Terrorism Risk Assessment to Children: A Study in Poso

The long history of conflict in Poso, Indonesia, causes the trauma of people living in the area, including children. This study aims to examine the risks and needs of children raised amongst terrorist organizations in Poso. 33 children whose parents were involved in terrorist groups were assessed in this study and analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings show that the average risk is 1.35, which is at low risk. Moreover, they need to be addressed to prevent them from joining terrorist groups. The findings could help educational and counterterrorism practitioners to plan an intervention for children raised within the terrorism movement in Poso.

Donne immigrate, estremismi e radicalizzazione. Tra rischio di vulnerabilità e opportunità di divenire costruttrici di comunità

This paper addresses the complex issue of extremism and radicalization from the perspective of gender difference and, in particular, the female gender. In fact, these issues are mostly associated with the male gender and there are still few studies, especially in the national context, on female forms of radicalization. The first studies and reports at European level highlight an increasing participation of women in terrorist organizations in recent years and the strong presence of forms of discrimination and sexist stereotypes within the organizations themselves. However, sometimes joining a terrorist organization can represent for women, especially initially, a way to feel autonomous and be able to redeem themselves from a situation of pressure, discrimination and violence suffered. Particular attention is devoted to young people and Muslim women because they are more at risk of discrimination and social exclusion and to the role of immigrant mothers as mediators of two cultures and facilitators in the process of social inclusion of younger generations, especially if supported by policies and educational models based on inclusion, recognition of difference as a value, acceptance of the other, dialogue, and respect. In this regard, the contribution presents the results of a research conducted among secondary school students to investigate the dynamics of inclusion among peers and critical issues related to the adolescent period.

Cyber-jihad in the Western Balkans

During the last two decades, the growing threat of Islamic terrorism has raised numerous security challenges for both states and non-state actors. Cyberspace is weaponized by actors who conduct malicious activities, in order to achieve their goals. Terrorist organizations reflect the darker side of cyberspace. Terrorists use cyberspace to collect data, raise funds, conduct propaganda, spread radical ideologies and hate speech as well as for the purposes of radicalization, recruitment and operational planning. Social media platforms provide a fertile ground to extend the radical ideologies, to spread terror and to connect with people who share the same views. ISIS is considered a pioneer in utilizing the benefits that cyberspace offers. The Western Balkans is a region where ISIS is recruiting foreign fighters and lone-wolves. The European Union is the driving force for the activation of Western Balkans in countering cyberterrorism and developing relevant strategies.

Terrorism in the Modern World-System: Towards the Problem of Prospects for Interdisciplinary Research

Introduction. The variety of approaches and topics in the study of terrorism, as well as the obvious difference in axiological grounds for assessing terrorist activity, allows the authors to raise the question of an interdisciplinary study of this problem. The authors understand terrorism as an illegal political confrontation in the struggle for power with the use of violence in order to intimidate or physically eliminate the enemy.Methodology and sources. The methodological basis of the work is the world-system concept of I. Wallerstein. The authors reveal the advantages of the world-system approach by comparing it with the paradigm of political realism in the theory of international relations. They indicate the boundaries of the paradigm of political realism, which operates at the level of the concepts of “States” and “International Coalitions”, while the phenomenon of terrorism includes structures at the level of groups and organizations. The world-systems approach allows researchers to see terrorism as an anti-system movement generated by the contradictions in the development of the system itself, to distinguish between pro-system and anti-system terrorism, to analyze this phenomenon at all societal levels. One of the essential advantages of the world-systems approach is its ability to accumulate different approaches and related disciplines in order to describe the dynamics of modern societies. In their theoretical constructions, the authors rely on the typology of terrorist organizations by O. Lizardo and A. Bergesen, as well as on the concept of waves of terrorism by D. Rapport. The authors conduct a critical analysis of the typology of terrorism by O. Lizardo, A. Bergesen and note that this typology helps to see the structural source (core, semi-periphery, periphery) and the main structural goal of terrorist organizations, but leaves behind such a phenomenon as state terrorism.Results and discussion. The authors describe terrorism in its interrelation with processes in the world system at different societal levels. At the super-macro level, the world-systems conditions for the emergence of waves of terrorist activity are described, and the links between terrorism and the struggle to establish a global order are indicated. At the macro level (the level of political confrontation for the establishment of some form of order within the state), the authors investigate the differences between terrorism in “closed” and “open” societies. They note the connection between bursts of terrorist activity and the transition from a “closed” to an “open” state and vice versa. The authors consider the connection of terrorism with the processes of the peripheralization of societies as a meso-level phenomenon. Such terrorism, as a rule, is local and is inspired by the national liberation slogans of the societies of the internal periphery, the authors note that the struggle with the state here can go for both sovereignty and disputed territories. The authors refer to the meso-level the activities of terrorist organizations aimed at migrants who come from the outer periphery. The authors note that the subject of terrorism research at the micro level is, as a rule, the personality of the terrorist.Conclusion. The use of a world-systems approach to consider terrorism seems promising, and allows researchers to consider structural relations that are not available to other approaches. The authors express the hope that the interdisciplinary capabilities of the world-systems approach, its methodological potential woul be able to form a reliable basis for subsequent studies of terrorism as one of the means of illegitimate political violence in the modern world.

Air Power in the Age of Primacy

Since the end of the Cold War the United States and other major powers have wielded their air forces against much weaker state and non-state actors. In this age of primacy, air wars have been contests between unequals and characterized by asymmetries of power, interest, and technology. This volume examines ten contemporary wars where air power played a major and at times decisive role. Its chapters explore the evolving use of unmanned aircraft against global terrorist organizations as well as more conventional air conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and against ISIS. Air superiority could be assumed in this unique and brief period where the international system was largely absent great power competition. However, the reliable and unchallenged employment of a spectrum of manned and unmanned technologies permitted in the age of primacy may not prove effective in future conflicts.

Dynamic Dimensions of Radicalization and Violent Extremism in Sabah, Malaysia

Malaysia offers a unique lens to evaluate the changing dynamics of radicalization and extremism in Southeast Asia, as the threat of both home-grown and external extremism grows. The country’s geographic location, bordering multiple active centers of violent extremism (the southern Philippines, southern Thailand, and Indonesia), makes it particularly vulnerable to further threats from violent extremism and terrorism, as regional and local violent extremist organizations (VEOs) exploit Malaysian geohistorical contexts and growing grievances related to social and political instability. Threats and risks of violent extremism are especially pronounced and manifest with severe consequences in the Malaysian state of Sabah. This policy note advances a granular review of the dynamics underlying radicalization risk in Sabah, Malaysia, in order to extrapolate an analysis of emerging areas of threat and risk of violent extremism facing Southeast Asia. It offers an opportunity to better understand current and future threats and risks of violent extremism facing Southeast Asia and identifies important trends and recommendations for policymakers and practitioners in mitigating the spread of violent extremism and radicalization to violence in Sabah. The policy note also considers how building local preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) capacity can mitigate Malaysia’s role as a staging area, transit hub, and conduit for the transportation of weapons, operatives, finances, and supporters to other regional and global terrorist organizations.

الاقتصاد العراقي ما بعد عام 2003 التحديات والمعالجات

Iraq faces great challenges, the most important of which are terrorism, economic corruption, and the rentier economy. The countries have disintegrated and collapsed after 2003 after the US occupation and the change of the previous political regime. The Iraqi economy has faced rampant corruption in various economic sectors, economic mafias, and the inability of successive Iraqi governments to address the imbalances in the Iraqi economy, and then terrorist organizations spread. Conflicts, destruction, displacement, and large financial spending on military operations and on fictitious and unproductive projects began since 2003 until Iraq’s victory over terrorism, which destroyed the country and the people, especially the Western regions of Iraq. Accordingly, the start of comprehensive economic reform, while limiting the phenomenon of financial and administrative corruption in the joints of the economic sectors in Iraq, and the reconstruction of cities and areas liberated from terrorist gangs, as well as developing appropriate plans and strategies to enhance the economy’s ability to advance the deteriorating reality and depends mainly on oil revenues. , and this needs to expedite the development of solutions and treatments to advance the economic reality, through diversifying the Iraqi economy in order to increase and diversify exports, reduce imports to provide hard currencies derived from oil revenues, encourage foreign investments in various economic sectors, and build adequate housing for the majority of the Iraqi people who suffer From economic corruption, terrorist operations, and building an economy that depends primarily on local natural and human resources.