The Glittering Class Of Excellence

08/07/2021

Summary ABSTRACT Israel’s policy towards both terrorist semi-states (TSS)—Fatahland and Hamas-controlled Gaza—shows a puzzling variation over time between threat-management (i.e., deterrence and/or brute force capacity-reduction) and entity-elimination. We hold that a military-based cost-benefit analysis cannot fully account for this variation. This explanation predicts that Israel would avoid the costly and risky TSS-elimination as long as Israel can effectively manage the military danger through the much cheaper deterrence/periodical capacity reduction or when there is a high risk of not getting a much better option partly due to the danger of creating a power-vacuum into which other terrorists may reenter....

Summary ABSTRACT Israel’s policy towards both terrorist semi-states (TSS)—Fatahland and Hamas-controlled Gaza—shows a puzzling variation over time between threat-management (i.e., deterrence and/or…

14/06/2021

Summary Abstract In this article, I argue that the “theological and social-psychological radicalisation model”, which has been primarily used in a Western context, has influenced the strategies used by the Kenyan government to explain and combat radicalisation and terrorism. The model predominantly focuses on religion and social networks as crucial to the radicalisation process. My research in Kenya demonstrates how the underlying principles of the model are used in a non-Western context....

Summary Abstract  In this article, I argue that the “theological and social-psychological radicalisation model”, which has been primarily used in a Western context, has influenced the strategi…

09/06/2021

12/05/2021

British counterinsurgency thinking today remains strongly influenced by the Malaya Emergency (1948–1960) but little-known is the extensive women’s outreach program, pioneered by Lady Templer, involving the Women’s Institute and British Red Cross. Through discourse analysis of archival records, this article identifies four discourses characterizing British women’s participation, used, at the time, to make acceptable their presence whilst distancing them from the counterinsurgency campaign....

Summary ABSTRACT  British counterinsurgency thinking today remains strongly influenced by the Malaya Emergency (1948–1960) but little-known is the extensive women’s outreach program, pioneered…

05/05/2021

Insecurity in the Niger Delta: Emerging Threats in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers States is a European Union-funded in-depth study of the issue of insecurity in the Niger Delta, the oil-producing region of Nigeria. Security in the region is usually assessed from the context of the absence of threats to the oil industry. This study goes beyond that limited view, using case studies drawn from the six states in the South-South geopolitical zone to show emerging security threats in the region and the complex network of factors behind them....

Summary Insecurity in the Niger Delta: Emerging Threats in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers States is a European Union-funded in-depth study of the issue of insecurity in the…

27/04/2021

How can neo-patrimonialism aid our understanding of the materiality of counterterrorism and the expansion of terrorism? While previous works on the growth of terrorism have focused on issues such as the spread of radical religious ideology, US foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and poverty, recent works have examined factors such as the formation of linkages with other terrorist groups, fragmentation into cell-structures, forming of franchises, and exploitation of clannism and ethnicity....

Summary Please subscribe to your preferred podcast platform; we are available on Apple, Google, Spotify, and 6 others. Also subscribe and comment on our Youtube channel: Contact: w.iyekekpolo@auckl…

18/04/2021

This article examines the reasons for the rise of the Taliban and the onset of the insurgency in Afghanistan after the 2001 U.S. invasion, using counterfactual and path dependence analysis to bolster its arguments....

Summary Please subscribe to your preferred podcast platform; we are available on Apple, Google, Spotify and 6 others. Also subscribe and comment on our Youtube channel: Contact: w.iyekekpolo@auckla…

18/04/2021

In this new interview, Dr Tricia Bacon of American University revisits factors that caused Taliban insurgency. Her recent co-authored article with Prof. Daniel Byman of Georgetown University finds that the US De-Talibanization decision facilitated it.

19/03/2021

In counterinsurgency, U.S. officials often feel trapped by a local ally who appears unable to survive the departure of U.S. forces. Advocates for withdrawal argue that only a deadline to depart will induce local governments to accept greater burdens, while critics of this position argue that plans to withdraw embolden insurgents....

Summary Please subscribe to your preferred podcast platform; we are available on Apple, Google, Spotify and 6 others. Also subscribe and comment on our Youtube channel: Contact: w.iyekekpolo@auckla…

12/03/2021

Using data from 10 months of field research in Côte d’Ivoire, this article explores the question of why certain groups of ex-combatants in that country are interested in posing a threat to the state, while others are not....

Summary Please subscribe to your preferred podcast platform; we are available on Apple, Google, Spotify and 6 others. Also subscribe and comment on our Youtube channel: Contact: w.iyekekpolo@auckla…

17/11/2020

Good morning comrades.