...News Media and Terrorism: Changing Relationship, Changing Definitions Zohar Kampf Department of Communication Hebrew University In this article I discuss two aspects that are important for understanding the relationship between Western news media and terrorism: the changing representation of terrorists and terrorist attacks in the media, and with it, the changing definition of terrorism. By calling attention to evolving news media practices in times of terrorism, I argue that advanced communication technologies and the emergence of global media ecology since the 1990s has made terrorism more visible in both national and international media landscapes. One consequence is that the more the news media expose terrorism to global audiences via the "front-door", the more controversial the use of the terms terrorism and terrorist become in social, political, and scholarly discourse. The paper addresses the new journalistic practices and their consequences as documented in previous studies on media reporting of terrorism in several national contexts, mostly the UK, the US and Israel. Terrorism, media, and the nation (or, reading about terrorists in the next day's newspaper) Classic definitions of terrorism evolved in a world in which a modernist view reigned supreme. Despite constant debates about how to define the term (Schmid 1983; Schlesinger 1981; Gibbs 1989; Nacos 2007), one conventional definition, at least under U.S. law, characterizing a nationalistic perception...
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...AVIATION TERRORISM Thwarting High-Impact Low-Probability Attacks TERRORISME AÉRIEN Contrecarrer des attaques improbables à impacts élevés A Thesis Submitted to the Division of Graduate Studies of the Royal Military College of Canada by Jacques Duchesneau, C.M., C.Q., C.D. In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy April 2015 ©Jacques Duchesneau © This thesis may be used within the Department of National Defence but copyright for open publication remains the property of the author. ROYAL MILITARY COLLEGE OF CANADA COLLÈGE MILITAIRE ROYAL DU CANADA DIVISION OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH DIVISION DES ÉTUDES SUPÉRIEURES ET DE LA RECHERCHE This is to certify that the thesis prepared by / Ceci certifie que la thèse rédigée par JACQUES DUCHESNEAU, C.M., C.Q., C.D. AVIATION TERRORISM Thwarting High-Impact Low-Probability Attacks complies with the Royal Military College of Canada regulations and that it meets the accepted standards of the Graduate School with respect to quality, and, in the case of a doctoral thesis, originality, / satisfait aux règlements du Collège militaire royal du Canada et qu'elle respecte les normes acceptées par la Faculté des études supérieures quant à la qualité et, dans le cas d'une thèse de doctorat, l'originalité, for the degree of / pour le diplôme de PHILOSOPHIÆ DOCTOR IN WAR STUDIES Signed by the final examining committee: / Signé par les membres du comité examinateur...
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...Contents Preface to the First Edition Introduction Part 1. Thought Control: The Case of the Middle East Part 2. Middle East Terrorism and the American Ideological System Part 3. Libya in U.S. Demonology Part 4. The U.S. Role in the Middle East Part 5. International Terrorism: Image and Reality Part 6. The World after September 11 Part 7. U.S./Israel-Palestine Notes Preface to the First Edition (1986) St. Augustine tells the story of a pirate captured by Alexander the Great, who asked him "how he dares molest the sea." "How dare you molest the whole world?" the pirate replied: "Because I do it with a little ship only, I am called a thief; you, doing it with a great navy, are called an Emperor." The pirate's answer was "elegant and excellent," St. Augustine relates. It captures with some accuracy the current relations between the United States and various minor actors on the stage of international terrorism: Libya, factions of the PLO, and others. More generally, St. Augustine's tale illuminates the meaning of the concept of international terrorism in contemporary Western usage, and reaches to the heart of the frenzy over selected incidents of terrorism currently being orchestrated, with supreme cynicism, as a cover for Western violence. The term "terrorism" came into use at the end of the eighteenth century, primarily to refer to violent acts of governments designed to ensure popular submission. That concept plainly is of little benefit to the practitioners of state terrorism...
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...Contemplating Realities and Paradoxes in the Global War on Terror John B. Alexander, Ph.D. Introduction The approach of this monograph is to examine paradoxes encountered in the Global War on Terror (GWOT). The intent is to spark debate on disputatious issues. Clearly, many of the existing situations appear intractable given the emotional investment that has been made by the public, and exacerbated by political manipulation of elected officials. Also unavoidable are the fiscal constraints that are becoming increasingly binding. Examined in Section One are problematic premises related to the four fundamental approaches to countering terrorism; increased security, eliminating the terrorists, attacking the support infrastructure, and altering conditions that breed discontent. Despite trite, albeit politically popular, commentary proposing those methods, execution of those concepts is extremely difficult, often controversial, and sometimes counterproductive. Section Two of this monograph addresses several other policy decisions that generate problems that are difficult to resolve, but directly impact the forces involved. Among those topics are; roles of contractors, individual loyalties versus national interests, alliances of convenience, foreign response to our policy on preemption of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), the consequences of our stated objective of spreading democracy, the impact of U.S. presence in the Gulf region, and quandary associated with defining...
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...Siena, Palazzo Pubblico Sala dei Nove 1337-1340 Declaration This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing, which is the outcome of work done in collaboration. Chapter 3, “Complexity, TOC and Terrorism”, was presented in an embryonic form at the ISA conference in Chicago, USA, March 2007. Chapter 4, “Organised Crime”, is the further elaboration of a chapter of the same title published in 2007 in the Oxford Handbook on the United Nations Statement of Length The dissertation does not exceed the word limit of 80,000 words Fieldwork Thailand (money laundering); Indonesia and Burma (deforestation); New York (US money supply); Washington DC and Fort Worth, Texas (Organised Crime linked to terrorist funding); Australia (Sydney, (APG) and Canberra (money laundering, South Pacific); and Rome, Italy (Chinese organised crime). Contact Frank.Madsen@cantab.net Abstract Through an analysis of the presence and nature of international monetary flows of non-declared origin and their relation to deviant knowledge, the thesis determines that both terrorism and organised crime are nurtured by a constant trickle from minor sources rather than by large financial transfers; and that anti-money laundering provisions are misapplied, taken too far, too expensive, and incapable of demonstrating their effectiveness. In lieu of more traditional policy recommendations, the thesis develops a complexity-theory based...
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