Research Reports are longer, evidence-based, policy-relevant scholarly analyses on topics related to terrorism, security, and society, broadly defined, that touch on Canada, Canadian issues in comparative context, or global issues of interest to a Canadian audience.
Working Papers are scholarly analyses of various lengths that provide analysis based on TSAS-funded research projects. We are no longer accepting submissions for this series.
The research acquired primary data through interviews with foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, the families and friends of such fighters, and other online supporters of jihadism, to better understand the process by which these fighters radicalized and their motivations for travelling to Syria or Iraq. Between mid-2014 and early 2016 130 interviews were completed…
Scholars have long shied away from talking to terrorists. This is because there are significant methodological and ethical problems posed by such research. How can we manage those challenges and facilitate such research? Terrorism scholars face a unique challenge: accessing “primary data.” Most social sciences use interviews with those they are studying as an essential…
What is the range of likely scenarios for future right-wing terrorism in Canada, based on connections to radical movements in the US and Europe? Which factors or actions may mitigate the most likely scenarios? How might the future of Canadian right-wing terrorism be distinct from those of the US and Europe? There has been a…
Why did Wilayat Sinai – The Islamic State’s affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula – evolve to become an unprecedented challenge to the Egyptian state? From 2012 to 2015, militant attacks in the Sinai have increased tenfold, to over 100 attacks per month on average in 2015. Egyptian military casualties are estimated to be over 700…
The study was directed to answer six questions on terrorist resourcing in Canada through a comparative analysis that identified: resourcing activities; actors involved; interconnections of activities; importance of different forms; implications of the activities; means of response; and, the relative value of conducting analysis through the Terrorist Resourcing Model (TRM) lens. The Canadian approach to…
This multi-sited research included qualitative interviews with 19 in-Canada refugee claimants declared convention refugees under the new (since Dec 1, 2012) immigration legislation. The research sought to answer two questions: (i) What are the effects of the securitization of migration policies insofar as success in integration and feelings of trust and belonging; and (ii) Are…
This paper is part of a larger project which examines the roles and agency of women in counterterrorism practices. This paper specifically asks: what formal and informal roles have women played in the provision of security in Yemen, and how may this inform domestic post-conflict security considerations, as well as international security concerns? Yemen is…
This paper poses the following questions: Can identifiable patterns of engagement by female posters be discerned based on content of posts? Does the type of the jihadist group studied have any appreciable effect on female members’ posting content? This paper presents the findings of two separate, but inter-related, studies of the posting activities of women…
(1) What are some of the key issues and challenges that emerged following the release of the Preventing Violent Extremism and Radicalisation in Australia (PVERA) handbook? (2) What lessons that can be drawn from the content and public reception of the PVERA handbook? Schools and community organizations have recently become an important focus of the…
This paper seeks to answer the question: How does social psychology contribute to our understanding of the link between the Internet and violent extremism? There seems to be little doubt that the Internet is increasingly implicated in radicalization processes. Yet the mechanisms underlying the link between the Internet and violent extremism, and their relative importance,…
This paper examines existing challenges associated with the current structure of national security accountability review in Canada. It then draws on best practices in other jurisdictions to propose a systematic overall of the Canadian national security review system. The paper hopes to contribute to current discussions about reform in this area. It focuses particular attention…
What can existing literature and available data tell us about terrorism hoaxes (i.e. those incidents that are believed to be acts of serious terrorism, but do not actually involve any real risk of harm)? Terrorist hoaxes do not result in death or harm to people or property, but they do impose costs on governments and…
This paper offers some background and theoretical framing as part of a larger project on the Canadian Security Certificate Initiative. Here I consider questions about different ways of thinking about responses to national security and how they contrast with security concerns that do not invoke the need for secrecy. The use of secret information in…
This research looks at the governance of violent extremism on Ontario university campuses. Specifically, it explores: 1) how Ontario universities are governed; 2) how student organizations (such as clubs) and student governments are governed, and; 3) pre-existing policies that could apply to the governance of violent extremism. The policies of ten universities and the governance…
Plusieurs chercheurs ont conclu que les traits de personnalité ne peuvent pas être liés au terrorisme. Cette conclusion est maintenant admise comme un fait dans les cercles académiques et gouvernementaux, ainsi que dans le monde du renseignement. Cependant, un examen méthodique de la documentation scientifique pertinente n’a révélé aucune preuve à cet effet, et n’a…
Many researchers claim that individuals who engage in terrorism do not share distinct personality traits, a claim well accepted in academia, government, and the intelligence community. A thorough review of the literature, however, has yielded no evidence for this claim and found only three studies where the personality traits of terrorists were measured. Each study…
As we know from a wealth of mass media reporting, women are increasingly the focus of recruiters from pro-jihadist networks. Much of this reporting focuses on the Islamic State, in particular, as representing a new threat because of the nature of some of its female empowerment messages and imagery. However, we know very little about…
In order to stimulate the production of robust and replicable empirical research on the dynamics of charismatic leadership in terrorist groups, this working paper operationalizes the social-scientific concept of charismatic authority. It presents and justifies a theoretical framework consisting of fourteen indicators meant to be used as a heuristic to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze the…
Since 2007, the Canadian government has repeatedly expressed interest in a terrorism “glorification” offence, responding to internet materials regarded by officials as terrorist propaganda and as promoting “radicalization”. In the wake of the October 2014 attacks, this idea clearly remains on the government’s shortlist of responses. This article addresses the merits of such a criminal…
What does counter-terrorism governance currently look like at the national, regional, and global levels, how effective has it been, and what are some possible ways forward? Since 9/11, intense efforts have been undertaken at all levels of government to strengthen and expand counterterrorism governance. While these efforts are correlated with a reduction in terrorist activity…
What are the perceptions of Muslim community based organizations and university student organization leaders on domestic terrorism and counter-terrorism in Canada and what are their suggestions to prevent radicalization and improve existing counter-terrorism policy? Importance: Explore the phenomenon of radicalization within the Muslim community and examine community perceptions Identify reasons for the lack of community…
“Lone wolf terrorism” challenges security scholars and practitioners alike with its unpredictable and ambiguous nature. One of the greatest of these challenges is contextualizing the part of socialization and indoctrination in such attacks. What role do extremist communities and speech play in shaping the beliefs a “lone wolf” kills for? The concept of “dangerous speech”…
This review was commissioned by TSAS to survey the ways in which academic researchers have been trying to understand the experiences of exclusion by marginalized youth, and how these might relate to trajectories of radicalization to violent extremism, and community-level security interventions. The primary purpose of this review is to consider the turn to community…
Can agent-based modelling and virtual environment technologies be used to create a decision support, response planning and risk assessment system for emergence preparedness? By using state-of-the-art agent-based modelling and virtual environment technologies, we have built an affordable, flexible and powerful system for decision support, response planning and risk assessment. This system allows the user to…
How can researchers appropriately estimate the number of extremists, particularly violent extremists, in Canada? Having a reasonable idea of the size of the threat posed by violent extremists is a central policy consideration. Crucially, accurate estimates would allow for the better allocation and prioritization of limited resources. As well, they would allow afford a better…
Research Briefs: Research Briefs are invited submissions from TSAS grant recipients only. We do not accept unsolicited submissions to this series at this time.
Research Reports: TSAS welcomes submissions of evidence-based, policy-relevant scholarly analyses on topics related to terrorism, security, and society, broadly defined, that touch on Canada, Canadian issues in comparative context, or global issues of interest to a Canadian audience. Research Reports are 5000-8000 words. At this time, we only accept submissions from current TSAS affiliates. Please contact us for detailed information on submitting your manuscript.
Contact us to inquire about submitting work for publication.