Sociology of Terrorism and Counterterrorism: A Social Science Understanding of Terrorist Threat

The purpose of this article is to outline a social science understanding of terrorist threat, with special reference to political violence of new terrorist groups, fundamentalist movements and extremist organisations such as Al-Qaeda. Four main terrorism topics will be examined: (i) Definition of terrorism . We will make explicit the political and moral implications of the word 'terrorism' by tracing a brief history of terrorism; at the same time, a definition of terrorism will be proposed based on an overview of terrorism studies. (ii) Typology of terrorism . The topic to be addressed here concerns the classification of terrorist groups, paying special attention to contemporary fundamentalist movements and extremist organisations (particularly after World War II). (iii) Explanation of terrorism. Criticism will be made of psychological explanations of terrorism that try to trace political violence back to specific personal traits or psychopathological profiles of terrorists. We will offer an alternative explanation, focusing on specific social, cultural and religious factors to be considered the root causes of terrorism. Suicide terrorism will be used as a case study. (iv) C ounterterrorism policy . Here, we will discuss some of the limitations and counterproductive effects of the counterterrorism measures adopted by governments after 9/11, including new antiterrorism legislation, the case of special detention at Guantanamo Bay, and the Iraq invasion. Most of such limitations are due to a misunderstanding of the political culture and ideology of Islamic extremism and fundamentalism (Islamism). Some concluding remarks will summarise the findings of the article and underline the most important suggestions for a future research agenda in the sociology of terrorism and counterterrorism.     

试论政治派系斗争对当代苏丹政局的影响

1989年，苏丹穆斯林兄弟会主流派——苏丹全国伊斯兰民族阵线（伊阵）在哈桑·图拉比的领导下通过军事政变上台执政。这一通过政变途径推翻世俗政权的“图拉比模式”，为其他国家的伊斯兰阵营问鼎政坛提供了范例，并极大地推动了当时世界范围内的伊斯兰原教旨主义运动的发展。但近20年后的今天，“图拉比模式”却成了伊斯兰原教旨主义执政的反面教材，苏丹伊斯兰原教旨主义阵营也因此发生了自创建以来最大的分裂。本文试图从苏丹军政权与伊阵的关系、伊阵的内部分歧等方面来探讨伊阵分裂的深层原因。     

阿尔及利亚原教旨主义组织研究

自20世纪八十年代末以来，阿尔及利亚饱经内乱和内战之苦，由伊斯兰原教旨主义势力挑起的这场空前浩劫，已夺走了该国10多万无辜的生命。进入新千年以来，阿尔及利亚国内和解进程曾一度取得了令人瞩目的成就，但近两年来，该国安全局势再度严重恶化，恐怖袭击时有发生，特别是2007年4月11日和12月11日发生在首都阿尔及尔的恐怖爆炸事件，总伤亡人数近300人，引起了国际社会的高度关注。阿国内安全局势的动荡与反复，从一个侧面反映了阿政府和人民与伊斯兰极端势力斗争的长期性、艰巨性和复杂性。本文试图从历史、现状等多个角度，来透视阿伊斯兰原教旨主义势力的发展轨迹。     

圣战观念与当代伊斯兰恐怖主义

伊斯兰的圣战观是一个不断演变的观念。《古兰经》有关圣战的规定反映了先知穆罕默德时期伊斯兰社团的发展,教法中有关圣战的规定又反映了7～10世纪阿拉伯帝国的发展状况。10世纪开始,圣战观总体上处于休眠状态,伊本·泰米叶和瓦哈比派分别在圣战的两个低潮期激活了圣战观。赛义德·库特卜使圣战观念从传统走向现代,并催生了以埃及为中心的第一波伊斯兰恐怖主义;阿卜杜拉·阿泽姆使圣战观国际化,并催生了以本·拉登为代表的第二波伊斯兰恐怖主义。在本质上,当代伊斯兰恐怖主义是对圣战观的曲解和滥用。     

巴基斯坦恐怖组织与中东的联系及其对“动荡弧”地带的影响

中东与巴基斯坦反恐形势的互动是当前巴安全局势恶化重要的外部因素之一。基于巴所处的联系南亚与西亚、中亚的特殊地缘位置及其伊斯兰文化属性,本文重点考察了阿富汗、伊朗、沙特三个有重要相关性的国家对巴反恐局势的影响;基于全球恐怖主义网络的运作机制,本文从资金流、信息流、人员流三条主要联系渠道,分析了巴基斯坦恐怖势力与中东的联系。在此基础上,本文分析了巴局势恶化对“动荡弧”地带安全局势的影响,并就巴局势恶化对中国可能产生的影响以及中国应采取的对策进行了简要分析。     

Genre,suicide et sexualité(s) en Algérie

According to a popular and widespread belief, suicide is a rare phenomenon, if not absent at all, in Muslim societies. It is considered as a sociologically irrelevant because of the cognitive power and efficacy of religion. This idea is reinforced by the upheaval of suicide bombings and terrorism, the clamour of which conceals the phenomenon of civil suicide. This article will explore civil suicide through interviews held in Algeria, in which suicide is described as a more feminine, young and rural phenomena. These three dimensions are marginal in social science studies on ‘Islamic’ suicide, which are mainly centred on a Durkheimian analysis – that is to say an analysis which considers suicide as an essentially urban and male phenomenon, far from gender issues and conformed to dominant regimes of discourse.     

反恐战争与美国-伊斯兰世界矛盾的演进

“9·11”事件后，随着美国反恐战争的深入推进，伊斯兰世界对美国反恐战争的认识和反应发生了深刻变化。这些变化导致美国与伊斯兰世界的矛盾超出国家范畴，向社会和意识形态领域延伸，形成了一个国家对抗一种宗教群体的局面。美国与伊斯兰世界矛盾的重大演变导致双方的敌意和对立进一步加剧，成为影响当前国际局势的主要因素之一。     

Social Science Discourse and the Biopolitics of Terrorism

This article weaves social science discourse into the fabric of a genealogy of terrorism. The power struggles associated with the US lead global war on terrorism are producing many new objects of knowledge and possible lines of research (e.g., Islamic terrorists, jihadists, suicide bombers, experts on counterterrorism, and ISIS). This process is modeled as a cycle involving power struggles and power elite orchestrated political victimage rituals and a biopolitics of knowledge. This dynamic is explored in terms of social science discourse and the biopolitics of terrorism. The limits of current thinking in “counterterrorism” and the possibilities of future research are highlighted.     

Muslim American Women in the Post-11 September Era

Political events can serve as an impetus for civic engagement or disengagement. The events of 9/11 have directed attention toward US Muslim communities and occasionally inflamed anti-Islam and anti-Muslim sentiments. This article explores the impact of the 11 September events on hijab-wearing Muslim American women. These events and the negative perception of Islam have paradoxically given rise to Muslim women's public presence and paved the way for their political engagement. Their efforts, however, have been hampered by Orientalist and Islamic fundamentalist ideologies, each advancing its own constructs of Muslim women; one seeking to ‘save’ them and the other to ‘protect’ them. Muslim women have found both ideologies oppressive. As a result, they have been actively challenging these ideologies in American society at large and within their own Muslim communities. Through civic engagement and participation in Muslim organizations, these women have been making efforts to redefine themselves, claim their space, secure their rights and advance the causes of Muslim American communities.     

Presidential Address: Heroes,Warriors, and Burqas: A Feminist Sociologist's Reflections on September 11

My presidential address looked back at the gendered imagery of American heroes and warriors, Muslim terrorists, and oppressed Islamic women as they appeared in comparatively sophisticated media sources in the first 6 months after September 11. The imagery was conventionally gendered, but the actions of women and men reported in the same sources showed multiple gendering—heterogeneity within homogeneity. Making this multiplicity of gendering visible blurs and undermines gender lines and the inequities built on them. The social constructions of heroism, masculinity, and Islamic womanhood are core parts of the gender politics of September 11, a politics deeply embedded in the current debates over the causes and consequences of terrorism and war.     

Parallels in propaganda? A comparative historical analysis of Islamic State and the Nazi Party

ABSTRACT

This article responds to calls for more comparative historical studies in public relations history across nations and cultures with a comparative analysis of the propaganda operations of Islamic State with the Nazi Party. This comparative historical approach aims to reduce the uncertainty associated with extremist terrorism and bring a historic-communicative perspective to an organization that politicians and commentators arguably overestimate in what has been described as the “epistemological crisis” of Western counterterrorism. This investigation attempts a methodological expansion of public relations historiography by applying the theoretical approach of historical institutionalism as basis for comparison between the two institutions alongside conventional content and artefact analysis. The project identifies ten parallels in propaganda and concludes that some of these commonalities – including a focus on engaging and recruiting young people, for example – can provide historically-derived guidance on counter terrorism responses in the communicative sphere.     

中东恐怖主义、全球治理与中国的反恐政策

中东反恐斗争是国际反恐中最关键、最具影响的组成部分,也是国际社会面临的全球治理问题之一。它与当代的国际体系转型和政治经济秩序的重建分不开,又同中东伊斯兰国家在经济全球化深入推进的形势下,如何处理现代化进程中的改革与发展、实现制度变迁和社会转型直接相关。从中东恐怖主义产生的根源、发展和蔓延的轨迹看,中东恐怖主义既蕴含着错综复杂的历史、社会、宗教、民族等内部因素,也掺杂着外来侵略、占领、干涉以及地区国家之间领土、资源和利益等方面的矛盾和冲突等外部环境因素。中国的反恐政策既出于保护海外利益的需要,也折射了中国独特的全球治理理念和治理模式。     

The Ayodhya aftermath: Hindu versus Muslim violence in Britain

This destruction of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, India, led to a week of unprecedented Hindu versus Muslim violence in the UK. Some Muslims, viewing Ayodhya as the latest manifestation of worldwide anti‐Islamic sentiment, today seek separation from mainstream British society as the best way to defend their interests. Many UK Hindus also desire to unite and strengthen their community by embracing the ‘fundamentalist’ politics of overseas organizations. Yet other British South Asians ‐ Hindu, Muslim and Sikh ‐ argue that only when all the country's ethnic minorities unite will their common enemies of racism and discrimination be defeated, and integration achieved.     

Some Issues of Ethnic and Religious Identity among China's Islamic Peoples

The paper considers the growth of identity among Muslim ethnic groups in China, especially the Sinic people called the Hui. It asks whether this identity springs primarily from ethnicity or religion. While affirming that Islam has grown in influence in China since the 1980s, the paper argues in favour of seeing the balance more strongly in favour of ethnicity. The paper also discusses the impact of the September 11 Incidents on Muslims in China. Addressing the issue in terms of ethnicity and religion, it discusses the ramifications of the recognition of the Uygur-based East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) as a terrorist organisation by the US and United Nations. It explores important issues relating to morality and human rights and concludes that the Chinese have cause to worry about separatist terrorism based on Islamic fundamentalism in southern Xinjiang, but criticises using recognition of ETIM as terrorist as a weapon against the general religion of Islam or against Uygur identity.     

Orientalism and ‘saving’ US state identity after 9/11

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001 (9/11) radically destabilized the US sense of self and thus necessitated a particular reassertion of state identity that pivots violently on gender and race. This identity draws upon hypermasculinity, a religious code of ethics and the constitutive differences between Self/Other necessitating the persistent and forceful coding, interpretation and targeting of particular actors and politics as Islamic fundamentalist. In particular, 9/11's post-traumatic space requires US participation in an orientalist project that institutionalizes gendered and racialized violence through the infantilization, demonization, dehumanization and sexual commodification of the ‘Other’. The US state project to ‘save’ its identity intertwines religion, ideology and conflict so as to permanently etch within the American psyche a fear/loathing/paternalism regarding the ‘Orient’ abroad and within. This article proposes a feminist theoretical framework for empirically understanding and recognizing orientalism's logic in US state identity making.     

COUNSELING BATTERED WOMEN FROM FUNDAMENTALIST CHURCHES*

In addition to the emotional, physical, and economic issues that all abused women face, battered women from fundamentalist churches have religious issues that need to be addressed. While therapists usually leave discussion of such matters to the clergy, in the case of domestic violence, the fundamentalist clergy is likely to be unsupportive or to even unknowingly endanger battered women because of their legalistic attitudes about marriage and sex roles. It is, thus, imperative that the professional counselor understand these issues and be willing to discuss them. This article explains five teachings of fundamentalist churches, explores how they help perpetuate violent relationships, and offers suggestions to therapists on how to speak with clients about these issues.     

全球化背景下伊斯兰金融的实践与挑战

伊斯兰银行诞生于20世纪五十年代末。目前,全球已有近80个国家开办了伊斯兰银行及相关业务,伊斯兰金融体系已颇具规模,欧美国家也相继推出了打造全球伊斯兰金融中心的战略规划,以伊斯兰银行为主体的伊斯兰金融呈现出旺盛的生命力。与此同时,由于西方经济体系在全球经济中极具威权性,占据了全球经济发展的主导地位,伊斯兰金融体系在与西方经济体系的碰撞中,也面临着一系列挑战。因此,如何实现与异质经济系统的成功衔接就显得尤为重要。     

Terrorism,tyranny, and religious extremism as collective activity: Beyond the deviant,psychological, and power mystiques

While not focusing on any particular instances of terrorism, tyranny, or religious extremism, this paper examines these matters from an interactionist (Mead, 1934; Blumer, 1969; Strauss, 1993; Prus, 1996, 1997, 1999) viewpoint and indicates how these realms of human endeavor may be approached in more direct empirical (i.e., ethnographic) and instructive analytic terms. After (a) defining terrorism, tyranny, and religious extremism within the context of instances of collectively engaged activity, consideration is given to (b) three mystiques (deviant, psychological, power) that commonly obfuscate and distort analyses of human activity. The paper then (c) outlines a series of conceptual, methodological, and literary resources that would enable scholars to engage these and related subject matters in more direct research terms and develop more viable conceptualizations of instances of these collectively engaged activities.     

The Islamic Banking Industry in Jordan

Thirty-three years ago Islamic banking was considered wishful thinking. However, serious research over the past two-and-a-half decades has shown that Islamic banking is not only feasible and viable, but is an efficient and productive way of financial intermediation. A number of Islamic banks have also been established during this period in Jordan. The objective of this paper is to examine the structure and performance of the Islamic banking industry in Jordan during the period 2000–2006. We find that the Jordanian Islamic banking industry is still in its infancy compared to a number of countries in the region and there is a growth trend in the financial services market, despite its current concentration and limited size.     

Conservative Christian teachers: possible consequences for lesbian,gay and bisexual youth

This essay explores the effects evangelical and/or fundamentalist Christian educators could have on the experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals in schools. Evangelical and/or fundamentalist Christian educators’ beliefs about LGB individuals may be at odds with the goals of equity, social justice and activism a true multicultural education provides. Teacher educators, in particular multicultural teacher educators, must understand the historical and social influences Christianity has on how LGB persons are perceived and how teachers who are fundamentalist and/or evangelical may consciously or unconsciously oppress and marginalize these students and other LGB members of the education community.