The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant: Branding, Leadership Culture and Lethal Attraction
A new START report led by START Primary Investigator Gina Ligon finds that, because of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) leadership style, structure, cyber sophistication and perceived organizational legitimacy, it is likely to be an enduring threat. Read more.
Global Terrorism Index Report
The Institute of Economics and Peace recently released the second edition of the Global Terrorism Index (GTI), an analytical product based on data from START's Global Terrorism Database (GTD). The study scores 158 countries, tracks changing trends in terrorism over time, and also explores significant correlations with other socio-economic indicators. GTD variables used include the number of terrorist incidents, fatalities, injuries and property damage occurring between 2000 and 2013.Read more.
Remembering Paul Gallo
This month, the START family lost a beloved friend and colleague. Paul Gallo, a faculty research assistant at START, passed away suddenly on November 1, leaving behind a wife, Theresa, and two sons, John and Joseph. Paul was a vital member of the START community, both professionally and personally, and he will be missed dearly.
Paul’s wife Teresa has graciously offered her reflection to be included in this month’s newsletter. Read more.
William Braniff, START’s Executive Director, also offers his remembrances. Read more.
In lieu of flowers, Paul’s family is accepting donations to End Hunger Calvert County.
Political Exclusion, Oil, and Ethnic Armed Conflict
Foreign Policy Analysis
Asal, Victor, and Michael Findley, James Piazza, James Walsh
Optimizing WEAs for Mobile Devices
Brooke Liu, Director of START’s Risk Communication and Resilience Research Program, leads new research on optimizing Wireless Emergency Alerts, or WEAs.Read more.
START Intern’s Unique Perspective Brings Fresh Understanding of Counterterrorism Efforts
Charles Turner, a graduate student at George Mason University and current START intern, discusses his relationship with the Islamic faith. Read more.
CIA Simulation Training Team Participates in Regional Competition
Four START Interns get the opportunity to compete against ten other schools to provide intelligence analysis briefings to CIA employees. Read more.
MOOC Undergoes Changes
START’s Massive Open Online Course, or MOOC, will add guest lecturers and new content beginning this January. Read more.
David MacNeil Recounts Being Captured by Syrian Police
START Intern David MacNeil talks about his experience studying archaeology in the Middle East. Read more.
START Intern’s Brief Foray into Daytime Television
Dataverse Assistant Editor Intern Alexander Blass’ brush with Hollywood. Read more.
Free Online Course, “Understanding Terrorism and the Terrorist Threat.” Begins Jan. 12.
International Non-Conventional Threat CBRNe USA conference. April 29 – May 1 at University of Maryland.
START will also be hiring two Postdoctoral Fellows starting in August 2015 to work on an NSF-funded project on grievances and instability. One fellow will be in Computational Social Science, while the other will be in Computational Linguistics. More information will be available in the December newsletter. Please contact Brandon Behlendorf (bbehlend@umd.edu) with questions.
New online winter skills courses in Geospatial and Social Network Analysis for Terrorism. Register now.
Sign up for START’s free online course on understanding terrorism. Register now.
Call for Papers: NCT CBRNe USA 2015 Conference. Due Dec. 31, 2014.
Call for Papers: Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. Due Jan. 15, 2015.
JTSA Call for Papers: The Global Threat, Emerging Issues in National Security.Due Jan. 15, 2015.
Long-term START Intern Explores Her Passion for Terrorism Research, Establishes a Network at START by Andrea Nehorayoff
The Washington Post: These 5 countries accounted for nearly all the world’s terrorism deaths last year
START’s definition of terrorism is referenced in an article from the Washington Post.Read more.
Foreign Policy: Remember What They Died for on the Maiden
START researcher Erica Chenoweth’s work on nonviolent resistance is cited in an article for Foreign Policy. Read more.
Reuters: The 3-step guide to de-radicalizing jihadists
START researcher and distinguished professor at the University of Maryland Dr. Arie Kruglanski writes about de-radicalization in an article for Reuters. Read more.
Yahoo! News: Terrorist attack deaths soared 61 percent last year, new study finds
A Yahoo! News article discusses information from START’s Global Terrorism Database. Read more.
A complete list of START’s media coverage can be found here.
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.