International Trade Security And Transnational Terrorism

Abstract: The authors offer a general analytical framework illustrating the complex two-way interactions between trade and transnational terrorism. Then they survey the recent economic literature in light of this framework by pointing to the importance in empirical studies of (1) controlling appropriately for theses interactions, (2) distinguishing between "source" countries and "target" countries of terrorism, and (3) taking into account the intertemporal persistence of terrorism between specific pairs of countries.

The authors offer a general analytical framework illustrating the complex two-way interactions between trade and transnational terrorism. Then they survey the recent economic literature in light of this framework by pointing to the importance in empirical studies of (1) controlling appropriately for theses interactions, (2) distinguishing between source countries and target countries of terrorism, and (3) taking into account the intertemporal persistence of terrorism between specific pairs of countries.

Abstract: What is the impact of terrorism on trade through higher security at the borders? The authors set up a theory which shows that the impact goes not only from terrorism to trade. Higher trade with a partner might, in turn, increase the probability of terrorism acts and make security measures more costly for total welfare. To identify the true impact of terrorism, their theory allows for a strategy to condition out the latter mechanism. The authors show in particular how past incidents perpetrated in third countries (anywhere in the world except the origin or targeted country) constitute good exogenous factors for current security measures at the borders. Their tests suggest that terrorist incidents have a small effect on U.S. imports on average, but a much higher effect for those origin countries at the top of the distribution of incidents. In addition, the level of the impact is up to three times higher when the acts result in a relatively high number of victims, the products are sensitive to shipping time, and the size of the partner is small. The authors further show how terrorism affects the number of business visas given by the United States, thereby affecting significantly U.S. imports in differentiated products. These results suggest that security to prevent terrorism does matter for trade.

The volume reveals how the pre-9/11-era of contemporary economic history gave birth to a nexus of a) globalization b) increased systemic vulnerability and complexity and c) the transitions of terrorism. As a result, the post-9/11-era is one which should incorporate risk analysis audits on a regular basis, political and geopolitical risk research, the use of quantitative risk assessment and qualitative risk analysis to implement risk strategy planning, its management and appropriate risk transfer considerations.

Contents: (1) Intro.; (2) Crime-Terrorism Partnerships and Transformations; (3) The Crime-Terrorism Toolbox; (4) Interaction of Terrorism and Crime: Dawood Ibrahim¿s D-Co.; Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia; 2004 Madrid Bombers; The Taliban; Abu Ghadiyah, Monzer Al Kassar and Viktor Bout; Hezbollah; Al Qaeda; 2005 London Bombings; Al-Shabaab; Mexico¿s La Familia, Colombia¿s Medellin, Italy¿s Mafia, and Brazil¿s Prison Gangs; (5) Selected U.S. Gov¿t. Actions Addressing the Confluence of International Terrorism and Transnat. Organized Crime; State Dept.; Treasury Dept.; Fin¿l. Crimes Enforce. Network; DoD; DoJ: IOC-2; DEA; FBI; DHS; Intell. Comm¿y.; (6) Counterterrorism: What Role for Anti-Crime?

Transnational terrorism is the central security challenge of the Post Cold War World, the defining moments of which were 9/11 in New York and 26/11 in Mumbai. Just as the United States carried out a comprehensive review of counter terrorism threats and capabilities immediately after the deadly multiple strikes in September 2001, India has undertaken an appraisal of transnational terrorism over the past two years and has commenced a process of transformation of the internal security establishment post Mumbai. Keeping in view the significance of the issue to Indian security, USI had undertaken a study focused on “National Security –Countering Transnational Terrorism,” this year, organizing a series of seminars, lectures and studies on the subject. This book is a result of the study carried out by USI and has covered the entire range of the phenomenon examining geo political, regional and internal security facets to suggest strategies for security cooperation, capacity building and societal responses.

The involvement of insurgent and extremist groups in criminal activity is an issue that has been a concern of U.S. administrations for decades. In recent years, some observers have claimed that interactions between international terrorists and criminals are increasing. If true, expanded links between criminal and terrorist networks could increase U.S. vulnerability to attack by terrorist groups with enhanced criminal capabilities and financial resources. An expanded range of combined criminal and terrorist activity could also affect the global economy and U.S. foreign policy goals, undermining licit international commerce and the promotion of good governance and rule of law. Threats posed by a crime-terrorism nexus may be particularly challenging, as the scale and nature of their cooperation are believed to vary widely and limited anecdotal evidence largely serves as the basis for current understanding of the problem. U.S. efforts to combat the relationship between crime and terrorism are a subset of broader policy responses to transnational crime and international terrorism individually. While numerous U.S. strategies and programs are designed to combat international terrorism and transnational crime separately, fewer efforts focus specifically on addressing the confluence of the two. Those efforts that do exist focus mainly on (1) human smuggling and clandestine terrorist travel, (2) money laundering and terrorist financing, and (3) narcoterrorism links between drug traffickers and terrorists. Many of these efforts, including the creation of the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center, the reorganization of the Treasury Departments Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, and the expanded extraterritorial jurisdiction authority to investigate and prosecute international narcoterrorism cases, occurred in response to the attacks of September 11, 2001. Congress played a large role in such efforts, holding at least eight hearings specifically on some aspect of c.

The Political Economy of Terrorism presents a widely accessible political economy approach to the study of terrorism. It applies economic methodology – theoretical and empirical – combined with political analysis and realities to the study of domestic and transnational terrorism. In so doing, the book provides both a qualitative and quantitative investigation of terrorism in a balanced up-to-date presentation that informs students, policy makers, researchers and the general reader of the current state of knowledge. Included are historical aspects, a discussion of watershed events, the rise of modern-day terrorism, examination of current trends, the dilemma of liberal democracies, evaluation of counterterrorism, analysis of hostage incidents and much more. The new edition expands coverage of every chapter, adds a new chapter on terrorist network structures and organization, accounts for changes in the Department of Homeland Security and the USA Patriot Act and insurance against terrorism. Rational-actor models of terrorist and government behavior and game-theoretic analysis are presented for readers with no prior theoretical training. Where relevant, the authors display graphs using data from International Terrorism: Attributes of Terrorist Events (ITERATE), the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), and other public-access data sets.