Brigitte L. Nacos

Terrorism and the media : from the Iran hostage crisis to the World Trade Center bombing

1. Introduction: The Calculus of Violence 2. Terrorism, the Media, and Foreign Policy 3. Terrorists and Their Goals 4. The Polls and the Theater of Terror 5. Terrorist Spectaculars and Presidential Rallies 6. Decision Makers and Their Hard Choices 7. Conclusion: Must Terrorists Succeed?

Prevention of Terrorism in Post-9/11 America: News Coverage, Public Perceptions, and the Politics of Homeland Security

This study finds that the issue of preventing terrorist attacks has received surprisingly little attention by decision-makers and the news media, and only sporadic interest by pollsters. When it comes to homeland security, how to protect the nation and its people from actual attacks takes a back seat to press coverage of threats and other aspects of terrorism, particularly the administrations arguments for fighting the “war on terrorism” abroad as a means to prevent further terrorism at home. This inattention to the difficult task of preventing further catastrophic terror attacks by taking measures at home may affect the nations vigilance as time has passed since 9/11.

Terrorism and the Print Media: The 1985 TWA Hostage Crisis

Abstract Terrorists are said to seek the attention of the public, the recognition of their grievances, and even respectability and legitimacy. This paper examines the question, to what extent do the mass media facilitate these goals? Analyzing the coverage of the 1985 TWA hostage crisis by three leading U.S. newspapers, we found that the press facilitated the attention‐getting desires of the terrorists very generously. The terrorists were also quite successful in getting their causes and grievances reported, while they had only limited success in gaining coverage that might have helped their efforts to gain respectability and legitimacy.

From Bonn to Berlin : German politics in transition

Can German democracy endure the stresses of reunification, the challenges of global market forces, and the impact of Europes intensifying economic and political union? As they examine these difficulties and possible answers, Lewis Edinger and Brigitte Nacos underscore distinct differences and similarities in American and German politics. The first part of the book describes the development and features of German representative democracy: its roots in the Third Reich and the Weimar Republic, the national emphasis on cooperation and collective responsibility, and the role of the media in reshaping electoral politics. The second part addresses the most pressing problems facing Germany at the close of the century, from European integration, to its burgeoning immigrant population and the pressures taxing its social programs. Based on extensive research, From Bonn to Berlin will inform anyone with an interest in either German or American politics.

Radicalisation and media: connectivity and terrorism in the new media ecology, by Akil N. Awan, Andrew Hoskins and Ben O'Loughlin

than many other critics would make. Omand argues that the failure of intelligence on Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) arose from a ‘perfect storm’, composed of a series of failures in the chain linking the intelligence to the politics of the invasion. ‘The resulting description of Saddam’s WMD capabilities was then amplified hugely in public debate by media headlines that misrepresented the position but which the government’s spin doctors had no interest in restraining’ (p. 178). Thus, it was perhaps the febrile atmosphere created by politicians, their spin doctors and the media that are to blame. More critical readers will find this model unsatisfactory. A central theme of the book is the dynamic between intelligence, threat and response. The nature of the threat from Al Qaeda and other jihadists and their concentration on mass casualties means new techniques and organisational innovations are needed and will be for the foreseeable future (a topic he deals with in the final chapters). ‘Pre-emptive security and intelligence operations are central to controlling terrorism’ (p. 90) he states and Omand argues that CONTEST has been part of a successful state response to managing down the threat from Al Qaeda to a level where the movement has not achieved any of its main aims: ‘it has not led to the fundamental changes in policy that it sought’ (p. 89). Omand is one of the central thinkers and planners in UK security and counterterrorism strategy. That makes this a valuable book. But it also makes it a book which refuses to venture into the thorny thickets of issues of accountability, freedom and civil liberties. As in Peter Hennessy’s Secret State these issues do not sit well in the shadow of the gleaming protective state, staffed by British officials doing their best. For example, in the chapter on resilience the Civil Contingencies Act is not mentioned, perhaps because the draconian nature of the legislation is not in keeping with the idea of the protective state – unless it is a smothering state. For Omand the idea that the British public should be able to go about its daily life as normally as possible seems to trump concerns with civil liberties, and he fails to engage with critics such as Henry Porter, not cited once in the text. Indeed, he is rather cool on civil liberties in a number of places (e.g. pp. 92, 106–111). Similarly, in the chapter on ethics, he sometimes veers into the position that ends justify means. What other conclusion are we to draw from this passage: ‘it may be unpalatable to some but it needs to be recognized that the “American protection” offered in the form of Al-Qa’ida terrorists captured and killed (for example through cross border attacks from unmanned drones in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border regions) has seriously degraded AQ as a terrorist organisation’ (p. 271). Fine, but Omand cannot or will not make the strong arguments that other former US insiders like Michael Scheuer do – that US citizens are to be protected by any means necessary beyond the borders of the United States itself. He simply argues that the UK state will continue to be faced by the dilemma of neutralising terrorism/protecting the lives of citizens and respecting human rights. This begs more questions than it answers. Overall, the book is well written and elegantly argued. Chapter 4 is a valuable historical document in itself. But those seeking a more critical perspective will have to look elsewhere. This insider remains the keeper of the secrets.

From the Bonn to the Berlin Republic: Can a Stable Democracy Continue?

German politics have not attracted much attention in the United States since the fall of the Berlin Wall and other spectacular events marking the end of the cold war. On occasion, there are sensational accounts harking back to the Nazi era, but reports of neo-Nazi activities and renewed religious persecution are misleading, because they tend to ignore that in this day and age politics in Germany are solidly rooted in democratic institutions, beliefs, and practices. Two upcoming events are, however, likely to get the attention of the American media. The first is Germanys national election on 27 September 1998 that could mark the end of Chancellor Helmut Kohls and his governments long rule; the second follows a few months later on 1 January 1999, when Germans will start to move from the long comfortable certainties of a sound national currency to the uncertainties of the new untried one of the European Monetary Union (EU). After the parliamentary election the German Bundestag will no longer meet in Bonn but in Berlin, once again the capital of the leading country in Europe. Its home will be the more than 100-year-old former Reichstag or parliament, torched when Hitler came to power, almost totally destroyed in World War II, and more recently restored and refurbished for a new era of German politics. Just before the job got under way, two American conceptual artists were allowed to briefly conceal the remaining shell of the massive nineteenthcentury structure by draping it entirely in silken-colored fabric. The spectacle gave the crowds that flocked to see it no clues as to what the home of their legislature would be like in the future. For the transition from the politics of