Terrorism, Security and the Power of Informal Networks

This innovative work examines the concept of the informal network and its practical utility within the context of counterterrorism. Drawing together a range of practitioner and academic expertise it explores the character and evolution of informal networks, addressing the complex relationship between kinship groups, transnational linkages and the role that globalization and new technologies play in their formation and sustainability. By analysing the informal branch of networked organization in the context of security policy-making, the chapters in this book seek to address three questions: â?¢ how do informal networks operate? â?¢ which combination of factors draws individuals to form such networks?â?¢ what are their structures? Informal networks are necessarily elusive owing to their ad hoc development, amorphous structures and cultural specificity but they are nonetheless pivotal to the way organizations conduct business. Identifying and manipulating such networks is central to effective policy-making. Terrorism, Security and the Power of Informal Networks argues that informal networks are important to policy-makers and their mastery is critical to success both in tackling the challenges of hostile networks and in the processes of organizational reform currently preoccupying governments. Practitioners, policy-makers and researchers in the fields of international politics, international relations, history and political science will find much to interest them in this timely resource. Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 List of figures, tables and boxes......Page 8 Contributors......Page 10 Introduction......Page 14 PART I Informal Networks......Page 24 1. The utility of informal networks to policy-makers......Page 26 2. Terrorist networks: strengths and weaknesses......Page 41 PART II Regional Networks......Page 52 3. Northern Ireland: communal division and the embedding of paramilitary networks......Page 54 4. Informal networks in North Africa......Page 76 5. Iran: informal networks and leadership politics......Page 112 6. How al-Qaeda lost Iraq......Page 146 7. Informal networks in Southeast Asia: the case of Jemaah Islamiah and its affiliates......Page 169 PART III Disrupting Informal Networks......Page 196 8. Modeling proliferation networks......Page 198 9. Small-world networks, violence and global distress......Page 230 10. Hearts and minds: time to think differently?......Page 254 11. Producing terror: organizational dynamics of survival......Page 270 Index......Page 302 This innovative work examines the concept of the informal network and its practical utility within the context of counter terrorism. Drawing together a range of practitioner and academic expertise it explores the character and evolution of informal networks, addressing the complex relationship between kinship groups, transnational linkages and the role that globalisation and new technologies play in their formation and sustainability. --Publisher Examines the concept of the informal network and its practical utility within the context of counter terrorism. David Martin Jones, University of Queensland, Australia Edited By David Martin Jones, Ann Lane And Paul Schulte. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.