Research
CSCP Research areas:
Terrorism and Radicalisation
Transnational Terrorism, Security and the Rule of Law
TTSRL at a glance
Truly innovative in its aim to provide insight into the full range of existing counter-terrorism approaches to respond to the terrorism threat, the "Transnational Terrorism, Security and the Rule of Law" (TTSRL) project also seeks to enhance understanding of the nature and extent of the terrorist threat in Europe and varying responses of governments when confronted with this threat. Six research institutions from four EU member states are involved in the project, among which is the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael. CSCP-experts have contributed with their extensive knowledge on the subject matter to three TTSRL reports to this date (one of which includes two separate case studies). At present, Mr. Dr. Edwin Bakker, Ms. LL.M. Bibi van Ginkel, Mr. Gijs de Vries MA and Ms. Polyna Berlin work on one of the final workpackages of the project, which is to devise an ethically just counter terrorism approach.
Previous contributions
The nature of terrorism - definitions of EU institutions
Workpackage 3, "The nature of terrorism: conceptual difficulties, theoretical notions, and empirical findings", contains an overview of the development and evolution of a definition for terrorism in the European Union. Due to the absence of a precise and comprehensive definition of 'terrorism' that could be implemented in Member States, and given the rising necessity to differentiate terrorism from other forms of political violence, Clingendael has made an effort to review the basic elements of a wide-ranging definition of terrorism, focusing on the EU documents in which definitions of terrorism were incorporated. From this analysis, six definitional elements are deducted, making it possible to compare different definitions. In comparison with other policy definitions, the research illustrates that the formulation of EU definitions has not taken place in isolation of international developments regarding the topic. Thus it can be stated that the EU definitions are in line with other internationally used definitions, notwithstanding some differences in formulation.
The Hofstadgroup and Hizb ut Tahrir
In order to fully comprehend the threat terrorism poses to the EU, Clingendael has included two case studies concerning terrorist activity in the Netherlands and other EU Member States, focusing on the Hofstad Group and Hizb ut Tahrir.
The Hofstad Group is an Islamist terrorist organization of about ten young Muslims in the Netherlands. The name 'Hofstad' was originally used for the group by the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service, and refers the city of The Hague, where some members have been active. One of the Hofstad Group's key convicted members is Mohammed Bouyeri, the man who killed the controversial Dutch filmmaker and writer Theo van Gogh in November of 2004. Thirteen other suspects were taken into custody on various charges in connection with the murder, and nine were sentenced for membership of a terrorist organization, currently serving sentences ranging from one year to life imprisonment. The study only regards the nine convicts as the Hofstad Group, but regard a number of persons that have close links with the group as its surrounding network or 'entourage'. This makes the Hofstad Group network at least twice as big as the group of nine convicted members. The research concludes that in order to tackle home-grown terrorism by young immigrant Muslims such as Mohammed Bouyeri, much can be learned from case studies that focus on a group's historical background, organization and finance, methods and tactics, discourse, root and trigger causes, development and factors of decline.
The same holds true for the Hizb ut Tahrir case study. Hizb ut Tahrir al Islami (Islamic Party of Liberation), presents itself as a "political party whose ideology is Islam" and strives to restore the Islamic Caliphate. Hizb ut Tahrir is a trans-national party or movement that claims to try to achieve its goals without the use of violence, at has branches in about forty countries, including both Islamic and Western countries. In almost all of these countries - including EU countries where the party has a relatively strong presence such as the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Germany - the party is perceived as a threat to the state or even as a terrorist organization. However, the study concludes that such qualifications cannot be given to Hizb ut Tahrir without serious reservations. Hizb ut Tahrir does have anti-democratic tendencies, but it also officially rejects the idea of violent jihad to achieve their goals. Therefore, outlawing the organization without a proper cause might backfire on European democratic societies. Nevertheless, in a number of EU countries, the party is regarded as one that secretly does support the idea of a violent jihad and/or has been involved in anti-Semitic incidents.
A comprehensive EU Counterterrorism Strategy
For workpackage 6, "An ethically just comprehensive European strategy against terrorism", Clingendael has focused on research that aims to present the theoretical dimension of counterterrorism. Taking stock of previously conducted scholarly research from a broad range of disciplines including political science, international relations, communications, conflict studies and economics, the study reviews theoretical notions for developing effective counterterrorism strategies. With a thorough review and analysis of the prevailing literature, it strives to highlight the most generally accepted assumptions concerning strategies for countering terrorism, including the pressing need for effectively assessing strategies that are already in place. Building on the knowledge drawn from the literature overview, the authors distil specific suggestions proposed by various scholars and utilise them as a basis for formulating recommendations to guide future counterterrorism policymaking. The study concludes that an encompassing theory on countering terrorism is yet to be introduced, nevertheless suggestions for an encompassing counterterrorism strategy can be drawn from academic literature. In fact, when comparing these suggestions to EU counterterrorism measures, a number of positive matches have been found.