James J.F. Forest

Political Violence and the Illicit Economies of West Africa

This comparative analysis draws on field research in several West African countries to illustrate the dynamic relationships between political violence and organized crime in this sub-region. These relationships are often transactional, and almost always on a temporary basis. While some alliances of convenience may be forged, in other cases an adversarial relationship exists between organized crime and terrorist networks. In some cases, key actors within West African governments have benefited from these relationships. We then examine recent policies and strategies pursued by the U.S. and the international community that, in the name of combating terrorism, seek to constrain the illicit economies of the region, but in doing so may do more harm than good. The article concludes with some policy recommendations based on this analysis.

Global trends in kidnapping by terrorist groups

This study examines 40 years of kidnapping incidents by terrorist groups and finds several interesting trends, including terrorist groups are engaged in more kidnapping than in years past, but the proportion of kidnapping among all terrorist events annually has remained fairly constant; the geographic concentration of kidnapping incidents has shifted from Latin America (1970s–1990s) to South Asia (2000s–present); left-wing Marxist revolutionary groups have kidnapped more than groups in other ideological categories, but there has been a significant increase over the past decade in kidnappings by Muslim extremist groups; terrorist groups overall appear far less interested in kidnapping for financial gain than for political or policy concessions; and terrorist groups are selective about the type of people they target for kidnapping, which is striking given that many other kinds of terrorist attacks (e.g. bombings) are indiscriminate with regard to victims. The article concludes with some implications and recommendations for future research.

Kidnapping by Terrorist Groups, 1970-2010 Is Ideological Orientation Relevant?

This article examines whether a terrorist group’s ideology has a meaningful impact on its involvement in kidnapping. On a global level, incident data (1970-2010) indicate that in the past decade the number of kidnappings by terrorist groups has increased, while Muslim extremists have replaced left-wing/Marxist revolutionaries as the world’s leading kidnappers. However, when we incorporate data about the attributes of terrorist organizations and their operating environments, this analysis indicates that ideology does not play an important role in determining the likelihood of a group’s involvement in kidnapping. The article concludes with implications and suggested topics for further study.

Criminals and Terrorists: An Introduction to the Special Issue

On January 24, 1878, a Russian revolutionary named Vera Zasulich became a populist hero after shooting and seriously wounding Colonel Fyodor Trepov, the oppressive and widely reviled governor of St. Petersburg who had recently abused a political prisoner. At her trial, when asked why she threw down her gun after the attack, she responded, ‘‘I am a terrorist not a murderer.’’ Vera’s belief in the legitimacy of her actions—to her, the shooting was an act of political justice, not criminality—reflects a common theme throughout the world of terrorism, a world full of ideological attempts to justify violence. Criminals are motivated by a broad spectrum of reasons like personal enrichment, revenge, hatred of others, passion, psychological angst, and so forth, while terrorists believe that their actions—even the most violent or criminal—are justified by a higher cause. And yet, it remains difficult sometimes to separate terrorist and criminal activity. For example, terrorists maim, kill, and destroy, and it would be difficult to find a court of law anywhere in the civilized world that does not view these as crimes, regardless of motives or ultimate goals. Terrorists have also routinely engaged in money laundering, theft, fraud, extortion, smuggling (including drugs, weapons, and humans), bank robbery, and many other kinds of criminal activity. In truth, as Alex Schmid notes, criminal and terrorist organizations have much in common: both are rational actors, they produce victims, they use similar tactics such as kidnapping and assassination, they operate secretly, and both are criminalized by the ruling regime and stand in opposition to the state. However, by portraying their criminality with a cloak of ideological justification, politically violent actors demonstrate how purpose matters. As David Rapoport recently observed, the act of robbing a bank or engaging in drug trafficking can be to enrich oneself as a person, or to get money for an organization that sees itself as creating a better society. Further, as Schmid notes, terrorism and crime are distinguished not only by different purposes (e.g., political motivation versus a greater share of illicit markets), but also by their violence (e.g., terrorists tend to be less discriminate than criminals), and by their communication strategies (e.g., terrorists claim responsibility for violent acts and use the media to propagate their cause, whereas criminals usually avoid the media). It is also important to note that terrorists generally loathe being labeled as ordinary criminals. However, the story of Vera above represents one of relatively few examples in which the term ‘‘terrorist’’ was embraced by the perpetrators of the violence. Groups and individuals engaging in terrorism have much preferred to use labels like ‘‘freedom fighters,’’ or in the case of some religious groups, ‘‘holy warriors.’’ For example, Menachem Begin, the leader of an Israeli terrorist group known as Irgun, insisted that he led a group of ‘‘freedom fighters’’ and that the British were terrorists. In his September 13, 1982 court statement, Weather Underground member David Gilbert declared, ‘‘We are neither terrorists nor criminals. It is precisely because of our love of life, because we revel in the human spirit, that we became freedom fighters Terrorism and Political Violence, 24:171–179, 2012 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0954-6553 print=1556-1836 online DOI: 10.1080/09546553.2011.646829

AFRICOM: Troubled Infancy, Promising Future

Officially activated on 1 October 2008, US Africa Command (AFRICOM) is first and foremost an internal consolidation and reorganization of Defense Department personnel. Its primary mission is to help Africans address their security challenges. AFRICOMdiffers from other Defense Department organizations by focusing primarily on activities that contribute not to warfighting, but war prevention. Even so, it has struggled with controversy since its inception. The views of key constituencies range from lukewarm acceptance to outright hostility. The central lesson from this research is that the views of foreign audiences toward American foreign policies have a direct impact on the success of those policies. One of its most difficult tasks will be convincing key audiences – African governments and militaries, NGOs, international media, and not least other US government agencies and the Congress – that the effort and funding put into this command were worthwhile and should continue. Confusion still remains over exactly what AFRICOM is and what it wants to do. Sorting this out will require consulting, listening, and learning. Its leaders must develop and lead a new type of organization that runs counter to traditional instincts of senior personnel in the Department of Defense who continue to resist the notion of interagency coordination. In sum, we remain hopeful that the past need not predict the future of American policies in Africa.

Framework for Analyzing the Future Threat of WMD Terrorism

This article examines theories of practical and strategic constraints that collectively explain why so few terrorist groups in history have crossed (or attempted to cross) the WMD threshold. From this analysis, it becomes clear that a terrorist groups deliberations about WMD can be influenced (positively or negatively) by a variety of factors. Our projections of the future WMD terrorism threat must therefore account for changes in the kinds of practical and strategic constraints that could lead to an increased willingness and/or capability of a group to pursue these kinds of weapons. Further, there are ways in which governments can influence a terrorist groups decision-making and thus have a direct impact on the future evolution of the WMD terrorism threat. This article is available in Journal of Strategic Security: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jss/vol5/iss4/9 Journal of Strategic Security Volume 5 Issue 4 2012, pp. 51-68 DOI: 10.5038/1944-0472.5.4.4 Journal of Strategic Security (c) 2012 ISSN: 1944-0464 eISSN: 1944-0472 51 Framework for Analyzing the Future Threat of WMD Terrorism James J.F. Forest Center for Security Research and Technologies, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Terrorist Use of WMD

The international community is facing a terrorist threat of historic proportions. Within the past few years, terrorist attacks have claimed thousands of lives in London, Madrid, Bali, Jakarta, Bombay, Istanbul, Ankara, Tunis, Casablanca, Amman, Algiers, Riyadh, Sharm-el-Sheikh, and of course, Baghdad, Kabul, and many other cities and villages throughout Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, additional terror plots of significance have been disrupted in Australia, Denmark, Canada, England, Scotland, Germany, Pakistan, Turkey, and the United States, among others.

Why do ethnopolitical organisations turn to crime

This paper empirically analyses the involvement of ethnopolitical organisations in criminal behaviour across time in two regions of the world – the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Drawing on the data from the Minorities at Risk Organizational Behavior data set, it contributes important insights to a literature on organisational crime that is dominated by case studies and small-N analysis, as well as reinvigorating the study of ethnopolitical organisations as actors in the analysis of organised crime. Our findings reveal that in both regions groups that engage in violence of some form were significantly more likely to engage in many kinds of criminal activity. Our analysis also finds that ideological orientation has a marginal impact, while economic grievances and diaspora connections were significant predictors of criminal activity for groups in the Middle East (but not Eastern Europe). In sum, this analysis suggests that the decision to engage in criminal activity is primarily dependent on the organisation’s internal attributes and external influences.

Academe: A Profession Like No Other

This chapter draws on the wealth of scholarly literature on the academic profession to reflect on the intersection between the human experience and the transfer of knowledge at the global, disciplinary, and individual levels. Altbach’s contributions to this literature are highlighted, including his analysis of globalization and the “centers-peripheries of learning” framework. The discussion will also review the unique power and responsibilities that come with being in the academic profession, and how one professor with the right mix of personal and professional attributes can produce an array of positive impacts on the lives of countless others.

Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

For centuries, a commitment to teaching and learning has been a hallmark of the academic profession throughout the world. The intrinsic motivation for teaching can be a powerful one—there are arguably few greater personal achievements than helping another human being understand the complex world around them in ways that lead to new discovery and the advancement of social or scientific knowledge. The contribution a teacher can make in the life of another is truly remarkable; the difference between an educated person and an ignorant one is manifest in everything from employment opportunities to interpersonal relationships to child-rearing. Teaching effectively—that is, enhancing and nurturing student learning—is thus justifiably seen as the core function of higher education, one for which there is a large body of scholarship. In fact, most of the world’s universities are mainly teaching institutions, and in developing countries virtually all are in this category (Altbach, 2004). The challenge of this chapter, then, is to adequately summarize what is known about teaching and learning—and particularly, the most effective dimensions of these activities—through an examination of recent scholarship on effective teaching, student learning, and classroom assessment. While other important topics clearly affect teaching and learning in higher education—including internationalization, demands for research productivity, technology and distance education—they are covered elsewhere in this Handbook, and thus are largely ignored in this discussion. Additionally, space limitations prevent the full discussion of several other important topics and issues within the study of teaching and learning, for which the reader will have to accept the author’s apologies in advance. For those interested in additional exploration, please refer to the list of references provided at the end of this chapter. This discussion will begin with a comparative overview of key issues, followed by an examination of the current research on teaching, student learning, and classroom assessment.