New trends in terrorism studies: strengths and weaknesses

Abstract

Terrorist insurgencies, in all their configurations and local conflicts, constitute the primary warfare threat facing the international community. This is especially the case after September 2001, with al-Qaeda and its affiliates demonstrating their world-class ambitions to inflict catastrophic damage on their adversaries. In other conflicts, such as the rebellions by the LTTE in Sri Lanka and ETA in Spain, such insurgencies are largely localized. However, in the Palestinian-Israeli arena, although the Palestinian component is localized, other transnational groups are also involved, such as the Lebanese Hizballah and al-Qaeda and its affiliates, which also target Israel and its overseas interests. Because of the worldwide reach of al-Qaeda and its affiliates, including the spontaneous emergence of al-Qaedainspired groupings around the world, many nations have been upgrading their homeland security defenses and calling on their academic communities to provide analytical understanding of the nature and magnitude of the threat and how to counteract and resolve it. As a result, terrorism courses, research institutes and certificate programs have been proliferating at universities and other academic institutions around the world, although the quality of their instructors’ expertise, curriculum and textbooks is mixed.