This comprehensive worldwide study catalogs terrorist attacks in 2018, during which the Islamic State continued its decline from a quasi-government commanding territory the size of the United Kingdom to a more traditional terrorist network controlling just 1000 square miles. Yet IS still boasts 30,000 adherents in Syria and Iraq, with many others awaiting plans for attacks in their home nations.
Organized by region and country, this volume covers domestic and international incidents around the world, outlining significant trends. The author offers several indicators of what to watch in the coming years.
The single-year format allows readers access to the most up-to-date information on terrorism, while geographic focus more easily facilitates regional comparison.
- Title : Terrorism Worldwide, 2018
- Authors : Edward Mickolus
- Publisher : McFarland
- Publication Date : March 17, 2019
- Language : English
- Paperback : 185 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1476679401
- ISBN-13 : 978-1476679402
- Item Weight : 12 ounces
- Dimensions : 7 x 0.38 x 10 inches
Table of Contents
Introduction
Worldwide
Africa
Asia
Australia/New Zealand
Europe
Latin America
Middle East
North America
Updates of pre-2018 incidents
Index of Terrorist and Other Groups and Organizations
Bibliography
Introduction
This book uses the same definition of terrorism as found in its predecessors, allowing comparability across decades. Terrorism is the use or threat of use of violence by any individual or group for political purposes. The perpetrators may be functioning for or in opposition to established governmental authority. A key component of international terrorism is that its ramifications transcend national boundaries, and, in so doing, create an extended atmosphere of fear and anxiety. The effects of terrorism reach national and worldwide cultures as well as the lives of the people directly hurt by the terrorist acts. Violence becomes terrorism when the intention is to influence the attitudes and behavior of a target group beyond the immediate victims. Violence becomes terrorism when its location, the victims, or the mechanics of its resolution result in consequences and implications beyond the act or threat itself.
The book is divided into three sections: a region-by-region (and within each, a country-by-country) look at terrorist incidents—including a separate section updating events that occurred prior to 2018, an index of groups and organizations mentioned in the incident descriptions, and a bibliography. The Incidents section is based solely on publicly available sources. This section is not intended to be analytical, but rather comprehensive in scope. As such, the section also includes descriptions of non-international attacks that provide the security and political context in which international attacks take place. In some cases, the international terrorists mimic the tactics of their stay-at-homecohorts. Often, these are the same terrorists working on their home soil against domestic, rather than foreign, targets. Domestic attacks often serve as proving grounds for techniques later adopted for international use. I have therefore included material on major technological, philosophical, or security advances, such as: the use of letter bombs; food tampering; major assassinations; attempts to develop, acquire, smuggle, or use precursors for an actual chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapon; key domestic and international legislation and new security procedures; key arrests and trials of major figures; and incidents involving mass casualties. Non-international entries do not receive an eight-digit code.
The section also provides follow-up material to incidents first reported prior to January 1, 2018. For example, updates include information about the outcome of trials for terrorist acts occurring prior to 2018 and “where are they now” information about terrorists and their victims. The update is identified by the original incident date, and I have included enough prefatory material to give some context and to identify the original incident in the earlier volumes.
The international terrorist incidents and airline hijackings are identified by an eight-digit code. The first six digits identify the date on which the incident became known as a terrorist attack to someone other than the terrorists themselves (e.g., the date the letter bomb finally arrived at the recipient’s office, even though terrorists had mailed it weeks earlier; or the date on which investigators determined that an anomalous situation was terrorist in nature). The final two digits ratchet the number of attacks that took place on that date. In instances in which either the day of the month or the month itself is unknown, “99” is used in that field.
The information cutoff date for this volume is December 31, 2018.
The Bibliography section includes references drawn from the same public sources that provide the incidents, literature searches, and contributions sent by readers of previous volumes. It does not purport to be comprehensive. The citations are grouped into topic areas that were chosen to make the bibliography more accessible, and includes print and web-based material. The Bibliography gives citations on key events and may be referenced for more detail on specific attacks described in the Incidents section.
