FEATURED RESEARCH
2015 GTD data informs latest State Department ‘Country Reports on Terrorism’
On June 2, the Department of State released its annual Country Reports on Terrorism, using data on 2015 global terror attacks from the Global Terrorism Database. Among the report’s major findings are the fact that the total number of terrorist attacks in 2015 decreased by 13% and total deaths due to terrorist attacks decreased by 14%, compared to 2014. Read more.
Extreme Hatred: Revisiting the Hate Crime and Terrorism Relationship
According to new research led by Pre-Doctoral START Fellow Colleen Mills, countries experiencing increases in one type of bias-motivated or extremist violence are likely to see significant increases in other types of extremist activity, supporting the assentation that hate crime and terrorism are more alike than different. Read more.
DISCUSSION POINTS
From WWI to ISIS, Using Shame and Masculinity in Recruitment Narratives
Alejandro Beutel and Krystina Perez write this piece on some of the psychological underpinnings of terrorist recruitment, particularly how propaganda videos as messengers for shame and emasculation appeal to young men, women and children. Read more.
Terrorist attacks show biggest decline in a decade; but let’s wait before celebrating
In this piece, Gary LaFree, Erin Miller and Michael Jensen discuss implications of some of the major findings in the State Department’s Country Reports on Terrorism 2015. The Global Terrorism Database provides the statistical annex for the report each year. Read more.
PUBLICATIONS
The Puzzle of Nonviolence in Western Sahara
Democracy and Security
Porges, Matthew and Christian Leuprecht
Al-Qaeda’s Propaganda Decoded: A Psycholinguistic System for Detecting Variations in Terrorism Ideology
Terrorism and Political Violence
Cohen, Shuki J., Arie Kruglanski, Michele J. Gelfand, David Webber and Rohan Gunaratna
The Canadian Way of Counterterrorism: Introducing the GATE-Canada Data Set
Canadian Foreign Policy Journal
Chenoweth, Erica and Laura Dugan
START NEWS
START participates in DHS S&T Center of Excellence Technology Showcase
The Department of Homeland Security Science (DHS) and Technology (S&T) directorate recently hosted a Center of Excellence (COE) Technology Showcase to demonstrate some of the tools and technologies offered through the COE’s. START’s Amy Pate and Sarah Fishering demonstrated the Terrorism and Extremist Violence in the United States (TEVUS) database. Read more.
START interns present at Federal Fellows and Global Fellows program Academic Capstone Reception
Last month, Marina Farrugia, a participant in UMD’s Federal Fellows and Global Fellows program gave a presentation on her internship experience at START at the program’s Academic Capstone Reception. Several other START interns also participated in the event. Read more.
Dr. Misra earns Excellence in Research Productivity Award
Howard University professor and START research affiliate Dr. Prabhakar Misra earned an Excellence in Research Productivity Award for his work with Howard’s Natural Science Division in the College of Arts and Sciences. Read more.
Narratives/Counter-Narratives intern receives award for on-campus reporting on discrimination against Muslim students
Antoinette D’Addario’s experience at START inspired her to write an award-winning piece on the stigmatization of American Muslims, particularly Muslim students, for a magazine publication at American University. Read more.
Maryland Day 2016 visitors test their terrorism IQ with START
Last month, student and staff volunteers from START helped make the University of Maryland’s 18th Annual Maryland Day celebration a success, inviting visitors to play a “Test Your Terrorism IQ” trivia game. More than 75,000 visitors attended the event. Read more.
START OPPORTUNITIES
START is now accepting applications for the fall 2016 Internship Program. Interns are unpaid and work 10 hours per week on one of 18 different project teams. Apply by July 10.
START’s Graduate Certificate in Terrorism Analysis. Open to academicians and practitioners, and can be completed in as few as nine months. Apply by July 1.
The Terror-Crime Nexus & Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Threats online course. Register now.
Free online short series of video lectures on “Core Capabilities and Potential Durability of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).” View now.
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
Vox-Pol Mid-Project Conference: Taking Stock of Research on Violent Online Political Extremism Register by June 7.
Call for Papers: Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice on terrorism, political violence and asymmetric conflict Submit by July 20.
Call for Papers: Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Submit by Sept. 1.
Call for Papers: Journal of International Relations Research (JIRR) Submit by Oct. 1.
STUDENT BLOG
Risk Communication and Role of Social Media during Crises by Katie Dyer
START IN THE NEWS
New Jersey 101.5: Experts meet in NJ to address domestic terrorism – nation’s greatest threat
START training manager Liberty Day’s recent trip to New Jersey for a special conference on domestic terrorism was covered in this story by a local radio station. Read more.
Bloomberg News: Terror stalks commuters as foiled plots show transit is target
GTD data on threats to transportation was included in an info graphic, and GTD program manager Erin Miller was quoted, in this piece from Bloomberg News. Read more.
Christian Science Monitor: Is the appeal of ISIS waning in the United States?
START executive director William Braniff was quoted in this article from the Christian Science Monitor. Read more.
Albany Times-Union: Spying on Muslims is bad policy
START researcher Victor Asal co-authored this opinion piece about increased surveillance and policing of Muslim neighborhoods (may require a subscription to read). Read more.
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.