SAGE Journal Articles

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Journal Article 9.1: Klein, B. R., Gruenewald, J., & Smith, B. L. (2017). Opportunity, group structure, temporal patterns, and successful outcomes of far-right terrorism incidents in the United States. Crime and Delinquency, 63(10), 1224-1249.

Abstract: Terrorism prevention has become the top priority among law enforcement and homeland security officials. To date, however, little empirical research has been conducted that directly compares the characteristics of successful terrorist attacks to failed and foiled terrorism incidents. To address this limitation in prior research, the current study examines the impact of opportunity, group structure, and temporally patterned precursor activities on far-right terrorism outcomes in the United States using data from the American Terrorism Study (ATS). Our findings partially support expectations that attractive and vulnerable targets, loners, conventional weaponry, and relatively fewer precursor activities are significantly associated with successful incidents.

 

Journal Article 9.2: Gruenewald, J. (2011). A comparative examination of homicides perpetrated by far-right extremists. Homicide Studies, 15(2), 177-203.

Abstract: The current study comparatively examines homicide events perpetrated by far-right extremists and “average” homicide events in the United States. Recent violence has highlighted the threat that far-right extremists pose to public safety and national security. To date, however, little is known about how such events compare to more common forms of homicide. Drawing from research on homicide, “hate crimes,” and domestic terrorism, this study addresses this gap in the research. Original open-source data on far-right extremist perpetrated homicide are integrated with traditional homicide data to overcome methodological and other substantive obstacles that have precluded the study of this form of violence. A number of similarities and differences across these forms of homicide demonstrate the heterogeneity in the nature of homicide in the United States. Implications for policy makers and law enforcement, as well as the broader study of homicide and domestic extremism, are discussed.

 

Journal Article 9.3: Erickson, C. W. (2007). Counter-terror culture: Ambiguity, subversion, or legitimization? Security Dialogue, 38(2), 197-214.

Abstract: This article examines themes of terrorism and counter-terrorism in US popular culture, focusing on eight cinematic or televisual works from the pre- and post-9/11 environment. Each of these works explores the dilemmas posed by terrorism, counter-terrorist mobilization, and occupation and resistance in fictional spaces. Three of the works — 24, The Agency, and The Grid — are narratives that attempt to simulate the activities of counter-terrorist operations in, respectively, a wholly fictional Counter Terrorist Unit; the Central Intelligence Agency; and ad hoc intelligence and tactical groups combing CIA, FBI, NSC, and MI5 agents. The other five works are more removed from an explicit attempt to mimic `reality': The X-Files, The Matrix Trilogy, Alias, The 4400, and Battlestar Galactica. In all of these works, the dangers to human rights posed by both overt and covert security operations lie at the core of their narrative structures.

 

Journal Article 9.4: Byng, M. D. (2008). Complex inequalities: The case of Muslim Americans after 9/11. American Behavioral Scientist, 51(5), 659-674.

Abstract: The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have redefined the meaning of religious minority identity for Muslim Americans. When religious identities are central to U.S. political conflicts, they shift from supporting adaptation to American society to facilitating inequality. Using newspaper articles published in the northeastern region of the United States and The Washington Post between May 2002 and May 2003, the following analysis investigates how Muslim religious identity comes to mimic the inequality of race identity via essentialist images of Islam, government policies, and experiences of discrimination. Benign markers of difference no longer exist in American society; instead, any identity that designates a group boundary can be used to organize social inequality. The religious minority identity of Muslim Americans following 9/11 signals the complexity of social inequality and, therefore, the difficulty of achieving social justice.

Additional Articles

  • Davenport, C. (2005, February). Understanding covert repressive action: The case of the U.S. Government against the republic of New Africa. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 49(1), 120-140.

  • Davidson, C., & Harris, J. (2006). Globalisation, theocracy and the new fascism: The US right’s rise to power. Race & Class, 47(3), 47-67.

  • Ezekiel, R. S. (2002, September). An ethnographer looks at neo-Nazi and Klan groups: The racist mind revisited. American Behavioral Scientist, 46(1), 51-71.

  • Garland, B., & Simi, P. (2011, December). A critique of using civil litigation to suppress white supremacist violence. Criminal Justice Review, 36.

  • Katz, M. B. (2008, January). Why don’t American cities burn very often? Journal of Urban History, 34(2), 185-208.

  • Pitcavage, M. (2001, February). Camouflage and conspiracy: The militia movement from Ruby Ridge to Y2K. American Behavioral Scientist, 44(6), 957-981.

  • Sharpe, T. T. (2000, March). The identity christian movement: Ideology of domestic terrorism. Journal of Black Studies, 30(4), 604-623.