Download or read book The Taliban s Virtual Emirate written by Neil Krishan Aggarwal and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2016-05-24 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Applying cutting-edge psychiatric theories to an analysis of online Taliban literature in four languages, Neil Krishan Aggarwal constructs a game-changing narrative of the organization's broad appeal and worldview. Aggarwal, a cultural psychiatrist, focuses on the Taliban's creation of culture, evoking religion in Arabic and English writings, nationalism in Dari sources, and regionalism in Urdu texts. The group also promotes a specific form of argumentation, citing religious scriptures in Arabic works, canonical poets in Dari and Urdu writings, and scholars and journalists in English publications. Aggarwal shows how the Taliban categorize all Muslims as members and all non-Muslims as outsiders; how they convince Muslims of the need for violence; and how they apply the insider/outsider dichotomy to foreign policy. By understanding these themes, Aggarwal argues, we can craft better countermessaging strategies.

Download or read book Virtual Caliphate written by Yaakov Lappin and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1924 the last caliphateùan Islamic state as envisioned by the Koranùwas dismantled in Turkey. With no caliphate in existence matching their ideals, al Qaeda and its hundreds of affiliate organizations have failed to achieve their goal of reestablishing radical Islamic rule. Journalist Yaakov Lappin asserts that this failure to create a homeland necessitated the formation of an unforeseen and unprecedented entity: an Islamist "state" on the Internet, the virtual caliphate. The virtual caliphate is an Islamist state that exists on computer servers around the world. Islamists use it to carry out functions typically reserved for a physical state, such as recruiting an army and training its soldiers, handling foreign affairs, and directing finances. In Virtual Caliphate, Lappin shows how Islamists employ twenty-first-century technology to achieve a seventh-century vision, hoping to soon upload the online state into the physical world. Lappin draws links between online sermons calling for violence and subsequent terror attacks like 2005's London transport bombing, a chilling glimpse of how the virtual caliphate has already moved beyond mere words and videos. Weaving together hard-to-find resources that often no longer exist online, Lappin captures a recent history of the virtual caliphate for the reader, exposing and demystifying all aspects of the jihadi online netherworld. Virtual Caliphate is a compelling and indispensable guide for anyone interested in understanding the technological aptitude of the global jihadi movement.

Download or read book Religious Identities and the Global South written by Felix Wilfred and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-01-04 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a comprehensive and interdisciplinary account of religious identities in the Global South. Drawing on literature in various fields, Felix Wilfred analyzes how religious identities intersect with the processes of globalization, modernity, and postmodernity. He illustrates how the study of religion in the Global North often revolves around questions of secularism and fundamentalism, whereas a neo-Orientalist quality often attends study of religion in the Global South. These approaches and theorizing fail to incorporate the experiences of lived religion in the South, especially in Asia. Historically, the religions in the South have played a highly significant role in resistance to the domination by the colonial forces, an important reason for the continued attachment of the peoples of the South to their religious universe. This book puts the two regions and their scholarly norms in conversation with one another, exploring the social, political, cultural, and economic implications.

Download or read book Terrorism Violent Radicalisation and Mental Health written by Kamaldeep Bhui and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2021-03-04 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Terrorism, Violent Radicalization and Mental Health brings together distinct disciplinary and ideological narratives on the political, social, economic, and cultural aspects of radicalisation and terrorism today.

Download or read book Transition in Afghanistan written by William Maley and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, by one of the most experienced authorities on the subject, presents a deep analysis of the very difficult current situation in Afghanistan. Covering a wide range of important subjects including state-building, democracy, war, the rule of law, and international relations, the book draws out two overarching key factors: the way in which the prevailing neopatrimonial political order has become entrenched, making it very difficult for any other political order to take root; and the hostile region in which Afghanistan is located, especially the way in which an ongoing ‘creeping invasion’ from Pakistani territory has compromised the aspirations of both the Afghan government and its international backers to move the country to a more stable position.

Download or read book Routledge Handbook on the Politics of Global Health written by Richard Parker and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-12-07 with total page 846 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early twenty-first century, key public health issues and challenges have taken centre stage on the global scene, and health has been placed at the heart of our collective aspirations for human development and well-being. But significant debate exists not only about the causes, but also about the possible solutions for nearly all of the most important global health challenges. Competing visions of the values and perspectives that should underlie global health policies have emerged, ranging from an emphasis on cost eff ectiveness and resource constraints on one extreme, to new calls for health and human rights, and renewed calls for health and social justice on the other. The role of different intergovernmental agencies, bilateral or unilateral donors, public or private institutions and initiatives, has increasingly been called into question, whilst the spread of neoliberal policies and programmes, and existing international trade regimes and intellectual property rights, are deeply implicated in relation to global health responses. This volume critically evaluates how the global health industry has evolved and how the interests of diverse political and economic stakeholders are shaping the context of a rapidly changing institutional landscape. Bringing together leading authors from across the world, the Handbook’s eight sections explore: • Critical perspectives on global health • Globalisation, neoliberalism, and health systems • The changing shape of global health governance • Development assistance and the politics of global health • Scale-up, scale-down, and the sustainability of global health programmes • Intellectual property rights, trade relations, and global health • Humanitarian emergencies and global health politics • Human rights, social justice, and global health The Routledge Handbook on the Politics of Global Health addresses both the emerging issues and conceptualisations of the political strategies, policy-making processes, and global governance of global health, along with expanding upon and highlighting the critical priorities in this rapidly evolving field. It provides an authoritative overview for students, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers working in or concerned with the politics of public health around the globe.

Download or read book The Decline and Fall of Republican Afghanistan written by Ahmad Shuja Jamal and published by Hurst Publishers. This book was released on 2023-02-23 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 was the result of declining active support for the government, and of waste and inefficiency in aid delivery. Yet, while corrosive, these problems were not in themselves sufficient to have brought about a collapse. To a significant degree, they were the result of early failings in institutional design, reflecting an American inclination to pursue short-term policy approaches that created perverse incentives⁠—thus interfering with the long-term objective of stability. This book exposes the true factors underpinning Kabul’s fall. The Afghan Republic came under relentless attack from Taliban insurgents who depended critically on Pakistani support. It also suffered a creeping invasion that put the government on the back foot as the US tried and failed to deal with Pakistan’s perfidy. The fatal blow came when bored US leaders naively cut an exit deal with the enemy, fatally compromising the operation of the Afghan army and air force and triggering the final collapse, with top leaders at odds over whether to make a final stand in Kabul. The Afghan Republic did not simply decline and fall. It was betrayed.

Download or read book Cyber Sufis written by Robert Rozehnal and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-08-01 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In America today, online spaces serve as critical alternatives for tech-savvy Muslims seeking a place to root their faith, forge religious identity, and build communities. With a particular focus on the Inayati Order, a branch of the oldest Sufi community in the West, Robert Rozehnal explores the online revolution in internal communication, spiritual pedagogy, and public outreach – and looks ahead to the future of digital Islam in the age of Web 3.0.

Download or read book Middle Eastern Diasporas and Political Communication written by Ehab Galal and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-08-14 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited book explores the development and reconfiguration of Middle Eastern diasporic communities in the West in the context of increased political turmoil, civil war, new authoritarianism, and severe constraints on media in the Middle East. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, incorporating political and intercultural communication, the contributors investigate the rationale for diasporic politics, as well as the role of the transnational media in shaping diasporic political mobilization. This analysis of the media, situated within specific case studies, encompassing Afghani, Armenian, Bahraini, Egyptian, Lebanese, Syrian, Tunisian, and Turkish diasporic communities, reveals the variegated ways it influences diasporic politics and facilitates political action, as well as its influence on democratic actors residing in the Middle East. These new insights into Middle Eastern diasporas, political communication, and political mobilization are based on developments in the Middle East since 2011, and ultimately highlight how diaspora groups in the West relate to the situation in the Middle East, particularly in their countries of origin. The book is important reading for students and researchers working in political/intercultural communication and diasporic politics, as well as those with a general interest in the Middle East.

Download or read book Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan written by Thomas H. Johnson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-05-15 with total page 781 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Afghanistan is an extremely complex and nuanced country that has been one of the centers of imperial conflict at least for 150 years. From the Czarist Russia’s march south in the 19th Century threatening British India, three Anglo-Afghan Wars, the Soviet Invasion and occupation of Afghanistan starting in December 1979 and the resulting anti-Soviet Jihad by the Afghan Mujahideen to Kabul’s and their allies’ (U.S. and NATO) conflict with the Taliban, Afghanistan has been one of the centers of important international and regional conflicts and events. Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan, Fifth Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 1,000 cross-referenced entries on important personalities as well as aspects of the country’s politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Afghanistan.

Download or read book The Pre Crime Society written by Arrigo, Bruce and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2021-07-30 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We now live in a pre-crime society, in which information technology strategies and techniques such as predictive policing, actuarial justice and surveillance penology are used to achieve hyper-securitization. However, such securitization comes at a cost – the criminalization of everyday life is guaranteed, justice functions as an algorithmic industry and punishment is administered through dataveillance regimes. This pioneering book explores relevant theories, developing technologies and institutional practices and explains how the pre-crime society operates in the ‘ultramodern’ age of digital reality construction. Reviewing pre-crime's cultural and political effects, the authors propose new directions in crime control policy.

Download or read book Changing Geopolitics of Global Communication written by Daya Thussu and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-07-31 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Changing Geopolitics of Global Communication examines the rapidly evolving dynamics between global communication and geopolitics. As an intersection between communication and international relations, it bridges the existing gap in scholarship and highlights the growing importance of digital communication in legitimizing and promoting the geopolitical and economic goals of leading powers. One central theme that emerges in the book is the continuity of asymmetries in power relations that can be traced back to 19th-century European imperialism, manifested in its various incarnations from ‘liberal’ to ‘neo-liberal’, to ‘digital’ imperialism. The book includes a discussion of the post–Cold War US-led transformation of the hardware and software of global communication and how it has been challenged by the ‘rise of the rest’, especially China. Other key issues covered include the geopolitics of image wars, weaponization of information and the visibility of discourses emanating from outside the Euro-Atlantic zone. The ideas and arguments advanced here privilege a reading of geopolitical processes and examples from the perspective of the global South. Written by a leading scholar of global communication, this comprehensive and transdisciplinary study adopts a holistic approach and will be of interest to the global community of scholars, researchers and commentators in communication and international relations, among other fields.

Download or read book Online Terrorist Propaganda Recruitment and Radicalization written by John R. Vacca and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2019-07-30 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Online Terrorist Propaganda, Recruitment, and Radicalization is most complete treatment of the rapidly growing phenomenon of how terrorists’ online presence is utilized for terrorism funding, communication, and recruitment purposes. The book offers an in-depth coverage of the history and development of online "footprints" to target new converts, broaden their messaging, and increase their influence. Chapters present the emergence of various groups; the advancement of terrorist groups’ online presences; their utilization of video, chat room, and social media; and the current capability for propaganda, training, and recruitment. With contributions from leading experts in the field—including practitioners and terrorism researchers—the coverage moves from general factors to specific groups practices as relate to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and numerous other groups. Chapters also examine the lone wolf phenomenon as a part of the disturbing trend of self-radicalization. A functional, real-world approach is used regarding the classification of the means and methods by which an online presence is often utilized to promote and support acts of terrorism. Online Terrorist Propaganda, Recruitment, and Radicalization examines practical solutions in identifying the threat posed by terrorist propaganda and U.S. government efforts to counter it, with a particular focus on ISIS, the Dark Web, national and international measures to identify, thwart, and prosecute terrorist activities online. As such, it will be an invaluable resources for intelligence professionals, terrorism and counterterrorism professionals, those researching terrorism funding, and policy makers looking to restrict the spread of terrorism propaganda online.

Download or read book Routledge Handbook of Transnational Terrorism written by Nicolas Stockhammer and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-08-17 with total page 585 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook provides contributions by some of the world-leading experts in the field on recent phenomena and trends in transnational terrorism. Based on the methodological approach of a trend-and-key factor analysis of transnational terrorism and processed on the virtual platform "Foresight Strategy Cockpit" (FSC), the volume seeks to examine what potential future variants of transnational terrorism may evolve. Focusing on the latest structural developments in the sphere of politically or religiously motivated violence, the handbook considers the tactical, strategic, and not least the systemic dimension of terrorism. Divided into seven thematic sections, the handbook’s contributions cover a wide range of issues, dealing among others with strategic and hybrid terrorism, the systemic dimension of extremist violence, prevalent actors, counter-narratives, the crime terror-nexus, the role of digitalization and the spiral dynamic between Islamist and right-wing terrorism. The expert contributions provide a condensed overview of current developments, structural linkages and important academic debates centering around transnational salafi-jihadi terrorism, but also right-wing terrorism and counter-terrorism. A key objective of the work is to make the effects of prevention/preemption, (de-) radicalization and (non-) intervention both transparent and assessable. As such, it contributes well-founded strategies, feasible solutions and options for policy-makers and counter-terrorism experts. This volume will be of great interest to students of terrorism and counter-terrorism, political violence and security studies.

Download or read book The Geopsychology Theory of International Relations in the 21st Century written by B. M. Jain and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-02-15 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book introduces an innovative theoretical construct of geopsychology to navigate the complex dynamics of international politics in the 21st century. It explains how geopsychology is different from mainstream international relations theories in terms of primary actors, human behavior, spatial application, instruments, and key issues. It argues that peace and stability in the troubled parts of the world warrants an imperative need for understanding psychological dispositions of non-state actors and authoritarian regimes. In The Geopsychology Theory of International Relations in the 21st Century: Escaping the Ignorance Trap, B.M.Jain unfolds that neither a global hegemon nor a cohort of powers could weaken their resolve and break their morale, as proven in the cases of Iraq, Afghanistan, and North Korea. Importantly, the regional case studies —India and Pakistan in South Asia; North Korea and China in Northeast Asia; and the U.S. involvement in the Middle East — reveal howthe psyche and thought processes of national and regional actors have been the driving force in triggering interstate conflicts and civil wars. The book brilliantly illuminates how America became a conscious victim of the ignorance trap in Asia’s volatile regions. This must book offers easy solutions to complex conflicts to induce a peaceful change in world politics.

Download or read book Media Persuasion in the Islamic State written by Neil Krishan Aggarwal and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2019-03-12 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the declaration of the War on Terror in 2001, militant groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have used the internet to disseminate their message and persuade people to commit violence. While many books have studied their operational strategies and battlefield tactics, Media Persuasion in the Islamic State is the first to analyze the culture and psychology of militant persuasion. Drawing upon decades of research in cultural psychiatry, cultural psychology, and psychiatric anthropology, Neil Krishan Aggarwal investigates how the Islamic State has convinced people to engage in violence since its founding in 2003. Through analysis of hundreds of articles, speeches, videos, songs, and bureaucratic documents in English and Arabic, the book traces how the jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi created a new culture and psychology, one that would pit Sunni Muslims against all others after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Aggarwal tracks how Osama bin Laden and al-Zarqawi disagreed over the goal of militancy in jihad before reaching a détente in 2004 and how al-Qaeda in Iraq merged with five other groups to diffuse its militant cultural identity in 2006 before taking advantage of the Syrian civil war to emerge as the Islamic State. Aggarwal offers a definitive analysis of how culture is created, debated, and disseminated within militant organizations like the Islamic State. Psychiatrists, psychologists, and area-studies experts will find a comprehensive, systematic method for analyzing culture and psychology so they can partner with political scientists, policy makers, and counterterrorism experts in crafting counter-messaging strategies against militants.

Download or read book Cyber Muslims written by Robert Rozehnal and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-04-21 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through an array of detailed case studies, this book explores the vibrant digital expressions of diverse groups of Muslim cybernauts: religious clerics and Sufis, feminists and fashionistas, artists and activists, hajj pilgrims and social media influencers. These stories span a vast cultural and geographic landscape-from Indonesia, Iran, and the Arab Middle East to North America. These granular case studies contextualize cyber Islam within broader social trends: racism and Islamophobia, gender dynamics, celebrity culture, identity politics, and the shifting terrain of contemporary religious piety and practice. The book's authors examine an expansive range of digital multimedia technologies as primary “texts.” These include websites, podcasts, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube channels, online magazines and discussion forums, and religious apps. The contributors also draw on a range of methodological and theoretical models from multiple academic disciplines, including communication and media studies, anthropology, history, global studies, religious studies, and Islamic studies.