Terrorism

Introduction

Terrorism - Research Guide International Law

The adoption of the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Terrorism by the League of Nations in 1937 marked the entrance of terrorism in the field of international law. The present-day international legal framework for the prevention and combatting of terrorism started in the 1960’s with the adoption of the 1963 Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed On Board Aircraft. This framework now consists of various multilateral treaties and protocols relating to specific categories of terrorist acts as well as several regional conventions on international terrorism in general. However, a comprehensive multilateral convention on terrorism is still lacking. This is mainly due to the continuing lack of agreement within the United Nations on a common definition of international terrorism.

This Research Guide is intended as a starting point for research on Terrorism. It provides the basic legal materials available in the Peace Palace Library, both in print and electronic format. Handbooks, leading articles, bibliographies, periodicals, serial publications and documents of interest are presented in the Selective Bibliography section. Links to the PPL Catalogue are inserted. The Library’s classification index code 250a. Crimes against Foreign States (Counterfeiting Currency, Terrorism, etc.) and subject heading (keyword) Terrorism are instrumental for searching through the Catalogue. Special attention is given to our subscriptions on databases, e-journals, e-books and other electronic resources. Finally, this Research Guide features links to relevant websites and other online resources of particular interest.

As this subject can count on a worldwide interest, Cambridge University Press decided to make available a selection of journal articles dealing with the subject ‘Terrorism’. We quote: “We are pleased to offer you free online access to this selection of articles on the subject of terrorism taken from our International Relations journals. They are available until the 6th of October 2012 without charge. “. Click this link to visit Cambridge University Press .

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1. Pravove reguljuvannja antyterorystyčnoji dijalʹnosti v Ukrajini
Pravove reguljuvannja antyterorystyčnoji dijalʹnosti v Ukrajini : monografija / S.A. Trofimov. - Charkiv : Pravo, 2012. - 240 p. ; 20 cm Nacionalʹnyj universitet "Jurydyčna akademija Ukrajiny imeni Jaroslava Mudrogo". - Met lit. opg. - 2012
Keywords: Ukraine, Terrorism, Prevention, Legal regime,

2. A guerra contra o terrorismo
A guerra contra o terrorismo : um novo tipo de conflicto armado? / Maria de Assunção do Vale Pereira. - Valencia : Tirant lo Blanch In: Estudios de derecho internacional y derecho europeo en homenaje al profesor Manuel Pérez González / ed.Jorge Cardona Llorens ... [et al.], ISBN 8490049998: vol. 1, page 491-519. - 2012
Keywords: United States of America, Terrorism, Pre-emptive use of force, Armed conflicts, Detainees, International humanitarian law,

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  • Hanhimäki, J.M., and B. Blumenau (eds.), An International History of Terrorism: Western and Non-Western Experiences, London, Routledge, 2013.

    Hanhimäki and Blumeau

    The aim of this book is to provide readers with the tools to understand the historical evolution of terrorism and counterterrorism over the past 150 years. In order to appreciate the contemporary challenges posed by terrorism it is necessary to look at its evolution, at the different phases it has gone through, and the transformations it has experienced. The same applies to the solutions that states have come up with to combat terrorism: the nature of terrorism changes but still it is possible to learn from past experiences even though they are not directly applicable to the present. This book provides a fresh look at the history of terrorism by providing in-depth analysis of several important terrorist crises and the reactions to them in the West and beyond. The general framework is laid out in four parts: terrorism prior to the Cold War, the Western experience with terrorism, non-Western experiences with terrorism, and contemporary terrorism and anti-terrorism. The issues covered offer a broad range of historical and current themes, many of which have been neglected in existing scholarship; it also features a chapter on the waves phenomenon of terrorism against its international background.

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  • Samuel, K.L.H., and N.D. White (eds.), Counter-Terrorism and International Law, Farnham, Ashgate, 2012.

    Samuel, K.L.H., and N.D. White (eds.), Counter-Terrorism and International Law, Farnham, Ashgate, 2012.

    The articles and essays in this volume consider the problem of international terrorism from an international legal perspective. The articles address a range of issues starting with the dilemma of how to reach agreement on what constitutes terrorism and how to encapsulate this in a legitimate definition. The essays move on to examine the varied responses to terrorism by states and international organisations. These responses range from the suppression conventions of the Cold War, which were directed at criminalising and punishing various manifestations of terrorism, to more coercive, executive-led responses. Finally, the articles consider the role of the Security Council in developing legal regimes to combat terrorism, for example by the use of targeted sanctions, or by general legislative measures. An evaluation of the contribution of the sum of these measures to the goals of peace and security as embodied in the UN Charter is central to this collection.

     

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  • Murphy, C.C., EU Counter-Terrorism Law: Pre-Emption and the Rule of Law, Oxford, Hart, 2012.

    Murphy, C.C.

    EU Counter-Terrorism Law: Pre-emption and the Rule of Law is a detailed study of EU action to combat terrorism since 11 September 2001 and the implications that action has had for the EU legal order. It critically examines EU counter-terrorism measures to ascertain how rule of law principles have been affected in the ‘war on terror’. The book opens with a critical examination of the rule of law in the EU legal order. It then provides an overview of the “war on terror” before analysing five key facets of EU counter-terrorism: the common European definition of terrorism along with related offences contained in the Framework Decision on Combating Terrorism; the EU’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist finance laws; UN and EU targeted asset-freezing sanctions; EU data retention measures such as the Data Retention Directive and the Passenger Name Records agreements; and the European Arrest Warrant and European Evidence Warrant. The book argues that EU counter-terrorism is weakening the rule of law and bypassing safeguards in favour of a system emphasising coercive control over individual autonomy. It concludes by examining the prospects for the future as the EU becomes a more powerful security actor following the Lisbon Treaty and the adoption of the Stockholm Programme.

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  • Monshipouri, M., Terrorism, Security, and Human Rights: Harnessing the Rule of Law, Boulder, CO, Rienner, 2012.

    Monshipouri, M., Terrorism, Security, and Human Rights: Harnessing the Rule of Law, Boulder, CO, Rienner, 2012.

    Scholars and policymakers disagree on the most effective way to counter transnational terrorism, generating debate on a range of questions: Do military interventions increase or decrease the recruitment capability of transnational terrorists? Should we privilege diplomacy over military force in the campaign against terror? Can counterterrorist measures be applied without violating human rights? More fundamentally, is it possible to effectively wage a war against terrorism? Grappling with these questions, Mahmood Monshipouri reviews alternative strategies for combating terrorism and makes the case for the continued relevance of international law and diplomacy as measures for severing its roots in the Middle East and elsewhere. Monshipouri underlines the need to redefine security to include the protection of human rights. In that context, he examines the limits of the use of force, torture, and externally imposed democratization and focuses on the conditions under which alternative counterterrorism tools can be viable. While acknowledging that there is no easy remedy to the tensions between security needs and human rights, he makes a compelling argument that the pursuit of a security template that sacrifices civil liberties is not only morally debilitating, but also politically imprudent.

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  • Hillebrand, C., Counter-Terrorism Networks in the European Union : Maintaining Democratic Legitimacy after 9/11, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012.

    Hillebrand, C., Counter-Terrorism Networks in the European Union : Maintaining Democratic Legitimacy after 9/11, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012.

    Counter-Terrorism Networks in the European Union: Maintaining Democratic Legitimacy after 9/11 presents a model of democratic legitimacy for within international counter-terrorism co-operation. Exploring the current practices of European Union (EU) counter-terrorism policing, developed after 9/11, it highlights the current significant challenges to democratic legitimacy and seeks to present tools and solutions which ensure ‘democratic’ counter-terrorism actions and the protection of human rights. Counter-terrorism policing is now a global concern, with co-operation between security authorities of different countries a crucial feature in the fight to prevent terrorism and extremism. Yet, given the emphasis on pre-emption, this type of policing tends to interfere to a far greater extent with the rights of the individual than traditional policing. This book scrutinises the current focus of enhanced communication between counter-terrorist associates at member-state and EU levels within Europe, alongside analysis of just how far the traditional, protective mechanisms of accountability and oversight are managing to keep up with this development. It proposes that current forms of counter-terrorism policing within the EU should be understood as networks – sets of expert institutional nodes or individual agents, from at least two countries – that are interconnected in order to authorize and provide security with regard to counter-terrorism, using the European Police Office (Europol) as a key example.

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  • Proulx, V.-J., Transnational Terrorism and State Accountability : A New Theory of Prevention, Oxford, Hart, 2012.

    Proulx, V.-J., Transnational Terrorism and State Accountability : A New Theory of Prevention, Oxford, Hart, 2012.

    Every State has an obligation to prevent terrorist attacks emanating from its territory. This proposition stems from various multilateral agreements and UN Security Council resolutions. This study exhaustively addresses the scope of this obligation of prevention and the legal consequences flowing from its violation, so as to provide greater clarity on governments’ counterterrorism duties and to enhance State accountability for preventable wrongs. It defines the contents and contours of the obligation while placing critical emphasis on the mechanics of State responsibility. Whether obscured by new technologies like the Internet, the sophisticated cellular structure of some terrorist organisations or convoluted political realities, the level of governmental involvement in terrorist activities is no longer readily discernible in every instance. Furthermore, the prospect of governments waging surrogate warfare through proxies also poses intractable challenges to the mechanism of attribution in the context of State responsibility. This monograph sets out the shortcomings of the extant scheme of State responsibility while identifying a paradigm shift towards more indirect modes of accountability under international law, a trend corroborated by recent State and institutional practice. Drawing on varied legal and theoretical influences, the study devises and prescriptively argues for the implementation of a strict liability-inspired model grounded in the logic of indirect responsibility with a view to enhancing State compliance with counterterrorism obligations. This shifts the policy focus squarely to prevention, while promoting multilateralism and transnational cooperation. Ultimately, the legal and policy sensibilities underlying the book converge into a new theory of prevention in counterterrorism contexts.

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  • Dalacoura, K. Islamist Terrorism and Democracy in the Middle East, New York, NY, Cambridge University Press, 2011.

    Dalacoura, K. Islamist Terrorism and Democracy in the Middle East, New York, NY, Cambridge University Press, 2011.

    What were the reasons behind the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the many others perpetrated by radical Islamist groups? Does the cause of Islamist terrorism relate to the lack of democracy in the Middle East? The assumption that there is a causal link between the two phenomena was widely accepted in the post-2001 period and appeared to inform Western foreign policies in the region, but does the premise really stand up to scrutiny? Through detailed research into the activities of both radical and moderate organizations across the Middle East, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hizbullah, and the GIA, and via interviews with key personnel, Katerina Dalacoura investigates whether repression and political exclusion pushed Islamist entities to adopt terrorist tactics. She explores whether inclusion in the political process has had the opposite effect of encouraging Islamist groups toward moderation and ideological pragmatism. In a challenge to the conventional wisdom, she concludes that Islamist terrorism is not a direct consequence of authoritarianism in the Middle East, and that there are many other political and social factors that generate radicalism or inspire moderation.

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  • Trapp, K.N., State Responsibility for International Terrorism: Problems and Prospects, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011.

    Trapp, K.N., State Responsibility for International Terrorism: Problems and Prospects, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011.
    The rules of state responsibility have an important but under-utilized role to play in the terrorism context. They determine both whether a breach of primary obligations has occurred, through the rules of attribution, and the consequences which flow from that breach, including the possible adoption of responsive measures by injured states. This book explores the substantive international legal obligations and rules of state responsibility applicable to international terrorism and examines the problems and prospects for effectively holding states responsible for internationally wrongful acts related to terrorism. In particular, it analyses the way in which the implementation of state responsibility for international terrorism may be affected by the self-determination debate and any applicable lex specialis (including the jus in bello), including any sub-systems of international law (such as the WTO), as well as by the interaction between determinations of individual criminal responsibility and the implementation of state responsibility. The international community has responded to the threat of international terrorism through both a security/jus ad bellum paradigm and by creating an international criminal law framework to address the conduct of non-state terrorist actors. The secondary rules of state responsibility analyzed in this book cut across both approaches as they apply regardless of states breaching their primary obligations relating to terrorism through participation in or a failure to prevent or punish terrorism. While this book identifies a number of problems in implementing state responsibility for international terrorism, it also highlights the prospects for the rules of state responsibility to make a crucial contribution to maintaining respect for obligations which lie at the very foundations of the contemporary international legal order, and to restoring the relationships between states if those obligations are breached.
     
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  • Bianchi, A., and Y. Naqvi, International Humanitarian Law and Terrorism, Oxford, Hart, 2011.

    bianchi

    This book carefully and thoroughly analyses the legal questions raised by the phenomenon of terrorism, and past and recent efforts to fight it, from the perspective of international humanitarian law (IHL). The objective is to substantially contribute to a better understanding of the issues surrounding the content and applicability of IHL as it applies to terrorism as well as to analyse and contextualise the current debates on these controversial and critically important questions. While due heed is paid to doctrinal debates, particular emphasis is placed on the practice of social actors, particularly, although not exclusively, States. The analysis of their actual conduct as well as their expectations about the interpretation and application of the law is crucial to establishing an interpretive consensus on when and how IHL is relevant to regulate acts of terrorism.The approach of the book is analytical and discursive, rather than prescriptive. Thus the reader will find the relevant rules of IHL and other legal regimes as regards terrorism, but also the debates over their application, the contradictions in State practice and the impact these may have upon IHL’s evolution and implementation.

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Database

Blogs

  • Homeland, Zero Dark Thirty and Jack Bauer: Rendition, Torture and the Demise of American Values

    The latest in a series of Hollywood productions which reopened a debate about torture and extraordinary rendition is Zero Dark Thirty. Real life variations of Hollywood-scenarios have been unfolding as the US government has engaged in a program of extraordinary rendition since the Clinton Administration and which became widespread under the Bush Administration following the September 11 terrorist attacks.This blog examines Obama’s policy towards torture and (extraordinary) rendition.

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  • Colombia: At Last Peace with the FARC?

    Columbia’s fourth attempt at peace with the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) started formally last month in Oslo and will continue the 15th of November in Havana, Cuba. The earlier attempts- starting in 1984, 1990 and 1998- to end one of Latin America’s longest and bloodiest armed conflict all failed. Why would the outcome of the peace talks this time be different?

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  • New Institute for Counter-terrorism in the Hague

    Three Hague-based organizations, T.M.C. Asser Institute, the Centre for Terrorism and Counterterrorism of the University of Leiden/Campus Den Haag and the Dutch Institute for International Relations ‘Clingendael’, announced to join forces to set up an independent institute that will contribute to the study and policy-making in the field of counter-terrorism. The institute is financed by [...]

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  • International Conference on Afghanistan, The Hague, 31 March 2009

    On 31 March 2009, the Dutch government is hosting the ´International Conference on Afghanistan: a Comprehensive Strategy in a Regional Context´ at the World Forum in The Hague.

    Building on the achievements of previous Conferences in Bonn, London and Paris, this Conference should reaffirm the solid and long-term commitment of the international community to [...]

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  • Hostages rescued in Colombia

    Terrorism in the jungle. Colombian armed forces rescued 15 hostages, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Ms Betancourt was held prisoner for six years in the Colombian jungle.

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See also

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