Terrorists as Rebels: Territorial Goals, Oil Resources, and Civil War Onset in Terrorist Campaigns

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sambuddha Ghatak ◽  
Suveyda Karakaya
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Collective Action Problem ◽  
Terrorist Organizations ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Target State ◽  
Oil Resources ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Terrorist Acts ◽  
Rich Countries

Abstract Recent studies show terrorist organizations that target only civilians almost always fail to achieve their ultimate objectives. On the contrary, groups that target combatants and civilians have better chances of success. Yet, most terrorist organizations do not directly target the state. When terrorist organizations shift their strategy from purely terrorist acts to confrontation against the target state, we may see a transition from terrorism to civil war. A terrorist organization's decision to engage in civil war largely depends on the organization's ability to alleviate the collective action problem. We argue terrorist groups with a territorial goal and groups operating in oil-rich countries are more likely to engage in civil war. The desire to gain a separate homeland is a powerful motivator to overcome the collective action problem. Terrorist organizations that operate in oil-rich countries are more likely to resort to civil war because oil dependence has the potential to increase grievances, which motivate rebellion, and resources provide a means of financing rebellion, while weakening target state institutions. Our findings confirm the existence of a territorial goal and availability of oil resources trigger transition from terrorism to civil war.

scholarly journals How “Free” is Free Riding in Civil Wars?: Violence, Insurgency, and the Collective Action Problem

2007 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stathis N. Kalyvas ◽  
Matthew Adam Kocher
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Free Riding ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Collective Action Problem ◽  
The Public ◽  
Individual Participation

That rebels face a collective action problem is one of the most widely shared assumptions in the literature on civil wars. The authors argue that the collective action paradigm can be both descriptively inaccurate and analytically misleading when it comes to civil wars. They question both pillars of the paradigm as applied to the study of civil wars, namely, the free-riding incentive generated by the public goods dimension of insurgency and the risks of individual participation in insurgent collective action. The authors argue, instead, that although insurgent collective action may entail the expectation of future collective benefits, public (rather than just private) costs tend to predominate in the short term. Moreover, the costs of nonparticipation and free riding may equal or even exceed those of participation. The authors support these claims by triangulating three types of evidence: historical evidence from counterinsurgency operations in several civil wars; data from the Vietnam War's Phoenix Program; and regional evidence from the Greek Civil War. They conclude by drawing implications for the study of civil wars.

scholarly journals Terrorist Threat in the Former Soviet Union in the Face of ISIL’s Defeat in Iraq and Syria

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 687-705
Author(s):  
Nuradin U. Khanaliyev
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Terrorist Organizations ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Adequate Coverage ◽  
Terrorist Acts

The article attempts to identify how methods, strategies and primary activities of Islamist extremist and terrorist organizations have recently evolved. According to the author, this subject has not received adequate coverage in Russian political science. The author uses ISIL as an example of such groups and seeks to prove his thesis, according to which, after being defeated in Iraq and Syria, the organization was forced to search for areas of refuge in order to survive and carry on its terrorist activities. As was expected, ISIL chose Afghanistan as their hideout territory with the purpose of launching terrorist acts against Russia and the countries of Central Asia. For this purpose, the so-called “Caliphate”, or “Vilayet Khorasan”, was created: a branch of ISIL, which operates on the territories of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, as well as in Central Asia. The article also highlights the similarities between the Central Asian states and the Russian Federation as potential targets of terrorist attacks. After analyzing the main ideological and political guidelines and practical actions of ISIL, as well as several other terrorist groups, the author comes to the conclusion that the organizations in question have been experiencing crisis, but, at the same time, are characterized by vitality, especially with regard to ideology and religious values.

scholarly journals Terrorism and Iraqi National Security 2003-2017: the Socio-Economic and Cultural Losses

Twejer ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 987-1032
Author(s):  
Nayar Muhiadeen Hamadamin ◽  
◽  
Othman Ahmed Ali ◽  
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Terrorist Organizations ◽  
Security Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Terrorist Acts ◽  
The Impact

This paper is entitled "Terrorism and Iraqi National Security 2003-2017: the Socio-Economic and Cultural Losses". It discusses the impact of the acts of terrorist groups, especially by Al Qaeda and ISIS on Iraqi national security. Besides, it highlights the impact of terrorist groups on the Iraqi national unity, and socio-cultural sectors of Iraq's society. The findings of our paper show the wide range extent of damages done by the two mentioned terrorist organizations on Iraq's national security, in terms of cost, time, and quality. Besides, the terrorist acts, especially that of ISIS, had a profound effect on Iraq's peace, stability, and had disrupted the social cohesion of Iraqi society. Keywords: ISIS, Al-Qaeda, National Security, Culture, and Iraqi Society

Islamic State will thrive on Libya’s divisions

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The South ◽  
Foreign Missions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Target State ◽  
Terrorist Groups

Significance IS will likely look to further expand the scope of its operations in major urban centres, using low-cost attacks with high publicity returns. Impacts Ineffective implementation of security reforms will make it easier for IS to target state institutions. The upcoming elections, UN-planned conference and return of foreign missions may give IS incentive to plan more attacks. Both administrations’ failure to secure the south will allow IS to create alliances with local terrorist groups.

scholarly journals OUTLINE OF THE UAS COUNTERMEASURES SYSTEM FOR THE PROTECTION OF BASE AIRFIELDS OF THE STATE AVIATION OF UKRAINE

2021 ◽  
pp. 61-67
Author(s):  
I. Motiakov ◽  
P. Zelenyi ◽  
V. Tolmachov
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
The State ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Terrorist Organizations ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Characteristics Analysis ◽  
Terrorist Acts ◽  
Important State

A number of terrorist attacks have occurred worldwide in recent years. Terrorist organizations under the guise of “fighting for human rights”, with limited financial support from other countries, are trying to destabilize the situation in the country. At the same time, various methods of terrorist acts and attacks are used, which have severe economic and political consequences. The possible threat of such terrorist acts on the territory of our country has forced to raise questions about the protection of important state facilities (including base airfields of the State Aviation of Ukraine). In order to counter terrorist acts, which have recently been carried out in most cases with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, which significantly increases the awareness of terrorists about the object in real time and allows making changes to previously planned actions if needed, the authors consider possible technical ways for improving systems of protection for base airfields of the State aviation of Ukraine from actions of terrorist groups with the use of basic types of sUAS. On the basis of characteristics analysis, possible tactics and features of employment of sUAS, existing technical means of detection and defeat, experience on the mentioned issues in other countries, the authors of article offered a variant of construction, a set of means for detection and counteraction (defeat) of sUAS.

Understanding Suicide Terrorism

2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (04) ◽  
pp. 245-250
Author(s):  
A. Speckhard
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Suicide Terrorism ◽  
Terrorist Organizations ◽  
Global Migration ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Single Region ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
The World ◽  
Terrorist Groups

SummaryAs a terror tactic, suicide terrorism is one of the most lethal as it relies on a human being to deliver and detonate the device. Suicide terrorism is not confined to a single region or religion. On the contrary, it has a global appeal, and in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan it has come to represent an almost daily reality as it has become the weapon of choice for some of the most dreaded terrorist organizations in the world, such as ISIS and al-Qaeda. Drawing on over two decades of extensive field research in five distinct world regions, specifically the Middle East, Western Europe, North America, Russia, and the Balkans, the author discusses the origins of modern day suicide terrorism, motivational factors behind suicide terrorism, its global migration, and its appeal to modern-day terrorist groups to embrace it as a tactic.

A Unified Spatial Model of Congress

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Buchler
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Spatial Model ◽  
Party Leader ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Legislative Elections ◽  
Collective Action Problem ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Legislative Session ◽  
Disciplinary System ◽  
Sincere Voting

This chapter presents a unified model of legislative elections, parties, and roll call voting, built around a party leadership election. First, a legislative caucus selects a party leader who campaigns based on a platform of a disciplinary system. Once elected, that leader runs the legislative session, in which roll call votes occur. Then elections occur, and incumbents face re-election with the positions they incrementally adopted. When the caucus is ideologically homogeneous, electorally diverse, and policy motivated, members will elect a leader who solves the collective action problem of sincere voting with “preference-preserving influence.” That leader will threaten to punish legislators who bow to electoral pressure to vote as centrists. Consequently, legislators vote sincerely as extremists and get slightly lower vote shares, but they offset that lost utility with policy gains that they couldn’t have gotten without party influence. Party leaders will rarely pressure legislators to vote insincerely.

Humanitarian Intervention and Non-Ideal Theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramon Das
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Humanitarian Intervention ◽  
Ideal Theory ◽  
Military Power ◽  
Moral Integrity ◽  
Philosophical Debate ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Target State ◽  
Target States

This chapter argues that the philosophical debate around humanitarian intervention would be improved if it were less ‘ideal-theoretic’. It identifies two ideal-theoretic assumptions. One, in target states where humanitarian intervention is being considered, there are two distinct and easily identified groups: ‘bad guys’ committing serious human rights abuses, and innocent civilians against whom the abuses are being committed. Two, external to the target state in question, there are suitably qualified ‘good guys’—prospective interveners who possess both the requisite military power and moral integrity. If the assumptions hold, the prospects for successful humanitarian intervention are much greater. As a contrast, some possible non-ideal assumptions are that (i) there are many bad guys in a civil war, and (ii) the good guy intervener is itself supporting some of the bad guys. If these non-ideal assumptions hold, prospects for successful humanitarian intervention are small.

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