FEATURED
New infographic series explores cartel operations in Mexico
START is publishing an infographic series exploring findings from its Tracking Cartels project, a Joint Centers of Excellence project supported by the DHS Office of University Programs. Each week, for four weeks in June 2020, START will release a new infographic that depicts cartel operations in Mexico, specifically detailing: Major cartel operational zones; the violent rise of Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG); violence in Michoacán over control of the avocado trade; and violence in Guanajuato over control of illicit petroleum.
ICYMI: New radicalization data and analysis
START has released a new research brief and an update to its Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States (PIRUS) dataset, which now includes information on 2,226 Islamist, far-left, far-right and single-issue extremists who have radicalized to violent and nonviolent extremism in the United States from 1948 through 2018. The data is freely available on START's website and allows users to explore the radicalization trajectories of individuals from far-right, far-left and Islamist ideologies.
ONLINE PROGRAM: Earn Your Graduate Certificate in Terrorism Analysis
START offers a fully online Graduate Certificate in Terrorism Analysis hosted through the University of Maryland Graduate School. The flexible program (1-2 academic years) provides participants – both scholars and practitioners – with advanced education on the causes, dynamics and impacts of international and domestic terrorism.
- Virtual Information Session: 5 p.m. Monday, July 13
- Application Deadline: Friday, July 24
PUBLICATIONS
Doing Good while Killing: Why Some Insurgent Groups Provide Community Services
Studies in Conflict and Terrorism
Asal, Victor, and Shawn Flanigan, Ora Szekely
Women Too: Explaining Gender Ideologies of Ethnopolitical Organizations
Studies in Conflict and Terrorism
Asal, Victor, and Nazli Avdan, Nourah Shuaibi
Rehabilitation of Jihadi Terrorists: Current Understanding and Perspectives
The Handbook of Collective Violence: Current Developments and Understanding
Braddock, Kurt
A Qualitative Examination of How Somali Young Adults Think About and Understand Violence in Their Communities
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
Ellis, B. Heidi, and Scott H. Decker, Saida M. Abdi, Alisa B. Miller, Colleen Barrett, Alisa K. Lincoln
Attitudes Regarding Becoming an Engaged Bystander for Targeted Violence Prevention
Crime Prevention and Community Safety
Gleicher, Lily, and Megan Alderden, Stevan M. Weine
Contextualizing Disengagement: How Exit Barriers Shape the Pathways Out of Far-Right Extremism in the United States
Studies in Conflict and Terrorism
Jensen, Michael, and Patrick James, Elizabeth Yates
Do White Supremacist Women Adopt Movement Archetypes of Mother, Whore, and Fighter?
Studies in Conflict and Terrorism
Latif, Mehr, and Kathleen Blee, Matthew DeMichele, Pete Simi
The Essence of Hate and Love
Perspectives on Hate: How it Originates, Develops, Manifests, and Spreads
McCauley, Clark
NEWS
START provides ample online education and training opportunities
Whether you are a full-time student or working professional, START has many options for you to further your education and build applicable skills, all from the comfort of your own home. Online offerings include:
- START’s summer courses,
- Graduate Certificate Program,
- Webinar series
- Customized training lectures, and
- Publicly available online training courses.
New project seeks to provide DARPA with ways to deter CBRN attacks by non-state actors
START is creating a process to quickly identify potential chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) threats from non-state actors, as part of a new project supporting the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Communication during coronavirus
START Affiliate Brooke Fisher Liu, Professor of Communication, has been selected to receive Coronavirus Research Seed Fund Awards from the University of Maryland’s Division of Research. Her project will survey and interview higher education leaders who are part of their institutions’ crisis management teams to examine how U.S. higher education institutions planned for and responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, how they’ve overcome challenges and lessons learned.
START student wins two prestigious fellowships
UMD Senior Taiwo Mustafa was recently awarded two prestigious and highly competitive fellowships — an American Political Science Association Minority Fellowship and a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation.
Kurt Braddock’s ‘Weaponized Words’ teaches how to outtalk a terrorist
Kurt Braddock’s new book, “Weaponized Words: The Strategic Role of Persuasion in Violent Radicalization and Counter-Radicalization” seeks to address a gap in the current literature about communication in terrorism, and to superimpose theories of persuasion onto the context of terrorism.
UMD’s Innovation Gateway showcases entrepreneurial resources
The University of Maryland has recently launched The Innovation Gateway, a concierge platform to make it easier to access more than 60 UMD-affiliated resources available to anyone interested in launching, scaling, investing, partnering or engaging with the institution's robust and diverse innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. The site also includes dedicated Terps Unite webpage with useful business relief information, links to mental health and well-being resources, and inspiring stories of how our community is coming together to support, share and give back during this pandemic.
Need to teach online unexpectedly? ICONS simulations can help
START’s ICONS team has 24 completely online, ready-to-go simulations that engage students in playing the roles of stakeholders in a range of complex political and societal issues. The simulations require students to think strategically, negotiate collaboratively and make decisions about world issues including international trade negotiations, global warming, food security,
human trafficking and more.
EVENTS
Book Talk: "Weaponized Words: The Strategic Role of Persuasion in Violent Radicalization and Counter-Radicalization"
12 p.m. ET June 8, Online
American University Assistant Professor Kurt Braddock will discuss his new book “Weaponized Words: The Strategic Role of Persuasion in Violent Radicalization and Counter-Radicalization.” This book is designed to strengthen the reader’s understanding of the persuasive mechanisms used by terrorist groups and how they are effective in order to defeat them.
START Webinar: Information Warfare
11 a.m. ET June 17, Online
Misinformation, disinformation, "fake news", "deep fake", "facts under threat", influence operation. These are but a few terms that are swirling about in our society today that are all part of a discipline that has existed - and have been evolving - as long as history itself: information warfare. We will take a journey through the history and evolution of information warfare and explore how the information environment we are living in today - in the context of information warfare - is both similar and different from our past.
Lecture: Terrorist Financing Present and Future
10:30 a.m. ET June 29, Online
Financial Investigator Rick Magill will provide a virtual lecture on “Terrorist Financing Present and Future.” Terrorist revenue streams are also constantly evolving, necessitating action that not only will target present funding mechanisms, but future ones as well. This talk delves into the challenges of cutting off funding to terrorists, a task much easier said than done.
Virtual Information Session: Graduate Certificate
5 p.m. ET July 13, Online
The graduate certificate program provides participants with advanced education on the causes, dynamics, and impacts of international and domestic terrorism. Participants also develop the methodological skills necessary to pursue advanced research on and analysis of terrorism. This program is appropriate for both academicians and practitioners and is flexible in structure. Students can complete the program in as few as 12 months to 24 months.
CARR Far Right De-Radicalisation Webinars
What is deradicalisation? And what does it look like for individuals involved in radical right movements? As part of a new EU-STRIVE funded project with Hedayah, CARR will be unpicking these questions along with practitioners, former violent extremists and academic experts in a yearlong webinar series looking at far right deradicalisation good practices. To express your interest in attending one of these webinars, please email CARR's social media address: socialmedia@radicalrightanalysis.com.
OPPORTUNITIES
Terp Young Scholars
Job Opportunity: Jr. Counterterrorism Data Exploitation Analyst
Maryland Parent & Family Association Student Scholarship Award
CIRI Maritime Risk Symposium (MRS 2020) Student Posters Opportunity
Job Opportunity: Thomson Reuters Analyst
Job Opportunity: RAND Cyber Policy Analyst
Virtual Footlocker Project Focus Groups: Participants Wanted
Further information on other job opportunities, fellowship programs, conferences and more can be found on our website’s Other Opportunities page.
START IN THE NEWS
New York Times: What Is Antifa, the Movement Trump Wants to Declare a Terror Group?
This article about the antifa movement cites research from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD).
Newsy: Who Is Sowing Chaos At The George Floyd Protests?
START Director William Braniff is interviewed about domestic terrorism trends for this story about violence at the protests for George Floyd.
France 24: Send in the army? Trump’s answer to protests
START Founding Director Gary LaFree is interviewed for his perspective on antifa, U.S. protests and political violence.
Washington Post: What is antifa?
START Founding Director Gary LaFree is quoted in this article about the antifa movement.
Bild: How bad is Kim Jong-un?
START researcher Devin Ellis is quoted in this article about the reports of Kim Jong Un’s death.
CNBC: Here’s why coronavirus is being classified as a biological agent
START Director William Braniff is quoted in this article about the bad actors encouraging the spread of COVID-19.
Vox: Media coverage has blown anti-lockdown protests out of proportion
START affiliate Erica Chenoweth co-wrote this article about media reporting on anti-lockdown protests.
Business Insider: Why anti-lockdown protests are a 'magnet' for white supremacists and far-right extremists
START affiliate Peter Simi is quoted in this article about anti-lockdown protests and the far right.
The Conversation: As states reopen, tensions flare between the rule followers and rule breakers
START affiliate Michele Gelfand wrote this article about society reopening after lockdown.
This is a selection of news clips from the past month.
A complete list of START’s media coverage can be found here.
SUPPORTING START
Help Support START Research and Education
The START Consortium is dedicated to generating knowledge of the human causes and consequences of terrorism. Applying rigorous standards to both research and education, START seeks to illuminate one of the most highly politicized and understudied phenomena in the social sciences for students, practitioners and policy-makers. Funded primarily through research grants to date, START is seeking to generate an endowment that will provide the flexibility and autonomy to ensure that it can continue to serve as an objective source of data and empirically based analysis into the future. To donate, or for more information, please click here.
Copyright © 2019 The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), All rights reserved.
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The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START)
PO Box Number 266
5245 Greenbelt Rd
College Park, MD 20740