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.     

关于国际恐怖主义犯罪非政治化问题的探讨

从国际法角度,对国际恐怖主义犯罪非政治化的理论和实践问题进行了探讨,进而指出“非政治化”的未来发展趋向。     

传统科技视野下的恐怖主义及其应对

科学技术的发展及其被恶意运用,使当代的恐怖主义活动变得更加复杂多样和令人恐慌.掌握和使用高科技的超级恐怖主义组织的确存在,但对于一般恐怖分子而言,高科技的运用还不大现实.多数情况下,都是传统通用科技引导着普通的恐怖主义活动.恐怖活动与传统通用科技相伴发展的历史事实,表明传统通用科技对恐怖主义与反击恐怖主义双重力量扩张所起的作用,具体体现在武器技术、交通运输和通信技术的应用等方面.科学技术既是恐怖主义盛行的因素,也是恐怖主义的克星,运用高科技手段反击恐怖主义也是我们的必然选择.     

中东恐怖主义发展中的宗教与战争因素

中东恐怖主义的发展与宗教和战争两大因素相关。伊斯兰名义下的暴力恐怖活动与反对帝国霸权和侵略战争紧密相连,恐怖主义的行为主体不仅仅是伊斯兰极端主义组织一方,还包括美国和以色列在侵略战争中所实行的国家恐怖主义。这种态势决定了中东恐怖主义现象的复杂性。认清这种复杂性,明确伊斯兰名义下的恐怖主义与伊斯兰复兴、伊斯兰教的联系与区别,避免误解和混淆,将有助于对中东形势及整个国际政治有准确而深刻的认识。     

国际恐怖主义初论

国际恐怖主义问题是与人类社会历史同步发展的政治问题 ,它历经古代中世纪的政治恐怖手段、近代的恐怖主义和现当代的国际恐怖主义三个阶段 ;当代国际恐怖主义由于全球化中的贫富悬殊、冷战的后遗症以及世界政治格局转变诸因素 ,在组织上已经形成跨国网络 ,活动日益频繁、形式多种多样、动机错综复杂、对平民的伤害和对国际经济的破坏程度都在加剧 ;尽管国际社会已经初步形成反恐的大气候 ,但在界定恐怖主义问题上仍然是共识与分歧并存。为维护我国自身的战略利益 ,为在当前错综复杂的国际形势中保持战略主动地位 ,我国学术界应对国际恐怖主义作深入研究和准确界定     

沙特的瓦哈比主义

瓦哈比主义是300年前由穆罕默德·本·阿卜杜·瓦哈卜谢赫创立的一种伊斯兰法学主张和理论。德尔伊亚埃米尔穆罕默德·本·沙特和阿卜杜·瓦哈卜谢赫建立政教联盟后,积极开展了旨在伊斯兰教改良的瓦哈比运动,最终导致了沙特阿拉伯王国的建立和发展。在现代沙特的社会发展中,瓦哈比主义为保持沙特政教合一的伊斯兰君主制,维护沙特王室的政治地位发挥了重要作用。沙特的瓦哈比主义决不是任何意义上的恐怖主义。     

关于恐怖主义的国际政治思考

恐怖主义事件在美国的频繁发生,既同全球化的发展、民族主义盛行有关,也同美国所处的地位和它的外交政策有关。恐怖主义本身的影响是有限的,不可能从根本上改变美国的外交战略,动摇国际政治的主流。     

Ranking Nuclear and Radiological Terrorism Scenarios: The Italian Case

A quantitative criterion for ranking the different scenarios of nuclear and radiological terrorism has been developed. The aim of the model is not to predict terroristic events but only to indicate which scenario has the higher utility from the point of view of a terroristic organization in terms of balance between factors favoring and discouraging the attack, respectively. All these factors were quantified according to a scoring system that takes into account the logarithmic relationship between perceptions and stimuli. The criterion was applied to several scenarios, each of which was modeled in a simple but not trivial way in order to estimate the expected damage in terms of probable life losses from both radiative and nonradiative effects. The outcome from the ranking method indicates that the attractive scenario appears to be the detonation of a low yield improvised nuclear device in the metropolitan area of a major city.     

Adaptive Management: A Paradigm for Remediation of Public Facilities Following a Terrorist Attack

Terrorist actions are aimed at maximizing harm (health, psychological, economical, and political) through the combined physical impacts of the act and fear. Immediate and effective response to a terrorist act is critical to limit human and environmental harm, effectively restore facility function, and maintain public confidence. Though there have been terrorist attacks in public facilities that we have learned from, overall our experiences in restoration of public facilities following a terrorist attack are limited. Restoration of public facilities following a release of a hazardous material is inherently far more complex than in industrial settings and has many unique technical, economic, social, and political challenges. For example, there may be a great need to quickly restore the facility to full operation and allow public access even though it was not designed for easy or rapid restoration, and critical information is needed for quantitative risk assessment and effective restoration must be anticipated to be incomplete and uncertain. Whereas present planning documents have substantial linearity in their organization, the “adaptive management” paradigm provides a constructive parallel paradigm for restoration of public facilities that anticipates and plans for uncertainty, inefficiencies, and stakeholder participation. Adaptive management grew out of the need to manage and restore natural resources in highly complex and changing environments with limited knowledge about causal relationships and responses to restoration actions. Similarities between natural resource management and restoration of a public facility after a terrorist attack suggest that integration of adaptive management principles explicitly into restoration processes will result in substantially enhanced and flexible responses necessary to meet the uncertainties of potential terrorist attacks.