The act of terrorism is a widely discussed topic. How it is conducted as well as how it is countered. A term not so often discussed is the changes we have seen within the field itself, one example being the theory brought about by Peter R. Neumann. This theory is known as Older & Newer Terrorism which divides the terrorism of old with the type of terrorism nowadays. The theory indicates a shift in the structure, aim and methods of terrorist organizations. This being from a hierarchical, nationalist/marxist way with attacks aimed at legitimate targets towards a networked and transnational structure which is religiously inspired and makes use of mass-casualty attacks against civilians. With that aim the thesis seeks to put the theory to the test using the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), and determine whether or not it holds up to the test of time. It shows that the theory has some struggle with defining the NRM as a terrorist organization which would operate under the Newer Terrorism term. This in turn leads to the questions of whether or not the theory is flawed in some way, or that the NRM simply should be considered an old terrorist organization.

The purpose of this study was to analyze local law enforcement's counter-terrorism capabilities as it relates to the varying size of United States local law enforcement agencies. Data for the study came from a study entitled "Impact of Terrorism on State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies and Criminal Justice Systems in the United States, 2004". Statistical analysis revealed that there are large disparities in the allocation of resources to intelligence gathering, analyzing, and sharing between smaller local law enforcement agencies and their larger counterparts. Furthermore, smaller agencies are not interacting with federal agencies in a manner consistent with the interactions between larger agencies and federal authorities. However, the study did reveal officers in smaller local law enforcement agencies have undertaken the duties of homeland security on a level commensurate with those in larger local law enforcement agencies.

Since the crusades, terrorism has been a form of violence used to promote some kind of agenda, whether political, social, religious or ideological (Martin 2018). With many different definitions of what constitutes terrorism, it is somewhat difficult to measure what exact impact terrorism has had globally. Attacks such as those on 9/11 in the United States and the Manchester bombings have been accepted worldwide as examples of acts of international terrorism. International terrorist attacks have lasting effects on both those directly affected as well as the larger community and beyond. Studies have shown that Americans are overly afraid of terrorism given their risk and want to put a complete and 'final' end to terrorism (Friedman 2011; Mueller 2005). Additionally, media outlets and politicians speak of threats and demand action which spreads fear and perceived risk (Bloch-Elkon 2011; Nellis and Savage 2012). This study seeks to contribute to the previous literature on people's fears regarding terrorism and how their emotions affect the desires to have action done regarding terrorist attacks. The current research uses a sample of 302 people to compare the levels of fear and the likelihood to want more action taken towards terrorism. The results from the statistical analysis show that fears and desire to seek action are shaped by many different variables. Gender was found to be the biggest predictor of higher levels of fear and political affiliation was determined to be the strongest predictor for desire to seek action.

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This research goes over various threats that the United States may deal with in the future, how severe they may be, and what policy implications and further research could be done. This research is done by case studies, looking into different previous threats to the United States including the Cold War, the September 11th, 2001, attacks, the anti-western or jihadist terrorist groups, and the usage of biological and chemical weapons in terrorist attacks. After detailing the changes that have occurred in recent times, such as the evolution of technology and social media, it is explained how this can influence terrorism and conflict in years to come. Next, the paper goes over whether current threats to the United States, drugs, terrorist weapons, terrorist groups, and specific countries will continue to be a threat to the United States. This is done by using qualitative and quantitative data and researching scholarly articles to see if the trends and number of attacks or incidents that occurred within recent years can give an indicator of how likely these attacks are going to maintain or increase in frequency. After that, there are recommendations for policies and programs to help prevent these threats from resulting in catastrophic damage or loss of life.

This dissertation examines the impact of citizen's perception of community policing on public attitudes toward fear of terrorism, resilience for a future terrorist attack, and satisfaction with the police in the face of new terrorism. In particular, considering the changing nature of terrorism in recent years as a response to the centralized homeland security efforts, this dissertation attempts to develop our understanding about the extent to which community policing could be a strategy in dealing with terrorism fear among citizens, in building up resilience for future terrorist attacks, and to increase citizens' satisfaction with the police in order to enhance the quality of life in the face of new terrorism. Additionally, this dissertation examines the impact of the variation in the level of community policing implementation on public attitudes toward fear of terrorism, resilience for a future terrorist attack, and satisfaction with the police. Data was collected through an online survey conducted in the cities of Arlington and Frisco, Texas. The survey distributed to the citizens through the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform. These cities were selected based on a community policing scale which was created through the help of the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey. Results suggest significant association between the citizen's perception of community policing and fear of terrorism, resilience, and satisfaction with the police respectively, highlighting the importance of community policing philosophy as a framework for a comprehensive proactive strategy in response to the existing and ongoing terrorism threat.

published_or_final_version / Asian Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Terrorism and civil war have each been studied heavily by scholars of non-state political violence; however, the two have typically been kept analytically distinct. Broadly, this project argues for treating these varying types of violence as more similar than different. While terrorism and civil war are not the same thing, they do exhibit powerful similarities both conceptually and empirically. By treating terrorism and civil war as distinct, scholars have missed out on many new insights gained from a more unified approach to non-state violence.Broadly, this project begins with the basic assumption that civil war and terrorism are not types of violence; rather, they are types of politics. Groups use terrorism and engage in civil war when those tools are available and useful, given the goals of the group. For violent groups, terrorism is versatile tool that can be used in many environments. Civil wars, while larger and rarer, are logically identical; if a group grows to be sufficiently large and powerful, and it is otherwise unable to change policy some other way, a civil war is a natural and unsurprising event.Studying violence by segmenting it into such distinct types has left scholars with disjointed explanations and no ability to bring together small-scale and large-scale events - like terrorism and civil war. The purpose of this project is to act as an initial step by suggesting a framework where varying types of non-state violence can simultaneously exist.In addition to the theoretical contributions of Part 1, the project demonstrates powerful new insights that can be realized by approaching non-state violence in a more unified manner. Part 2 provides two empirical chapters demonstrating insights from approaching terrorism and civil war together. Chapter 4 shows that terrorism data can be used as a temporally specific predictor of civil war onset. Next, Chapter 5 frames international terrorism as a transnational outcome of civil wars. Ultimately, much can be learned from treating non-state violence in a more unified manner.

Following the 9/11 terrorist events in the United States, the Mexican Navy developed strategies designed to prevent similar attacks on the strategic facilities located in the Campeche Sound in the Gulf of Mexico. The Sound is of great economic importance because more than 83 percent of the petroleum produced in Mexico is extracted from that area. This also makes it a key potential target for international terrorists. This research analyzed and evaluated the Mexican Navy's allocation of surveillance and interdiction resources assigned to the Campeche Sound. The data was obtained via an agent-based simulation, implemented through the use of the software program Map Aware Non-uniform Automata (MANA). The simulation model includes the presence of terrorist boats attacking oil platforms, the Navy resources in the area, service-provider ships in the Sound, and fishing boats that often penetrate into the Sound's exclusion and prevention zones. From the study is concluded that: the most important threat factor in the scenarios is the speed of the enemy boats; and, with its broad surveillance and communication capabilities, the HAWKEYE is the most important navy resource in the area. The results also provide an operational guide to allocate the Navy units in the Campeche Sound.