Center for Strategic Communication

I have a chapter in this new Routledge book edited by Magnus Randstorp and Magnus Normark called Understanding Terrorism Innovation and Learning: Al-Qaeda and Beyond. My particular chapter focuses on ‘Innovation and Learning in British Jihad’ and draws on a lot of my research for my book. I am actually going to be presenting a version of the chapter at this forthcoming British Academy conference. I cannot simply post this here, though I am asking the publisher if they will let me. In the meantime, feel free to get in touch to hear more about it and I will try to help. This aside, I spoke to the Wall Street Journal and USA Today about the British government’s new counter-terrorism policies, the Sunday Mail about ISIS and immigration from Libya into Europe, and its daily counterpart the Daily Mail about British jihadi girls in Syria.

Understanding Terrorism Innovation and Learning: Al Qaeda and Beyond

This book examines the role of terrorist innovation and learning in theory and practice, and in the context of three specific EU case-studies.

It is often said that terrorist groups are relatively conservative in character operating in a technological vacuum – relying almost exclusively on bombs and bullets. This observation masks increasing complexity and creativity and innovation within terrorist groups and one of the most distinguishing features of al-Qaeda’s terrorist operations is its propensity for remarkable innovation. This book examines how and why terrorist groups innovate more generally and al-Qaeda-related terrorist plots in Europe more specifically. The starting point for this book was twofold. Firstly to examine the issue of innovation and learning more generically both in theory, within specific themes and within the context of al-Qaeda’s influence on this process. Secondly, this book examines the evolution of specific al-Qaeda-related plots in three specific northern EU states – the United Kingdom, Denmark and Germany – where there has been a significant volume of planned, failed and executed terrorist plots. In particular, these case studies explore signs of innovation and learning.