The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research

Alex Schmid, Alex P. Schmid

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781136810398
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politica e relazioni internazionali
• Subtopic: Terrorismo

This major new Handbook synthesises more than two decades of scholarly research, and provides a comprehensive overview of the field of terrorism studies.

The content of the Handbook is based on the responses to a questionnaire by nearly 100 experts from more than 20 countries as well as the specific expertise and experience of the volume editor and the various contributors. Together, they guide the reader through the voluminous literature on terrorism, and propose a new consensus definition of terrorism, based on an extensive review of existing conceptualisations. The work also features a large collection of typologies and surveys a wide range of theories of terrorism. Additional chapters survey terrorist databases and provide a guide to available resources on terrorism in libraries and on the Internet. It also includes the most comprehensive World Directory of Extremist, Terrorist and other Organizations associated with Guerrilla Warfare, Political Violence, Protest and Organized- and Cyber-Crime.

The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research will be an essential work of reference for students and researchers of terrorism and political violence, security studies, criminology, political science and international relations, and of great interest to policymakers and professionals in the field of counter-terrorism.

6 INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD DIRECTORY OF EXTREMIST, TERRORIST AND OTHER ORGANISATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH GUERRILLA WARFARE, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, PROTEST, ORGANISED CRIME AND CYBER-CRIME

Albert J. Jongman

DOI: 10.4324/9780203828731-6

Introduction

In the 1984 and 1988 editions of Political Terrorism: A (New) Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Database, Theories, and Literature by A.P. Schmid and A.J. Jongman, a ‘World Directory of Terrorist and Other Organisations associated with Guerrilla Warfare, Political Violence, and Protest’ was included, listing 2,160 armed and militant groups. The present directory is an update. Because of space limitations, it was decided to include only the names of the more than 6,400 organisations listed here (in Appendix 7). In the Glossary to this handbook, the reader will find brief descriptions of some of the more prominent ones. For others, the reader will have to turn to the internet or to subscription-based data providers such as Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (JTIC) to find more information.

Much contemporary terrorism reflects a tactic employed by weak parties in asymmetric armed conflicts with one or several state actors. Many conflicts are of long duration and go through phases of varying intensity. Any printed directory, including the present one, is therefore bound to provide only a snapshot in the life cycles of non-state armed groups, and will, to some extent, already be outdated by the time it is published. Groups and organisations can quickly disappear, fracture, regroup or alter their names, become legal political parties, or cease to be designated as terrorist, insurgent or criminal entities. For these reasons, the list presented here is to a certain extent inflated, since different names of some organisations at different points in time in their life cycles appear as separate listings. Organisational splits, as well as fusions or alliances, pose problems for those trying to monito...