Category: Articles of the Week

Articles of the Week – 4/6-4/12

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Monday April 8:

Ideology and armed conflict – Jonathan Leader Maynard, Journal of Peace Research:

Mapping Criminological Engagements Within Radicalization Studies – Fahad Ahmad and Jeffrey Monaghan, The British Journal of Criminology: https://bit.ly/2lCREDi

Wednesday April 10:

Car Bombs As Weapons of War: ISIS’s Development of SVBIEDS, 2014-2019 – Hugo Kaaman, Middle East Institute: https://bit.ly/2P730JW

Thursday April 11:

An Analysis of the Jaysh Khalid bin al-Waleed Military Database – Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, Islamic State Archives:

Articles of the Week – 3/30-4/5

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Monday April 1: 

Livestreaming terror is abhorrent – but is more rushed legislation the answer? – Robert Merkel, The Conversation: https://bit.ly/2K6g7fB

Economic Causes of Female Suicide Terrorism: Perceived Versus Actual – Seung-Whan Choi, Journal of Global Security Studies: https://bit.ly/2nfZ8Nl

Tuesday April 2:

Counter-terrorism and the Internet – Brian Fishman, Texas National Security Review: https://bit.ly/2WQ7NCp

Wednesday April 3:

Strategic Communications of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt – Zhaohui Yu and Yaohong Liu, Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies: https://bit.ly/2YRtofG

Paris and Nice terrorist attacks: Exploring Twitter and web archives – Valérie Schafer, Gérôme Truc, Romain Badouard, Lucien Castex, and Francesca Musiani, Media, War & Conflict:

Making al-Qa’ida legible: Counter-terrorism and the reproduction of terrorism – Sarah G. Phillips, European Journal of International Relations:

Thursday April 4:

The front page as a time freezer: An analysis of the international newspaper coverage after the Charlie Hebdo attacks – Katharina Niemeyer, Media, War & Conflict:

Moderate Islam in the Maghreb: How US foreign policy shapes Islamist contention – Vish Sakthivel, Brookings Institution: https://brook.gs/2UfVo90

Articles of the Week – 3/23-3/29

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Saturday March 23:

Islamic State in Burkina Faso – Heni Nsaibia, MENASTREAM: https://bit.ly/2URex2p

Sunday March 24:

Territorial logic of the Islamic State: an interdisciplinary approach – Burak Kadercan, Territory, Politics, Governance: https://bit.ly/2FAa5yC

Monday March 25:

Determinants of Arab public opinion on the Caliphate: Islamist elites, religiosity and socioeconomic conditions – Amir Abdul Reda, Middle Eastern Studies: https://bit.ly/2I5LkNJ

What Motivates Muslims to Engage in Counterextremism? The Role of Identity, Efficacy, Emotions, and Morality Sadi Shanaah, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism: https://bit.ly/2YzPO4Q

The Tunisian Jihad: Between al‐Qaeda and ISIS – Djallil Lounnas, Middle East Policy:

Kurdish Hizbullah in Turkey: Islamism, Violence and the State – Michael M. Gunter, Middle East Policy:

Tuesday March 26:

Securitization, Islamic chaplaincy, and the issue of (de)radicalization of Muslim detainees in Dutch prisons – Sipco Vellenga, Kees De Groot, Social Compass: https://bit.ly/31fLw44

Wednesday March 27:

Terrorist Use of Cryptocurrencies: Technical and Organizational Barriers and Future Threats – RAND Corporation: https://bit.ly/2TE5IYh

The Battle for Algeria: Explaining Fratricide among Armed Nonstate Actors – Barak Mendelsohn, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism: https://bit.ly/2U3e6pb

Articles of the Week – 3/16-3/22

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Monday March 18:

A ‘Tale of two Jihadis’? Improperly conflating terrorists and foreign fighters in the Arab spring – Michael J. Schumacher and Peter J. Schraeder, Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression: https://bit.ly/2HNQugR

Tuesday March 19:

The Ummah racial project: Arab satellite television, Islamic movements, and the construction of Spanish Moroccan identity – Anwar Ouassini, Ethnic and Racial Studies: https://bit.ly/2Wa8lTk

Destination Jihad- Italy’s Foreign Fighters – Francesco Marone and Lorenzo Vidino, The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague: https://bit.ly/2Ojf7TR

Wednesday March 20:

Terror and the Legitimation of Violence: A Cross-National Analysis on the Relationship between Terrorism and Homicide Rates – Alexander Kamprad & Marieke Liem, Terrorism and Political Violence: https://bit.ly/2U14yu9

Thursday March 21:

Military Interventions, Jihadi Networks, and Terrorist Entrepreneurs: How the Islamic State Terror Wave Rose So High in Europe – Petter Nesser, CTC Sentinel: https://bit.ly/2FmFzrT

The Islamic State’s Revitalization in Libya and its Post-2016 War of Attrition – Lachlan Wilson and Jason Pack, CTC Sentinel: https://bit.ly/2ulBxuz

AQIM Pleads for Relevance in Algeria – Geoff D. Porter, CTC Sentinel: https://bit.ly/2JxYJjX

Why madrassah education reforms don’t work in Pakistan? -Mohsin Bashir and Shoaib Ul Haq, Third World Quarterly: https://bit.ly/2U1TbC9

Terrorism, lightning and falling furniture – Peter J Phillips and Gabriela Pohl, Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression: https://bit.ly/2unUZHl

Friday March 22:

“We Found Their Bodies Later That Day” Atrocities by Armed Islamists and Security Forces in Burkina Faso’s Sahel Region – Human Rights Watch: https://bit.ly/2U4ZJzT

Articles of the Week – 3/9-3/15

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Monday March 11:

Divine Test or Divine Punishment? Explaining Islamic State Losses – Cole Bunzel, Jihadica: https://bit.ly/2Y3WyYe

Terrorism, religion and self-control: An unexpected connection between conservative religious commitment and terrorist efficacy – Ian Ravenscroft, Terrorism and Political Violence: https://bit.ly/2T4B8Xv

Wednesday March 13:

Boko Haram’s Factional Feuds: Internal Extremism and External Interventions – Jacob Zenn, Terrorism and Political Violence: https://bit.ly/2ClChUR

How did the Islamic State’s rise reshape jihadist plots inside Australia? Part 2 – Andrew Zammit, AVERT: https://bit.ly/2F8NFUZ

Thursday March 14:

Justifying relations with an apostate during a Jihad: A Salafi-Jihadist Group’s Relations With Turkey in Syria – Bailey Ulbricht, Middle East Institute: https://bit.ly/2Fgc0cB

The Terrorism Information Environment: Analysing Terrorists’ Selection of Ideological and Facilitative Media Donald Holbrook, Terrorism and Political Violence: https://bit.ly/2HmTQrS

Mapping Connections: A Dark Network Analysis of Neojihadism in Australia – Mitchel Kelly and Anthea McCarthy-Jones, Terrorism and Political Violence: https://bit.ly/2TNiDLD

US Strikes in Somalia and Targeted Civilian Killings by Al-Shabaab: An Empirical Investigation – Bryce W Reeder and John R Smith, Foreign Policy Analysis: https://bit.ly/2kg95c8

Articles of the Week – 3/2-3/8

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Monday March 4:

Jihadist Radicalization in Italian Prisons: A Primer – Francesco Marone and Marco Olimpio, ISPI: https://bit.ly/2Hmyr1l

Islam keeping violent Jihadism at bay in times of Daesh: state religious institutions in Lebanon, Morocco and Saudi Arabia since 2013 – Tine Gade, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs: https://bit.ly/2Th6L4S

Australia – Andrew Zammit, ASPI: https://bit.ly/2TomzCV

Addressing the Myths of Terrorism in America – Jason R. Silva, Celinet Duran, Joshua D. Freilich, and Steven M. Chermak, International Criminal Justice Review: https://bit.ly/2LyS9tm

Wednesday March 6: 

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s ‘Red Bands’: Interview – Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi: https://bit.ly/2IWx4sj

Yihadismo y yihadistas en España. Quince años después del 11-M – Fernando Reinares, Carola García-Calvo, and Álvaro Vicente, Real Instituto Elcano: https://bit.ly/2EIlqMy

Thursday March 7:

Cyber sheiks and grassroots jihadis: the war in Syria and the devolution of the Bosnian Salafi communities – Aleksander Zdravkovski, Small Wars & Insurgencies: https://bit.ly/2u9cvPd

Friday March 8:

The Jihad in Kenya: Understanding Al-Shabaab Recruitment and Terrorist Activity inside Kenya—in Their Own Words – Anne Speckhard and Ardian Shajkovci, African Security: https://bit.ly/2Ho6RBB

Can Benin protect itself from terrorism in the region? – Michaël Matongbada, Institute for Security Studies:

Articles of the Week – 2/23-3/1

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Saturday February 23:

Turning ex-combatants into Sadris: explaining the emergence of the Mahdi Army – Amir Taha, Middle Eastern Studies: https://bit.ly/2EpQ0dB

From Islamic reform to Muslim activism: The evolution of an Islamist ideology in Kenya – Ngala Chome, African Affairs: https://bit.ly/2KYTozx

Monday February 25:

Heretics, Pawns, and Traitors: Anti-Madkhali Propaganda on Libyan Salafi-Jihadi Telegram – Nathan Vest, Jihadology: https://bit.ly/2GUpVHb

Tuesday February 26:

An alternative reading of religion and authoritarianism: the new logic between religion and state in the AKP’s New Turkey – Ahmet Erdi Öztürk, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies: https://bit.ly/2UiQdWY

Wednesday February 27:

Repatriating Western Jihadists: The Impact of U.S. Syria Policy – Matthew Levitt and Aaron Y. Zelin, Washington Institute for Near East Policy: https://bit.ly/2GUq7pT

Transnational security challenges in North Africa: Moroccan foreign fighters in Syria 2012–2016 – Mohammed Masbah, Middle Eastern Studies: https://bit.ly/2En6iUD

Philippines: The Black Flag Flies on Facebook – Nathan Shea, Vox-Pol: https://bit.ly/2tKBCaT

Perspectives on the Future of Women, Gender and Violent Extremism – Audrey Alexander, Program on Extremism: https://bit.ly/2IHQKjF

Thursday February 28:

Fringe Fluidity: How Prior Extremist Involvement Serves as a Distinct Radicalization Pathway – Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Madeleine Blackman, Jihadology: https://bit.ly/2BZ0iAZ

Friday March 1:

Dealing with the dark side: The effects of right-wing extremist and Islamist extremist propaganda from a social identity perspective – Diana Rieger, Lena Frischlich, and Gary Bente, Media, War & Conflict: https://bit.ly/2NOY38d

The calypso caliphate: how Trinidad became a recruiting ground for ISIS – Simon Cottee, International Affairs: https://bit.ly/2Tp40yx

Articles of the Week – 2/16-2/22

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Monday February 18:

Cold war-era relations between west Germany and Turkish political Islam: from an anti-communist alliance to a domestic security issue – Behlul Ozkan, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies: https://bit.ly/2UakyXi

Crime and terror of social exclusion: The case of 13 imams in Bulgaria – Bogdan Panayotov, European Journal of Criminology: https://bit.ly/2E3alFC

Tuesday February 19:

“Faint lights twinkling against the dark”: Reportage from the fight against ISKP in Nangrahar – Andrew Quilty, Afghanistan Analyst Network:

Fear of terrorism: media exposure and subjective fear of attack – Harley Williamson, Suzanna Fay, and Toby Miles-Johnson, Global Crime: https://bit.ly/2Sn1Nyx

Wednesday February 20:

The Role of Islamist Ideology in Shaping Muslims Believers’ Attitudes toward Terrorism: Evidence from Europe – Clara Egger and Raùl Magni-Berton, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism: https://bit.ly/2Vkjd0D

Topics in terrorism research: reviewing trends and gaps, 2007-2016 – Bart Schuurman, Critical Studies on Terrorism: https://bit.ly/2XgZtfQ

Friday February 22:

Not Gonna Be Able To Do It: al-Qaeda in Tunisia’s Inability to Take Advantage of the Islamic State’s Setbacks – Aaron Y. Zelin, Perspectives on Terrorism:

The Islamic State After the Caliphate Ideological Infighting in the Islamic State – Cole Bunzel, Perspectives on Terrorism:

The Islamic State’s Way of War in Iraq and Syria: From its Origins to the Post Caliphate Era – Ahmed H. Hashim, Perspectives on Terrorism:

Who are the ISIS People? – Vera Mironova, Perspectives on Terrorism:

From Directorate of Intelligence to Directorate of Everything: The Islamic State’s Emergent Amni-Media Nexus – Asaad Almohammad and Charlie Winter, Perspectives on Terrorism:

Making Sense of Jihadi Stratcom: The Case of the Islamic State – Charlie Winter, Perspectives on Terrorism:

The Failing Islamic State Within the Failed State of Yemen – Elisabeth Kendall, Perspectives on Terrorism:

The Islamic State’s Provinces on the Periphery: Juxtaposing the Pledges from Boko Haram in Nigeria and Abu Sayyaf and Maute Group in the Philippines – Jacob Zenn, Perspectives on Terrorism:

Understanding Muslims’ Support for Suicide Bombing in West Africa: A Replication Study – C. Christine Fair and Samta Savla, Perspectives on Terrorism:

Articles of the Week – 2/9-2/15

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Monday February 11:

Violent Extremism and Terrorism Online in 2018: The Year in Review – Maura Conway, Vox-Pol: https://bit.ly/2GrELF8

Aid, Intervention, and Terror: The Impact of Foreign Aid and Foreign Military Intervention on Terror Events and Severity – Orlandrew E. Danzell, Emizet F. Kisangani, and Jeffrey Pickering, Social Science Quarterly:

Wednesday February 13:

Beauty tips and bullets: the magazines shaping the ideal jihadist woman – Reem Abdelaziz, BBC Monitoring: https://bit.ly/2WZPGLf

What Matters Is Who Supports You: Diaspora and Foreign States as External Supporters and Militants’ Adoption of Nonviolence – Marina G. Petrova, Journal of Conflict Resolution: https://bit.ly/2X4LN7S

Jihadism and crime in Spain: A convergence settings approach – Javier Argomaniz and Rut Bermejo, European Journal of Criminology: https://bit.ly/2Nn1PoX

Thursday February 14:

Networks of Cooperation: Rebel Alliances in Fragmented Civil Wars – Emily Kalah Gade, Michael Gabbay, Mohammed M. Hafez, and Zane Kelly, Journal of Conflict Resolution: https://bit.ly/2NIwzD8

Friday February 15:

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s Internal Conflict and Renewed Tensions with Hurras al-Deen – Tore R. Hamming, Jihadica: https://bit.ly/2Ixkv6E

How ‘gangsters’ become jihadists: Bourdieu, criminology and the crime–terrorism nexus – Jonathan Ilan, Sveinung Sandberg, European Journal of Criminology: https://bit.ly/2VcQL0j

Islamization of criminal behaviour: The path to terrorism? Terrorist threat and crime in French counterterrorism policy-formulation – Silvia D’Amato, European Journal of Criminology: https://bit.ly/2IvEDpY

Articles of the Week – 2/2-2/8

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Monday February 4

Crime, Conflict, and the Legitimacy Trade-Off: Explaining Variation in Insurgents’ Participation in Crime – Victor H. Asal, R. Karl Rethemeyer, and Eric W. Schoon, The Journal of Politics: https://bit.ly/2TGhkuA

Tuesday February 5:

Saudi Foreign Fighters: Analysis of Leaked Islamic State Entry Documents – Abdullah bin Khaled Al-Saud, ICSR: https://bit.ly/2Dbz7ms

The Double-track System of Terrorism Proscription in China – Chi Zhang, Terrorism and Political Violence: https://bit.ly/2GuQ7Y4

Thursday February 7:

Preventing the Next Wave of Foreign Terrorist Fighters: Lessons Learned from the Experiences of Algeria and Tunisia – R. Kim Cragin, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism: https://bit.ly/2E0DJxg

Recruitment and Incitement to Violence in the Islamic State’s Online Propaganda: Comparative Analysis of Dabiq and Rumiyah – Miron Lakomy, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism:

Russian IS militant captured by SDF served in Russian Army in 2012 & was with “Jihadi Tolik” in Syria – Joanna Paraszczuk, Chechens in Syria: https://bit.ly/2UNMDUA