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In addition to providing timely analysis of the terrorism threat and drivers behind it, this programme works with government and law enforcement agencies to increase understanding of key issues such as radicalisation and the threat from lone-actor terrorists.
RUSI's National Security and Resilience group has particular expertise in countering-violent extremism policy, and runs the Strengthening Resilience to Violent Extremism (STRIVE) in the Horn of Africa programme on behalf of the European Commission.
Contacts

RAF air strike on British citizen: A high risk strategy
Commentary, 7 September 2015
Michael Clarke
On 7 September 2015 the British prime minister controversially announced that two British citizens had been killed in RAF drone strikes. The point is not so much that they were British but that he was targeted in an area that the UK does not currently regard, legally, as an operational theatre of war for UK forces.
Tags: Air Power and Technology, Defence, Industries and Society, Terrorism, UK Defence Policy, Syria, UK, Law and Ethics, Terrorism, UK Defence, Europe, Middle East and North Africa
Terror on the Cheap: Financing Lone Actor and Small Cell Attacks
Commentary, 17 August 2015
Tom Keatinge
As recent reports highlight the increasing risk of Daesh-inspired lone actor or small cell homeland terrorist attacks, an urgent recalibration of terrorist-finance disruption efforts is required to include both funds flowing to Syria/Iraq and those raised to be used at home.
Tags: Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies, Organised Crime, Terrorism, Organised Crime, Terrorism
Out of Line: The UK and US Response to Kidnap-For-Ransom
Commentary, 6 July 2015
Tom Keatinge
Until last week, the UK government’s position on terrorist-related kidnap-for-ransom (KfR) mirrored that of the United States: no payments and no concessions. But the result of a six month White House review of US hostage response has created a dilemma for the prime minister.
Tags: Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies, Organised Crime, Terrorism, United States, Americas, Iraq, Syria, UK, Terrorism, Europe, Middle East and North Africa
Why Tunisia and What Next?
Commentary, 29 June 2015
Jonathan Githens-Mazer
Following last week’s attacks in Tunisia, the focus has been on why Tunisia was targeted and what could potentially happen next. The rest of the world now needs to come together to support Tunisia’s democracy and economy, in order to successfully fight Daesh and counteract its ‘us vs. them’ view of the world.
Tags: Terrorism, Terrorism, Middle East and North Africa
From Al-Shabaab to Daesh
Commentary, 23 June 2015
Raffaello Pantucci
Following the announcement of British deaths in Iraq and Somalia, it has become clear that foreign fighters are attracted to various battlefields. However, there has been a noticeable shift away from Somalia to Syria/Iraq in travel patterns from the UK. Understanding why and how this has taken place might offer some ideas for how to stifle some of the attraction of Syria and Iraq.
Tags: International Security Studies, Terrorism, Iraq, Syria, Global Security Issues, Terrorism, Middle East and North Africa
The Fall of Ramadi: Daesh’s Next Move
Commentary, 19 May 2015
Gareth Stansfield
The reported fall of Ramadi to Daesh should not come as a surprise. The militants are now relying on their Shia opponents to give a brutal response which will allow them to consolidate and expand their popularity.
Tags: International Security Studies, Terrorism, Iraq, Syria, Middle East and North AfricaPages

ISIS and Sexual Violence: A Very Deliberate Strategy
Commentary, 28 November 2014Joanne Mackowski
The use of rape and abuse as psychological weapons by ISIS forces has raised questions on how best to protect vulnerable civilians in warzones
Defence, Industries and Society, Terrorism, Iraq, Syria, Terrorism, Middle East and North Africa
Defeating ISIS: How Financial Liabilities will Undo the Jihadists
Commentary, 27 October 2014Tom Keatinge
The scrutiny of ISIS’ financing has focused almost exclusively on the vast resources it has accumulated. Yet as it has expanded, it has also been gathering financial liabilities which, if the international community is patient, could be its ultimate undoing
Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies, Terrorism, Iraq, Syria, Terrorism, Middle East and North Africa
Canada: The End of Exceptionalism
Commentary, 23 October 2014Calum Jeffray
The shootings in Ottawa confirm that Canada is no longer the exception on the terrorists’ map. The relatively benign security environment of the past has given way to a much more uncertain present
Terrorism, Terrorism and Conflict, North America, Americas, Intelligence, Terrorism
Is Qatar Sponsoring Al-Qa'ida in Mali?
Commentary, 7 February 2013David Roberts
There have been many reports circulating that Qatar is directly or indirectly supporting terrorist groups in Mali, having asserted its influence in the rest of North Africa. But there would be no logical reason for Qatar to be involved or gain in meddling in Mali's affairs.
Terrorism, Al-Qa'ida, Global Security Issues, Terrorism, Africa
France in Mali: What Risk for the 'New' Hollande?
Commentary, 22 January 2013Cathy Haenlein
As French troops continue to engage Islamist rebels in Mali, questions are being raised over how long they will stay, and the real commitment of the president to ending France's long history of interventionism on the continent.
Terrorism, Terrorism and Conflict, France, Global Security Issues, Terrorism, Europe, AfricaPages

Defeating Complex Insurgency: Beyond Iraq and Afghanistan (WHP 64)
Whitehall Papers, 1 January 2005John Mackinlay
The international response to insurgency and terrorism is at present too unwieldy and disparately motivated to succeed in taking a manoeuvrist approach.
International Security Studies, Terrorism, Whitehall Papers, Afghanistan, Iraq, Counterinsurgency, International Responses, Al-Qa'ida, Terrorism, Central and South Asia, Middle East and North Africa
War and Morality (WHP 61)
Whitehall Papers, 21 June 2004Patrick Mileham (editor)
Essays on the legal justifications for the resort to force, nations hosting international terrorists and criminals, humanitarian relief efforts, post conflict stabilization, and case studies on Iraq...
International Security Studies, Terrorism, Whitehall Papers, Afghanistan, Iraq, Global Security Issues, Law and Ethics, Terrorism, Central and South Asia, Middle East and North Africa
Central Asia: New Arc of Crisis? (WHP 17)
Whitehall Papers, 1 July 1992Shirin Akiner
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991 a new fear emerged: that of Central Asia as a key link in a Muslim fundamentalist ‘arc of instability’ stretching from North Africa to western...
International Security Studies, Terrorism, Whitehall Papers, Tackling Extremism, Russia, Global Security Issues, Terrorism, Europe, Central and South Asia
The Politics of UK Accession to Pacific Free Trade Club
Rose Roth, language and youth
Failure to Lift Off: The UK’s Space Launch Ambitions