Selected Recent Staff Publications
Dr Javier Argomaniz
Dr Mark Currie
Dr Caoimhe nic Dháibhéid
Professor Richard English
Dr Robert Lambert
Dr Peter Lehr
Professor Louise Richardson
Dr Rashmi Singh
Dr Tim Wilson
Other Publications
Full details on each staff members publications can be found on their individual staff profile page.
Review
'A much-needed critical analysis of the evolution of the EU's counter-terrorism role. The author helps the reader to understand the reasons for the fragmentation and sectorialisation which have been obstacles to the effectiveness of the counter-terrorism policies of the Union in tackling transnational terrorism.' - Paul Wilkinson, University of St Andrews
'This book provides a unique insight into the European Union’s multi-dimensional response to the post-9/11 terrorist challenges: It brings out with rare lucidity the specific institutional and consistency challenges of the Union in a field still dominated by Member States’ national security policies.' Prof. Dr. Dr. Jörg Monar, Director of Political and Administrative Studies, College of Europe
Description
This book offers a theoretically informed analysis of how coherently the European Union fights terrorism in the post-9/11 era.
Few studies have looked at how the European Union has transformed into a relevant international anti-terrorist actor. Yet, as a reaction to the terrorist attacks in New York, Madrid and London, the European Union has become increasingly active in the field of counter-terrorism. It has acted to coordinate member states’ policies, to harmonise national legislation, and even to support operational work conducted by national authorities. The EU’s reaction to the threat of transnational terrorism has been complex and multidimensional, ranging from the exchange of information between police and intelligence agencies to judicial cooperation, and from infrastructure protection to the fight against terrorist recruitment and financing. This book offers a comprehensive empirical account of the polity, policy and politics of EU counter-terrorism, based on an analysis of academic literature, official documents, and about fifty interviews with policy-makers, experts and practitioners carried out at EU institutions (i.e. Commission, Council, Eurojust, Europol), Permanent Representations of the EU Member States and national capitals.
This book will be of much interest to students of counter-terrorism, EU politics, security studies and IR in general.
Description
In the decade following the Good Friday Agreement (1998), dissident Irish Republicanism has survived as an ideology, a form of politics, and violent action.
This collection of essays by researchers and experts on the Northern Ireland conflict aims to explore the political and psychological context to the current rise of violence by dissident Irish Republicans and the danger dissident activities present to the peace process.
Dissident Irish Republicanism looks at why and how people become dissidents Republicans, the patterns of mobilization and recruitment of violent dissidents, the threat they represent, the evolution of the Real and Continuity IRAs. Together, the chapters provide coherent a perspective on how republican ideology has expressed itself, psychologically and politically, and is continuing to do so.
This unique contribution establishes what is dissident republicanism, how it is evolving, and looks at its possible future. It will be an essential resource for anyone studying Northern Ireland politics, conflict processes, as well as groups that remain outside of peace agreements.
Reviews
"The IRA in one form or another is the oldest terrorist group the modern age has ever known, conducting campaigns for nearly a century. Has the Good Friday Agreement really ended the IRA’s career or just created another temporary peace? Max Taylor and P. M. Currie’s Dissident Irish Republicanism is an unusual fascinating very important and illuminating collection of essays which examines the strengths and weaknesses of all recent IRA offshoots dedicated to reviving the struggle to put the entire island under one government. The authors recognize that the issues raised here are relevant to understanding terrorist activity elsewhere and have begun a significant effort to see what the connections are, an effort which will help us all understand terrorism better wherever it occurs." -David Rapoport, Founding and CoEditor, Journal of Terrorism and Political Violence.
“This timely volume breaks new ground in our understanding of the evolution of terrorist organizations. Political compromises that end conflicts often lead to splinter groups that reject them. We must understand these violent dissidents to prevent them from sabotaging fair peace processes. This book is essential reading for anyone trying to bring an end terrorist violence.” -Marc Sageman, Senior Fellow, Center on Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism, and Homeland Security, Foreign Policy Research Institute
"This book offers an extremely timely analysis of a key aspect of the new politics of Northern Ireland: the persistence of a ‘dissident’ republicanism that rejects the terms of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 and insists on the legitimacy of continued violence. In contributions of uniformly high quality by leading scholars it brings together new research into the backgrounds, motivations and tactics of dissident activists and cool, objective and dispassionate analysis of the place of dissident republicanism within the new political conjuncture. It is essential reading for specialists and students of Northern Ireland and for comparativists in the field of peace and conflict studies." -Joseph Ruane, University College Cork, Ireland.
This book critically examines the republican career of one of Ireland's more controversial political figures, Sean MacBride (1904-1988), focusing on his subversive activities prior to his reinvention as a constitutional politician. MacBride, a Nobel and Lenin prize-winning humanitarian, was a youthful participant in the Irish Revolution of 1916-1923. He was an active member of the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence, and found himself on the losing side of the 1922-23 Civil War. Rising through the ranks of the depleted and demoralised post-revolutionary republican movement, MacBride occupied a leadership position in the Irish Republican Army for fifteen years, bridging the difficult formative years of the Irish Free State to the ascent of de Valera and Fianna Fail. Leaving behind an active part in the republican movement in 1938, MacBride moved into legal circles, carving out a successful career at the Irish Bar through the years of the Emergency, while maintaining links with both the IRA the German legation in Dublin. As well as providing the first scholarly assessment of MacBride's political career within the Irish republican movement, this book offers wider reflections on the transition from violent republicanism to constitutional politics. The book also analyses internal tensions and strategic shifts within the Irish republican community in the post-revolutionary period, in particular the oscillations between politics and militarism, and considers the political, ideological and moral challenges that the Second World War presented to Irish political culture.
Reviews
'elegantly written and penetrating...quietly subversive...What emerges is distinctly new....Nic Dhábhéid has amplified the picture by dedicated sleuthing in the Bureau of Military History witness statements and various government papers, as well as by an approach that is fair-minded if on occasion astringent.' Roy Foster, The Irish Times, 20 August 2011
'[a] fine, forensic book...throws fascinating light on MacBride's formative years', Dermot Bolger, The Sunday Business Post, 16 October 2011
Radicals and the Republic: Socialist Republicanism in the Irish Free State 1925-1937 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994)
'erudite and lucid ... an excellent scholarly study' Political Studies
'definitive study of socialist republicanism ... fine piece of research' Irish Political Studies
'an extremely well-researched work ... necessary reading matter for all students of republican politics in this period' Irish Historical Studies
'This well-researched book is consistently moving and often wise. As the people of Ireland come to terms with overlapping identities, they will have much to learn from it' Times Literary Supplement
'innovative and perceptive ... a fascinating thematic study' London Review of Books
'an attractive and stimulating book which makes excellent use of publicly and privately held family papers ... essential reading for students of twentieth-century Ireland' History
Winner of the Political Studies Association Politics Book of the Year Award for 2003
‘a work which eclipses all other studies of the IRA and must now be regarded as the single most important book on the topic … a penetrating and rewarding study’Times Literary Supplement
‘an essential book … closely-reasoned, formidably intelligent and utterly compelling … required reading across the political spectrum … important and riveting’ The Times
‘an outstanding new book on the IRA … a calm, rational but in the end devastating deconstruction of the IRA’ Observer
Winner of the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize for 2007
Winner of the Political Studies Association of Ireland Book Prize for 2007
‘a brilliant one-volume history of Ireland … [a] formidable study’ Guardian
‘superb survey of Irish nationalism … fine work of scholarship … ambitious, epic work on Irish nationalism’ Observer
‘a stimulating and learned study that deserves to be widely read’ New Statesman
‘If you want to read one book which explains the phenomenon of terrorism, gives you a good historical grasp of the subject while also providing a dispassionate roadmap to guide you through the term’s complex meanderings and its many intellectual cul-de-sacs, then this is the book for you. It is outstanding: short and beautifully written, it manages also to be thoroughly on top of its subject’ Irish Times
‘The clearest thinking on this scourge to have come along in many years’ Foreign Policy
‘Richard English is the author of outstanding histories of the IRA and Irish nationalism. Thoughtful scholarship lies at the heart of his fine analysis of terrorism as both a military and a political problem … In exploring this huge subject, English makes many telling points’ Literary Review
Reviews
'Countering Al-Qaeda in London should be required reading for policymakers, police and security agencies, and European and American citizens concerned about domestic security as well as religious pluralism and civil liberties. No one more qualified than Robert Lambert, a former Scotland Yard senior police official and today a university scholar, to write this incisive and incisive critical study.' --Professor John L. Esposito, Georgetown University, and author of The Future of Islam and Islamophobia and the Challenge of Pluralism in the 21st Century
illuminating, wise and profound. --Peter Oborne, The Daily Telegraph
'Lambert s work is remarkable for his consistently thoughtful, de-escalatory and grounded approach. As a police officer, he built relationships with Muslims which allowed him to understand the complexity of what drives people to extreme measures. As a scholar he has been a nuanced voice of moderation, with the added gravitas of direct experience. His work was and is groundbreaking, forging a path that more and more are bound to follow.' --Professor Marie Breen-Smyth, Co-Director of the Centre for International Intervention, University of Surrey
Description
This book presents an inside account of two pioneering projects in London where Muslim community groups worked in partnership with police to reduce the influence of al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism. One project in North London empowered London Muslims to remove Abu Hamza and his violent hard-core supporters from Finsbury Park Mosque while the other project bolstered long-term efforts by London Muslims in Brixton to challenge and reduce the influence of al-Qaeda inspired violent extremists including Abu Qatada and Abdullah el Faisal. Significantly, both projects pre-date government funded Prevent projects and differ from them in being based on partnership, trust and voluntary civic duty as opposed to payment and control. The two projects serve as exemplars for future community based counter-terrorism projects that recognise the hand of central government can often be counter-productive when countering al-Qaeda influence: not least when the UK is waging war in Muslim countries. Some influential think-tanks reject this analysis and argue that the work of police in these projects was itself counter-productive by empowering Muslim groups they claim are extremist or radical. The book offers a comprehensive defence to these charges and concludes that success was achieved by channelling genuine and reasonable Muslim grievances about UK foreign policy in the Muslim world in ways that are familiar and acceptable to Londoners and anathema to al-Qaeda.
Violence at Sea is an overview of maritime piracy, examining threats that piracy poses to global security and commerce, as well as measures and policies to mitigate the threat. The essays analyze piracy activities in key shipping lanes (including the African coast, the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Straits of Malacca-South China Sea); piratical groups and their capabilities; case studies on overlaps between piracy, terrorism, and organized crime; legal and policy hurdles to combating piracy; tactical recommendations for combating piracy; and new trends and developments in the area.
The counter response to maritime terrorism has been slow in coming, hampered by issues rooted in sovereignty, the laws of the sea, and the inherent challenges of international coordination. Yet given the likelihood that threats posed by piracy will not recede, but rather increase, all actors affected by maritime security will, sooner or later, need to address these challenges.
Review
'Louise Richardson is a world authority on global terrorism. Here she brings her unique insights into the motivations of terrorists across the world into a passionate, incisive and groundbreaking argument that provocatively overturns the myths surrounding terrorism.' -- Mary Robinson
'Refreshingly clear' -- Metro 20060621 'Simply the best thing of its kind available now in this highly crowded area' -- Evening Standard: Robert Fox 20060619 'Rigorous, lucid and highly readable' -- Bookseller 20060605 'Richardson sweeps aside conventional and woolly notions of terrorism' -- Financial Times 20060610 'A thoughtful and stimulating study of the greatest security problem facing the world today' -- Deaglan de Breadun, Irish Times 20060624 '[Richardson's] book is calm, elegantly written and superbly researched. ! Possibly the most intelligent and readable contemporary one-volume account available' -- Steven Poole, Guardian 20060624
Description
What can terrorists possibly hope to achieve by blowing up commuters, bond traders and tourists whom they have never even met? Why do seemingly ordinary young men and women volunteer to turn themselves into human bombs? What can we do to stop them? In What Terrorists Want" Louise Richardson investigates these crucial questions. She delves into the minds of terrorists and demystifies the threat we face today. She draws on her unique contact with real terrorists as well as years of teaching and research at Harvard to show that terrorists are not crazed criminals butrational peoplewilling to exploit their own weaknesses to maximum effect. By introducing us to other terrorists in other times she shows thatwe must look beyond 9/11 and simplistic associations with Islam. What Terrorists Want controversially but convincingly argues that only by understanding the forces that drive terrorism can we hope to contain it. It also shows us why the Global War on Terror is doomed to fail but how with a different strategy we can prevail.
This book analyses the root causes of suicide terrorism at both the elite and rank-and- file levels of the Hamas and also explains why this tactic has disappeared in the post-2006 period.
This volume adopts a multi-causal, multi-level approach to analyse the use of suicide bombings by Hamas and its individual operatives in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It uses extensive fieldwork and on-the-ground interviews in order to delve beneath the surface and understand why and how suicide operations were adopted as a sustained mechanism of engagement within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Three core factors fuelled Hamas’s suicide bombing campaigns. First, Palestinian suicide operations are a complex combination of instrumental and expressive violence adopted by both organisations and individuals to achieve political and/or societal survival, retaliation and competition. In other words, suicide bombings not only serve distinct political and strategic goals for both Hamas and its operatives but they also serve to convey a symbolic message to various audiences, within Israel, the Palestinian territories and around the world. Second, suicide operations perform a crucial role in the formation and consolidation of Palestinian national identity and are also the latest manifestation of the historically entrenched cultural norm of militant heroic martyrdom. Finally, Hamas’s use of political Islam also facilitates the articulation, justification and legitimisation of suicide operations as a modern-day jihad against Israel through the means of modern interpretations and fatwas.
This approach not only facilitates a much needed, multifaceted, holistic understanding of suicide bombings in this particular region but also yields policy-relevant lessons to address extreme political violence in other parts of the world. This book will be of much interest to students of Hamas, terrorism, Middle East politics and security studies.
In the years after the First World War both Ulster and Upper Silesia saw violent conflicts over self-determination. The violence in Upper Silesia was more intense both in the numbers killed and in the forms it took. Acts of violation such as rape or mutilation were noticeably more common in Upper Silesia than in Ulster. Examining the nature of communal boundaries, Timothy Wilson explains the profound contrasts in these experiences of plebeian violence. In Ulster the rival communities were divided by religion, but shared a common language. In Upper Silesia, the rival sides were united in religion-92 per cent of the local population being Catholic-but ostensibly divided on linguistic grounds between German and Polish speakers. In practice, language in Upper Silesia proved a far more porous boundary than did religion in Ulster. Language could not always be taken as a straightforward indication of national loyalties. At a local level, boundaries mattered because without them there could not be any sense of security. In Ulster, where communal identities were already clearly staked out, militants tended to concentrate on the limited task of boundary maintenance. In Upper Silesia, where national identities were so unclear, they focused upon boundary creation. This was a task that required more 'transgressive' violence. Hence atrocity was more widely practised in Upper Silesia because it could, and did, act as a polarizing force.
Reactions to Frontiers of Violence
- ‘an important contribution to the historiography of inter-communal conflict’, Robert Gerwarth, Times Literary Supplement
- ‘This fine study….advances our understanding of the nature of communal violence… What impresses most about this study is its forensic rigor, its attention to detail, and its balance.’David R. C. Hudson, Journal of British Studies
- ‘His set of questions constitutes a step forward in the methodology of writing the history of political and ethnic violence, and his research is excellent.. the book is an important one.’ T. Hunt Tooley, English Historical Review
- ‘The strength of T.K.Wilson’s very fine book lies in its original thematic approach of comparing Ulster and Upper Silesia as sites of violent conflict in postwar Europe… it certainly suggests many avenues of future comparative explorations.’ – Terence Dooley, The American Historical Review
- ‘The growing body of literature on post-World War I conflicts in former imperial frontier zones has been enriched by an important volume… a brief review cannot do justice to the subtlety of Wilson’s book, which is an original, well-researched and fascinating contribution to the historiography of disputed borderlands’ – Alexander V. Prusin, The Journal of Modern History
- ‘This book is fascinating comparison of communal conflict in two borderlands in Europe in the aftermath of the First World War and has much to say about the character of nationalist and ethnic conflict’ – John Dorney, The Irish Story
Frontiers of Violence was nominated by Oxford University Press for the Royal Historical Society’s Whitfield Prize.
Terrorism and Political Violence
Aims and Scope
Terrorism and Political Violence reflects the full range of current scholarly work from many disciplines and theoretical perspectives. It aims to give academic rigour to a field which hitherto has lacked it, and encourages comparative studies. In addition to focusing on the political meaning of terrorist activity, the journal publishes studies of various related forms of violence by rebels and by states, on the links between political violence and organized crime, protest, rebellion, revolution, and human rights. Symposia are a regular feature covering such subjects as: terrorism and public policy; religion and violence; political parties and terrorism; technology and terrorism; and right-wing terrorism. A truly interdisciplinary journal, it is essential reading for all academics, decision makers and security specialists concerned with understanding political violence
Editors
The Director of CSTPV, Professor. Max Taylor is editor (together with Professor David Rapoport, UCLA) of Terrorism and Political Violence, a leading journal in the field, published 4 times a year since 1989.
Terrorism and Political Violence is published by the Taylor and Francis Group and details of how to subscribe are available here.
The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research
Edited by Alex Schmid
Hardback
ISBN: 978-0-415-41157-8
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Date: March 2011
Pages: 718
About the Title
This major new Handbook synthesises more than two decades of scholarly research, and provides a comprehensive overview of the field of terrorism studies.
The content of the Handbook is based on the responses to a questionnaire by nearly 100 experts from more than 20 countries as well as the specific expertise and experience of the volume editor and the various contributors. Together, they guide the reader through the voluminous literature on terrorism, and propose a new consensus definition of terrorism, based on an extensive review of existing conceptualisations. The work also features a large collection of typologies and surveys a wide range of theories of terrorism. Additional chapters survey terrorist databases and provide a guide to available resources on terrorism in libraries and on the Internet. It also includes the most comprehensive World Directory of Extremist, Terrorist and other Organizations associated with Guerrilla Warfare, Political Violence, Protest and Organized- and Cyber-Crime.
The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research will be an essential work of reference for students and researchers of terrorism and political violence, security studies, criminology, political science and international relations, and of great interest to policymakers and professionals in the field of counter-terrorism.
Contents
1. Introduction Alex P. Schmid 2. The Problem of Defining Terrorism Alex P. Schmid 3. Typologies of Terrorism and Political Violence Sarah Marsden and Alex P. Schmid 4. Theories of Terrorism Bradley McAllister and Alex P. Schmid 5. Databases on Terrorism Neil G. Bowie and Alex P. Schmid 6. World Directory of Extremist, Terrorist and Other Organizations associated with Guerrilla Warfare, Political Violence, Protest and Organized and Cyber-Crime Albert J. Jongman 7. Library and Internet Resources for Research on Terrorism Eric Price 8. The Literature on Terrorism Alex P. Schmid 9. Bibliography of Terrorism Gillian Duncan and Alex P. Schmid 10. Glossary and Acronyms on Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Alex P. Schmid
Homeland Security in the UK: Future Preparedness for Terrorist Attacks since 9/11
Edited by Paul Wilkinson, Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, University of St. Andrews, UK
Paperback
ISBN: 9780415383745
ISBN-10: 0415383749
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Date: 18/06/2007
Pages: 432
Hardback
ISBN: 9780415383752
ISBN-10: 0415383757
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Date: 18/06/2007
Pages: 432
About the Title
This book is a detailed examination of whether domestic security measures are striking an appropriate balance between homeland security and civil liberties in the post-9/11 era.
Professor Paul Wilkinson and the other contributors assess the nature of UK responses to terrorism by key public and private-sector bodies, highlighting how these organizations can prevent, pre-empt, counter and manage terrorist attacks by using a matrix of factors such as types of terrorist networks, tactics and targets. The volume also compares and contrasts the UK's response with cognate states elsewhere in the EU and with the USA.
While improved intelligence has helped prevent a major Al Qaeda attack, the authors conclude that there is still a ‘major question mark’ over whether the country is adequately resourced to deal with an emergency situation, particularly in major cities other than London. The book also confirms that while the UK faces a ‘real and serious’ threat of terrorist attack by Al Qaeda, it is better prepared for an attack than other EU member states.
Homeland Security in the UK will be essential reading for all students of terrorism studies, security studies and politics, as well as by professional practitioners and well-informed general readers.
Contents
Part 1: Introduction
1. Introduction Paul Wilkinson
Part 2: Threat Assessment
2. The Threat from the Al-Qaeda Network Paul Wilkinson
3. International Terrorism and the UK: Assessing the Threat Tamara Makarenko
4. The Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Weapons Threat Jez Littlewood and John Simpson
5. The Domestic Threat: The Cases of Northern Ireland and Animal Rights Extremism Anthony Richards
Part 3: UK Efforts to Enhance Preparedness since 9/11
6. National Governance Structures to Manage the Response to Terrorist Threats and Attacks: A Cross-National Comparative Analysis with Special Reference to the UK ‘Lead Department’ Response Structure and UK Counter-Terrorism Strategy Frank Gregory
7. Reducing the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Weapons Threat: The Role of Counter-Proliferation, Arms Control and Disarmament John Simpson and Jez Littlewood
8. The UK and the Threat of Nuclear Terrorism: A Case Study of Organisational Responses John Simpson
9. An Assessment of the Contribution of Intelligence-Led Counter-Terrorism to UK Homeland Security Post 9/11 within the 'Contest' Strategy Frank Gregory
10. Police and Counter-Terrorism in the UK: A Study of ‘One of the Highest and Most Challenging Priorities for Police Forces Nationally’ Frank Gregory
11. Immigration and Asylum Issues Tamara Makarenko
12. Enhancing UK Aviation Security Post 9/11 Paul Wilkinson
13. Port Security in the UK: The Spectre of Maritime Terrorism Peter Lehr
14. Terrorism and Public Information Anthony Richards
15. Cyber-Security and the Critical National Infrastructure Darryl Howlett
16. Private Sector Roles in Counter-Terrorism Frank Gregory
Part 4: Civil Contingencies and Emergency Response
17. UK Draft Civil Contingencies Bill 2003 and its Subsequent Act: Building Block for Homeland Security? Frank Gregory
18. The Emergency Response: Progress and Problems Anthony Richards
Part 5: International Dimensions and Main Conclusions of Authors
19. International Dimensions of Homeland Security Paul Wilkinson
20. Main Conclusions of the Authors Project Team