Suchergebnisse

The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) & the rise in increasingly violent terrorism have coincided this decade to spur many governments to action. This article explores how the US Congress has reacted to this new threat to national security in its attempts to combat both proliferation & terrorism. It recounts the evolution of the congressional response from borderline apathy to intense concern & concludes by demonstrating Congress' desire to focus more on the threat of domestic terrorism as opposed to that of international proliferation. Adapted from the source document.

The exaggerated threat of chemical & biological terrorism has led US policymakers in a fervent charge to develop adequate homeland defense. As a direct result, in 1997, US Congress approved the creation of the National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams (CSTs). While the US' willingness to tackle the challenge of homeland defense should be commended, the rapid development of the National Guard Civil Support Teams should not be. Concerns with operational utility, financial feasibility, & federal integration are overlooked while the number of Civil Support Teams continues to grow. 1 Glossary. Adapted from the source document.

In 1901, the anarchist assassination of President McKinley aroused tremendous anger throughout the US & was the catalyst for diplomatic efforts to coordinate transatlantic measures against the anarchists. Why, then, did America refuse to sign the St. Petersburg Protocol on international anti-anarchist police cooperation agreed to in 1904 by much of continental Europe? This article seeks to answer that question as well as to chart the little-known role in the war against anarchism of the Secret Service &, beginning in 1910, of the nascent Bureau of Investigation. Adapted from the source document.

In a review in 1988, Schmid & Jongman identified a number of key problems in research on terrorism. These included serious concerns with the methodologies being used by researchers to gather data & with the level of analysis that was undertaken once data was available. Following on from this work, this article draws on a review of research published between 1995 & 2000. It was found that the problems identified in 1988 remain as serious as ever. Research is ultimately aimed at arriving at a level of knowledge & understanding where one can explain why certain events have happened & be able to accurately predict the emergence & outcome of similar events in the future. Terrorism research, however, has failed to arrive at that level of knowledge. This article outlines some of the causes of these continuing problems & highlights ways in which the situation can be improved. 1 Table, 3 Figures. Adapted from the source document.

Although recent debate in the US about the threat of weapons of mass destruction terrorism has focused on attacks against humans, the US government is concerned that the agricultural sector, a vital part of the US economy, is also vulnerable. This article assesses the potential economic impact of a biological weapons attack against US agriculture, arguing that US agriculture is too diversified to be catastrophically affected by a single attack, even in an incident involving a highly infectious & resilient pathogen. Where crop cultivation is highly localized, & in regions that are economically dependent on a single crop, the potential exists for an attack devastating to a particular crop or area. Moreover, in certain sectors, particularly beef cattle, there are choke-points that could multiply the effects of an attack. Due to the scale of the industry, such an attack would cause major economic losses & have a national impact. Finally, this article examines previous agricultural attacks & naturally-occurring disease outbreaks. It concludes that while the potential economic costs of such attacks are considerable, the lack of significant terrorist incidents suggests that agriculture is seldom a target for such attacks & that achieving a major outbreak is quite difficult. Adapted from the source document.

Religion & national identity are two dominant features of many of ethnic struggles. The purpose of this study is to determine which of the two has a greater impact on protest & rebellion using large-n methodology, employing variables from the Minorities at Risk Phase 3 dataset as well as data collected independently. It was found that the simple answer is that nationalism has a greater impact on conflict than does religion. However, this simple answer is not an accurate answer. This is because the simple answer that nationalism has a greater influence is to a great extent due to the fact that the majority of ethnic conflicts are between groups that are not religiously different. If one looks only at those ethnic conflicts where religion can potentially be a factor, religious & national issues are involved in ethnic conflicts approximately as often. Also, while religious issues alone seem to have less of an influence on ethnic conflict than national issues, religious issues have a strong influence on the relationship between nationalism & ethnic conflict, to the extent that the relationship between nationalism & ethnic conflict cannot be fully understood without accounting for the influence of religion. 4 Tables, 3 Figures. Adapted from the source document.

This article reviews the history of the various political parties associated with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) & the Ulster Defence Assoc (UDA): the two main loyalist or Protestant terrorist organizations in Northern Ireland. In the 1970s & 1980s, the UDA was more successful than the UVF in establishing a political presence, partly because it had the more distinct political philosophy & partly because its political leaders were able to distance themselves from the organization's terror campaign. However, since the ceasefires of 1994, fortunes have been reversed. The UVF's political party has been more successful; partly because it has managed to create the more distinct political position & partly because the new climate made close association with terrorism something of a political advantage. Adapted from the source document.

Like other studies in the field of counter-terrorism, the question underlying this article is to what degree can a democracy lead an effective struggle against terrorism & at the same time uphold its liberal, or even democratic, character? This article seeks to elaborate on the theoretical tools used for answering this question by developing the operational aspects of the "war model" & "criminal justice model" in the war against terrorism & then by presenting an "expanded criminal justice model" to mediate between the two already existing models. This continuum of models is then tested on the Israeli response to Jewish terrorism & possible explanations for the state's decision to move from one model to the other are presented. One of the central conclusions of the study is that the most successful antiterrorist campaigns led by Israel against Jewish terrorists were the ones in which the state's authorities did not cross any democratic boundaries. 1 Table. Adapted from the source document.

The "new terrorism" is said to be more networked, ad hoc, lethal, & dangerous than the old. This assessment of these claims concludes that terrorism currently differs little from its previous manifestations, except for the somewhat increased likelihood that a chemical, biological, nuclear or radiological weapon might be used by terrorists. This does not necessarily mean that terrorism is more dangerous than it was. The critical factor in assessing the threat posed by terrorism is whether it is used strategically. 1 Table. Adapted from the source document.