Dr. Tricia Bacon is an Associate Professor at the School of Public Affairs at American University. Dr. Elizabeth Grimm is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. One of the singular challenges for a terrorist organization is how to transition to another leader after the founder’s death. For the […]
Author Nicole A. Softness argues that ISIS is primarily, and potentially exclusively, prioritizing its territorial claims. She argues that this warrants a new strategy from the US-led counterterrorism alliance: one that treats ISIS like a violent revolutionary movement (more akin to the French and Communist Revolutions), and as a potentially legitimate state, rather than a scattered and decentralized ideological network.
Author Ahmad Shah Katawazai discusses the development of terrorist elements in the largely ungoverned Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, describes its implications for regional and international security, and offers policy prescriptions to combat the continued growth of extremism in the FATA.