terrorism: the Ulster experience. Paper presented at Interdisciplinary Analyses of Aggression and Terrorism, Madrid, Spain.Google Scholar
Nayan, N., Sahu, S.S., & Kumar, S. (2019). Detecting anomalous crowd behavior using correlation analysis of optical flow. Signal, Image and Video Processing, 13, 12331241.Google Scholar
Nehlsen, I., Biene, J., Coester, M., Greuel, F., Milbradt, B., Armborst, A., & Armborst, A. (2020). Evident and effective? The challenges, potentials and limitations of evaluation research on preventing violent extremism. International Journal of Conflict and Violence, 14(2), 120.Google Scholar
Nie, X. (2011) Risk-based grouping for checked baggage screening systems. Reliability Engineering Safety, 96(11), 14991506.Google Scholar
Pape, R.A. (2005). Dying to win. Random House.Google Scholar
Rae, J. (2012) Will it ever be possible to profile the terrorist? Journal of Terrorism Research, 3(2), 6474.Google Scholar
Rapoport, D. (1997). To claim or not to claim; that is the question – always! Terrorism and Political Violence, 9(1), 1117.Google Scholar
Sageman, M. (2004). Understanding terror networks. University of. Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Sageman, M. (2008). Leaderless jihad: terror networks in the twenty-first century. University of. Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Schmid, A. P. (1993). Defining terrorism: the response problem as a definition problem. In Schmid, A. P. & Crelinsten, R. D. (Eds.), Western responses to terrorism. Frank Cass.Google Scholar
Schmid, A. P. (2000). Terrorism and the use of weapons of mass destruction: From where the risk? In Taylor, M. & Horgan, J. (Eds.), The future of terrorism. Frank Cass.Google Scholar
Schuurman, B., Bakker, E., Gill, P., & Bouhana, N. (2018). Lone actor terrorist attack planning and preparation: a data‐driven analysis. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 63(4), 11911200.Google Scholar
Silke, A. (2003). Becoming a terrorist. In Silke, A. (Ed.), Terrorist, victims and society: psychological perspectives on terrorism and its consequences. John Wiley.Google Scholar
Stohl, M. (2006). Knowledge claims and the study of terrorism. In Victoroff, J. (Ed.), Tangled roots: Social and psychological factors in the genesis of terrorism. IOS Press.Google Scholar
Tsung-Yuan, T., Yeou-Ren, S., Ke-Chih, N., Shih, W.L., & Wei-Ming, C. (2009). Using new attribute construction to incorporate the expertise of human experts into a smuggling vessels classification system. Expert Systems with Applications, 36, 77737777.Google Scholar
Van Boven, L., & Slovic, P. (2018). The psychological trick behind Trump’s misleading terror statistics. Politico. www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/28/trump-administration-terror-statistics-216541Google Scholar
Wai-Kong, L., Chun-Farn, L., Weng-Kin, L., Lee-Kien, L., & Thiah-Huat, Y. (2018). ArchCam: Real time expert system for suspicious behaviour detection in ATM site. Expert Systems With Applications, 109, 1224.Google Scholar
Wilson, . (in preparation). CBRN terrorism. In Biggins, P. & Chana, D. (Eds.), CBRNE in an uncertain world. Springer.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.A., & Lemanski, L. (2010). The forensic psychology of terrorism. In Adler, J. & Gray, J. (Eds.), Forensic psychology: concepts, debates and practice (2nd ed.). Willan.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.A., & Lemanski, L. (2013, April). Apparent intended lethality: toward a model of intent to harm in terrorist bomb attacks. Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict: Pathways Toward Terrorism and Genocide, 1–21.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.A., Bradford, E., & Lemanski, L. (2013). The role of group processes in terrorism. In Wood, J. & Gannon, T. (Eds.), Crime and crime reduction: The importance of group processes (pp. 99117). Routledge.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×