Terrorism and Violent Extremism

Research Briefs are short, engaging and accessibly written descriptions of the results of TSAS-funded research projects, focusing on top-level conclusions and policy relevance.

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.

WORKING PAPER

“One-man war”: A History of Lone-actor Terrorism in Canada, 1868-2018

Using primary source material obtained through archives and other open sources, this working paper examines, through a series of qualitative case studies, nineteen lone-actor terrorist attacks that occurred in Canada across a 150-year period, specifically between 1868 and 2018. The next section addresses methodological issues, including in connection to definitions. That is followed by an…

Working Paper Title 2020
RESEARCH REPORT

No Country for a Returning Foreign Fighter? More Reasons for Repatriating Canadian IS Member in Custody

What should the Canadian government do about returning extremist travellers who have been involved with the so-called Islamic State (IS)? Should the government develop a gender-informed response to deal with male and female members of IS? What are some of the major causes of radicalization leading some Canadians to join IS? What are the views…

Working Paper Title 2020
RESEARCH BRIEF

Domestic Jihadist Threat to Australia and Canada 2000-2020: An Overview

There is surprisingly little systematic and publicly available information on the nature, scale, and evolution of the Jihadist threat in Australia and Canada. Government responses to specific terrorist incidents and annual reports on the terrorist threat provide little insight into the perpetrators, their methods, and intended targets. More information is available in the media, but…

Working Paper Title 2019
RESEARCH REPORT

‘IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER’: Recognizing the Breadth of Women’s Participation in Violent Political Organizations and Beyond.

The potential for political violence in women is still something that most contemporary societies are wary of openly acknowledging. It is, after all, easier to apprehend the relation between women and violence as a unidirectional one, that is to say, as something that is done to them. Even when a woman is at the origins…

Working Paper Title 2019
WORKING PAPER

Tracking Transnational Terrorist Resourcing Nodes and Networks

This study is the first comprehensive effort to collect, code, compare, and analyze all available open source data on transnational terrorist financing networks. It thus contributes to the ongoing optimization of anti-terrorist resourcing laws, policies, and risk-management practices. Initially the study operationalizes some key concepts, then goes on to review efforts to contain terrorist financing…

Working Paper 2018 Title
WORKING PAPER

Linguistic and Narrative Trends Among Islamic State Videos and Magazines

This study applies the semi-automated method of sentiment analysis to magazines and videos that have been produced by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) in order to determine what thematic narratives are prevalent within this propaganda and how consistent these narratives are between the platforms of magazines and videos. The data for this study included 28…

Working Paper 2018 Title
WORKING PAPER

Forensic Psychiatry and the Extremist: A Review of the Recent Violence Risk Assessment Tools for Offenders Convicted of Terrorism Offences

Opining on the concept of dangerousness, Michel Foucault once characterized psychiatry as an endeavor that attempts “to rationalize the confused where madness and crime mix”. In his view, psychiatry gained ‘prestige’ because it developed a framework of a medical discipline concerned with “a reaction to the dangers inherent to the social body”. There is some…

Working Paper 2018 Title
WORKING PAPER

Kidnapping for Ransom: An Analysis of Canadian Cases

Since 2001, thirty Canadian nationals have been kidnapped and held for ransom by terrorist groups while traveling or working abroad. This paper explores two questions relevant to policymakers and analysts assigned to kidnapping for ransom (KFR) files: why are Canadians targeted in kidnapping operations by terrorist groups; and what options are available to the Government…

Working Paper 2018 Title
WORKING PAPER

Understanding the diversity of Jihadi Rhetoric: Who says what, and how?

Information on how the Global Jihadist Movement’s (GJM) leaders define their ideology is widely available, but few studies have focused on analyzing the entire contribution of all the actors involved in the construction of this decentralized movement’s discourse (Winter 2015), and few studies provide an in-depth qualitative analysis of it (Macnair and Frank 2017). In…

Working Paper 2017 Title
WORKING PAPER

From nascent insurrections to full-blown insurgencies: Why some militant groups engage in sustained armed conflicts, a quantitative approach

There is a growing threat from terrorism and insurgencies worldwide in recent years. It is puzzling why some initially weak militant groups, who face immense difficulties in garnering material resources and support, sustain violent operations and confront more powerful militaries. Why do some militant groups engage in sustained armed conflicts while other groups do not?…

Working Paper 2017 Title
WORKING PAPER

Broadening our Understanding of Anti-Authority Movements in Canada

Academic explorations of anti-authority movements are virtually non-existent in Canada. We have no reliable primary data or empirical insights into Freemen-on-the-Land (FOTL) or other similar contingents. What we do know comes largely from Associate Chief Justice Rooke’s decision in Meads v. Meads (2012). He refers to the loose collection of individuals and small cells as…

Working Paper 2016 Title
WORKING PAPER

The Future of Right-Wing Terrorism in Canada

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…

Working Paper 2016 Title
WORKING PAPER

Jihad in the Jazeera: Explaining The Islamic State’s Growing Insurgent Threat in Egypt

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…

Working Paper 2015 Title
WORKING PAPER

Quantifying and Qualifying Charisma: A Theoretical Framework for Measuring the Presence of Charismatic Authority in Terrorist Groups

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…

Working Paper 2014 Title
WORKING PAPER

Can “Dangerous Speech” be Used in Explaining “Lone-Wolf” Terrorism?

“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”…

Working Paper 2014 Title
WORKING PAPER

Eco-Terrorism and the Corresponding Legislative Efforts to Intervene and Prevent Future Attacks

This study reviews the extent of attacks related to eco-terrorism from 1970 to 2012 to understand the development of this relatively new phenomenon in Canada, Japan and the United States. Furthermore, we conducted legal analysis to identify important legislation related to prevention and intervention of eco-terrorism. Time series analysis was then applied to data to…

Working Paper 2014 Title
WORKING PAPER

Right-wing Extremism in Canada

What factors may promote violent right-wing extremism in Canada, and how is it connected to similar movements in the US and Europe? What impacts might this violence have on radicalization within other communities, and what strategies can security and intelligence organizations employ to detect or reduce violent right-wing extremism? Canada’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy notes that violence…

Working Paper 2014 Title
WORKING PAPER

Researching Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism through a Network Lens

In this paper, we argue that integrating network concepts and network methods to the study of terrorism and counter-terrorism are central ingredients in bringing the field forward from theoretical, empirical, and policy perspectives. This is not exactly a new idea, although the move to study terrorist networks did not really take off until the events…

  • Filter Publications by Area

  • Type of Publication

Skip to content