Leena Malkki

Political elements in post-Columbine school shootings in Europe and North America

School shootings have traditionally been interpreted as non-political acts. Empirical evidence, however, suggests that not all shootings are necessarily so different from political violence, at least in the shooters own opinion. The article analyses 28 school rampage shootings in Europe, the U.S., and Canada from 1999–2011 to determine common and prevalent political elements in the shootings. The shootings are divided into three categories: shootings with overtly political communication (four cases), shootings with references to previous school rampage shootings (13 cases), and isolated incidents (11 cases). While it is possible to question whether the shootings were genuinely politically motivated, it is clear that the majority of school shooters link their deed to the agenda and beliefs presented by the Columbine shooters, which has created a sense of tradition, continuity, and imagined community among the shooters and their admirers, not unlike in cases of terrorism and political violence that are referred to as leaderless resistance.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Lone Wolf and Autonomous Cell Terrorism

Lone wolf and autonomous cell violence is as old as time itself. Phineas, the biblical figure who might well be considered the archetypical Lone Wolf (Numbers 25:1-9) is credited with averting the wrath of God from the Hebrews by taking it upon himself to murder an Israelite man and a Midianite woman whose miscegenatistic coupling threatened the survival of the Hebrew people. Phineas’ act was cited by the Sicarii, a radical offshoot of the 1st-century Zealots, as the inspiration for the doomed uprising against Roman rule, which ultimately led to the expulsion of the Jewish people from the Holy Land. In recent years, Phineas inspired eponymous organizations or networks in the American Racist Right and the Israeli Radical Right. The ‘‘Lone Avenger’’ motif has appeared in every era and in virtually every culture in the world.

Political Resilience to Terrorism in Europe: Introduction to the Special Issue

The idea of “resilience” features in many counterterrorism strategies that have been written in recent years and it is a term that has been employed by political leaders in the aftermath of terrorist attacks. After the Boston Marathon bombing attack in May 2013, Boston has been repeatedly hailed as a resilient city that was not only well prepared to face the attack but that also gained new strength from it. Resilience is commonly seen as something inherently positive, something to strive for. The British CONTEST strategy envisions a resilient society as being “able to recover from shocks and to maintain essential services”; it will facilitate an efficient crisis response, which in turn “will save lives, reduce harm and aid recovery.” It has even been claimed that “the R-word provides a conceptual framework for designing a better tomorrow” and that the way it is discussed makes it look like the superhero of our times. The popularity of the concept in policymaking and the social sciences leaves little room for doubt that something in the term makes it attractive for describing some existing or desired qualities of communities and infrastructure. A much more complicated question, however, is what resilience actually means (let alone how it can be measured). What makes the definition issue all the more complicated is that the term itself has shown some remarkable flexibility: while its origins can be traced to the field of ecology, it has been adopted by various other disciplines. It is quite a recent arrival in the political science field and academic theorizing and debate about its definition has only started within the last few years. In the field of international relations, political science, and security studies, it is possible to identify two broad lines of theorizing about resilience. The first line of theorizing approaches resilience as discourse. It focuses on how resilience has been constructed in the public debate, how it links to other issues such as security, governance and risk, and what kind of (links between) temporalities and subjects it creates. A large part of these studies derive from the tradition of critical (security) studies. The “resilience turn” has been interpreted as indicative of changes in how risks are perceived and managed and how deeply they are connected with changes in techniques of government. Its connections with neoliberal forms of governance in particular have been explored. The second line of theorizing approaches resilience as concept, which can be used in scientific research. It aims to develop its conceptual and theoretical bases in more detail, finding

Killing it Softly? Explaining the Early Demise of Left-Wing Terrorism in the Netherlands

This article seeks to provide a comprehensive analysis of the early demise of Rode Jeugds initiatives towards a terrorist campaign in the Netherlands. It is concluded that three contextual factors played a crucial role in the process: the openness of the political culture, the setbacks experienced by similar organizations elsewhere (RAF in particular), and the lack of overt repression, combined with effective covert operations carried out by the security forces against the Rode Jeugd. Overall, the case of Rode Jeugd is a prime example of a demonstration of state power not always being the most efficient or even suitable method to combat terrorism.

To Call or Not to Call It Terrorism: Public Debate on Ideologically-motivated Acts of Violence in Finland, 1991–2015

ABSTRACT This article looks at how domestic acts of ideologically-motivated violence have been treated in Finnish public discussion with a particular focus on how the word “terrorism” has and has not been used to characterize such incidents. The work demonstrates that Finnish public debate has, with certain notable exceptions, primarily avoided labelling any violent attacks in the country as terrorism. This reluctance stems from Finnish traditions of crisis management, counterterrorism, and politics. Furthermore, the propensity to use the term “terrorism” cannot be explained by such characteristics of the attack itself as the number of casualties or whether it was perpetrated by ingroup or outgroup members. Rather than “what has happened,” the question of calling or not calling an act terrorism comes down to the question of “what needs to be done.” The article contributes to academic debate by investigating a surprisingly under-researched aspect of how the term terrorism is used in public discussion while also shedding new light on the debate in Finland, a country seldom touched upon by research of terrorism and political violence.

Terrorism and Political Violence in the Nordic Countries

ABSTRACT The introductory article to the special issue discusses terrorism and political violence in the Nordic countries and reviews the state of academic research on the topic. Even though the Nordic countries appear to have suffered from lower levels of terrorism and political violence than many other Western states, they have been less void and peripheral with regard to such phenomena than common wisdom and academic scholarship would suggest. While some notable acts of violence like the July 2011 attacks in Norway have been covered in research literature to a certain degree, other phenomena such as far-right violence in Sweden have attracted less attention. The article discusses the ways in which the analysis of Nordic countries could contribute to the field of research and how articles included in the special issue address existing gaps in literature.

International Pressure to Perform: Counterterrorism Policy Development in Finland

ABSTRACT The major terrorist attacks in Western countries during the last fifteen years have had consequences way beyond the countries in which they have happened. The article provides a primary source–based account of the development of counterterrorism policy in Finland, which is one of those countries with a low national threat level. The article demonstrates the significant role that international pressure, through obligations, recommendations, and social learning, plays in developing national counterterrorist policies. The article calls also into question whether the pressure to comply with international pressure always contributes toward sound national counterterrorism policies that foster political resilience to terrorism.

Ramón Spaaij. Understanding Lone Wolf Terrorism: Global Patterns, Motivations and Prevention

Lone wolf terrorism is unquestionably one of the most discussed issues among policy-makers at the moment. While hardly a new phenomenon, previous research on lone wolves is very scarce. Ramón Spaaij’s book, Understanding Lone Wolf Terrorism, is at this point perhaps the most systematic and analytical attempt to fill this gap in research. The book draws from Spaaij’s previous study that was conducted for the European Commission Sixth Framework Program project Transnational Terrorism, Security and the Rule of Law (TTSRL) in 2006–2009. It is, however, a significantly improved and expanded version of the study, so anyone who has read either the TTSRL report or Spaaij’s article published in Studies in Conflict and Terrorism (2010) should take a look at this book as well. The first thing worth emphasizing is the scope of the study. Even if the word ‘‘global’’ appears in the title of the book, the study is not global in scope. It is limited to lone wolf terrorist attacks in 1968–2010 in 15 countries, including several European countries, the United States, Israel, Canada, and Australia (countries included in the TTSRL project). I consider this limited scope of the study as one of its main strengths, because it makes empirical study much more feasible. Secondly, while the term lone wolf terrorism is often employed rather liberally, this is not the case here. To qualify as a lone wolf terrorist in his study, a person had to operate individually, not belong to any organized terrorist group or network, and the modus operandi ‘‘had to be conceived and directed by the individual without any direct outside command or hierarchy’’ (p. 16). The objects of study here are thus literally lone wolves: couples and small cells are excluded from the study. One may question whether his definition is too strict, but on the other hand, it is difficult to think of any other way to define the object of study that would have been much easier to defend and operationalise. The comparative analysis presented in the book relies strongly on empirical data and includes two parts: the analysis of the chronology of lone wolf terrorism produced by the author and qualitative case studies on five lone wolf terrorists Terrorism and Political Violence, 24:853–866, 2012 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0954-6553 print=1556-1836 online DOI: 10.1080/09546553.2012.728928

Survival on a shoestring: the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) revisited

This article provides a reappraisal of the history of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) based on source-based research. Even if the case may appear marginal, it provides useful insights into the dynamics of terrorist campaigns and especially into the survival of small terrorist groups. It highlights the importance of examining the attitudes among the potential supporting communities beyond one of support or rejection of terrorism and suggests that even passive support can help a group significantly. Furthermore, the case provides further evidence for the observation that the role of ideology as a motivation for participation in terrorist campaigns should not be overstated.

A Review of: “Seth G. Jones and Martin C. Libicki. How Terrorist Groups End. Lessons for Countering al Qa'ida.”

lessons of the late Edward Said require more urgent attention than ever. This is exacerbated at times in the account by an Orwellian notion of ‘ideological conformism’ (p. 39) that Hugh Roberts alludes to in chapter 4 and Tarik Fraihi rejects in chapter 11. We see this in the contribution by Glenn Audenaert who notes, ‘‘jihadi ideology and terrorism aims at disrupting our way of life and the values as defined in the European Treaty on Human Rights and in our respective national constitutions’’ (p. 142). Despite such stock phrases and popular metaphors couched in an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ narrative this is also partly reflective of what is positive about this book. Fraihi for instance discusses the problems associated with a ‘Eurocentric’ view and pervasive idea that Muslims must assimilate to Western moulds of thinking which only adds to polarization and intolerance rather than knowledge and sense of community. Integration in fact reflects a broader social issue rather than one specific to any community or people, a point acknowledged by Frahi. Other aspects that draw important conclusions include chapter 2 by Rik Coolsaet and Teun Van de Voorde which notes that the West is not the principal victim of terrorism in the current context carrying important implications challenging the assumption of ‘‘. . . jihadi terrorism as a deadly threat to western civilization and values’’ (p. 20). Unfortunately these rare findings are not carried consistently through the book meaning it often appears fragmented. Overall I found this book to be one of unhealthy contradictions and sloppy inaccuracies that unfortunately cloud even the more useful parts of the book. With limited attention to conceptual development and broader immersion and fascination with current trends cut off from historical context this book did little to inform or add in any particular way to the literature on radicalization and terrorism. Not only that but by adding to (while consciously trying to dismiss) generalizations about Islam and recycling old assumptions about terrorism this account just reinforces accepted truisms and popular ‘myths’ that pervade contemporary discourse. Indeed this account and broader analyses of ‘radicalisation’ could learn much from Crenshaw’s cautionary point that ‘‘rejecting our accumulated knowledge of terrorism by dismissing it as ‘obsolete’ is dangerous’’ (p. 36). Whether this message is appreciated remains to be seen.