TSAS Working Paper
TSAS Working Paper
TSAS WP17-05: ‘Analysis of Low-Tech Terrorism in Western Democracies: Attacks with Vehicles, Blades and Incendiary Devices’
This study explores the issue of low-tech terrorism in Canada, France, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom from 2001 through 2017. As a descriptive analysis, this study reveals – …
TSAS WP17-04: ‘Reporting Suspicion in Canada Insights from the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing’
Following the premise that suspicion is less an event than a process, how do banks produce suspicion about financial transactions for reporting purposes? To what extent the quality of suspicious – …
TSAS WP17-03: The Experience of Canadian Muslim Civil-society Organization and Activists in Influencing and Shaping Counter-terrorism Legislation and Policy
The main objective of this research is to understand the experiences of Canadian Muslim civil-society organisations that seek to influence counter-terrorism legislation and policy. I use the public debate surrounding – …
TSAS WP17-02: Broadening our Understanding of Anti-Authority Movements in Canada
TSAS WP17-01: A Concurrent Evaluation of Threat Assessment Tools for the Individual Assessment of Terrorism
This research examines what is the content overlap among three tools that may be relevant for assessing an individual’s risk for terrorist violence: Version 3 of the Historical-Clinical-Risk Management—20 (HCR-20 – …
TSAS WP16-14: Talking to Foreign Fighters: Socio-Economic Push versus Existential Pull Factors
The research acquired primary data through interviews with foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, the families and friends of such fighters, and other online supporters of jihadism, to better understand – …
TSAS WP16-13: Trying to Talk to Terrorists: Ethical and Methodological Challenges in Canada
Scholars have long shied away from talking to terrorists. This is because there are significant methodological and ethical problems posed by such research. How can we manage those challenges and – …
TSAS WP16-12: The Future of Right-Wing Terrorism in Canada
What is the range of likely scenarios for future right-wing terrorism in Canada, based on connections to radical movements in the US and Europe? Which factors or actions may mitigate – …
TSAS WP16-10: Research into How Resources are Acquired, Moved and Used to Support Acts of Terrorism
The study was directed to answer six questions on terrorist resourcing in Canada through a comparative analysis that identified: resourcing activities; actors involved; interconnections of activities; importance of different forms; – …
TSAS WP16-11: Jihad in the Jazeera: Explaining The Islamic State’s Growing Insurgent Threat in Egypt
Why did Wilayat Sinai – The Islamic State’s affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula – evolve to become an unprecedented challenge to the Egyptian state?
TSAS WP16-09: Social impacts of the securitized arrival experiences of in-Canada refugee claimants
This multi-sited research included qualitative interviews with 19 in-Canada refugee claimants declared convention refugees under the new (since Dec 1, 2012) immigration legislation. The research sought to answer two questions: – …
TSAS WP16-08: Analyzing the formal and informal roles of women in security and justice in Yemen: Reflections for future considerations
This paper is part of a larger project which examines the roles and agency of women in counterterrorism practices. This paper specifically asks: what formal and informal roles have women – …
TSAS WP16-07: Cheering on the Jihad: An Exploration of Women’s Participation in Online Pro-jihadist Networks
This paper poses the following questions: 1. Can identifiable patterns of engagement by female posters be discerned based on content of posts? 2. Does the type of the jihadist group – …
TSAS WP16-06: Teaching CVE: a review of the Preventing Violent Extremism and Radicalisation in Australia handbook, and challenges across policy and practice
(1) What are some of the key issues and challenges that emerged following the release of the Preventing Violent Extremism and Radicalisation in Australia (PVERA) handbook? (2) What lessons that – …
TSAS WP16-05: Assessment of the state of knowledge: Connections between research on the social psychology of the Internet and violent extremism
This paper seeks to answer the question: How does social psychology contribute to our understanding of the link between the Internet and violent extremism?
TSAS WP16-04: Bridging the National Security Accountability Gap: A Three-Part System to Modernize Canada’s Inadequate Review of National Security
This paper examines existing challenges associated with the current structure of national security accountability review in Canada. It then draws on best practices in other jurisdictions to propose a systematic – …
TSAS WP16-03: Taking Hoaxes Seriously: Characteristics of Terrorism Hoaxes and their Perpetrators
What can existing literature and available data tell us about terrorism hoaxes (i.e. those incidents that are believed to be acts of serious terrorism, but do not actually involve any – …
TSAS WP16-02: Impromptu Initiative: Security Certificates and Scale
This paper offers some background and theoretical framing as part of a larger project on the Canadian Security Certificate Initiative. Here I consider questions about different ways of thinking about – …
TSAS WP16-01: Policies and Responsibilities for Governing Violent Extremism at Ontario Universities
This research looks at the governance of violent extremism on Ontario university campuses. Specifically, it explores: 1) how Ontario universities are governed; 2) how student organizations (such as clubs) and – …
TSAS WP15-06: Traits de personnalité et terrorisme
TSAS WP15-05: Personality Traits and Terrorism
TSAS WP15-04: No Sandwiches Here: Representations of Women in Dabiq and Inspire Magazines
How, and to what extent, are women represented within Dabiq and Inspire magazines? As we know from a wealth of mass media reporting, women are increasingly the focus of recruiters – …
TSAS WP15-03: Quantifying and Qualifying Charisma: A Theoretical Framework for Measuring the Presence of Charismatic Authority in Terrorist Groups
In order to stimulate the production of robust and replicable empirical research on the dynamics of charismatic leadership in terrorist groups, this working paper operationalizes the social-scientific concept of charismatic – …
TSAS WP15-02: Terrorist Babble and the Limits of the Law: Assessing a Prospective Canadian Terrorism Glorification Offence
Since 2007, the Canadian government has repeatedly expressed interest in a terrorism “glorification” offence, responding to internet materials regarded by officials as terrorist propaganda and as promoting “radicalization”. In the – …
TSAS WP15-01: The Global Fight Against Terror: An Analysis of the Effectiveness of Counter-terrorism Governance
What does counter-terrorism governance currently look like at the national, regional, and global levels, how effective has it been, and what are some possible ways forward? Since 9/11, intense efforts – …
TSAS WP14-12: Perceptions of Muslim Faith, Ethno-Cultural Community-based and Student Organizations in Countering Domestic Terrorism in Canada
What are the perceptions of Muslim community based organizations and university student organization leaders on domestic terrorism and counter-terrorism in Canada and what are their suggestions to prevent radicalization and – …
TSAS WP14-11: Can “Dangerous Speech” be Used in Explaining “Lone-Wolf” Terrorism?
“Lone wolf terrorism” challenges security scholars and practitioners alike with its unpredictable and ambiguous nature. One of the greatest of these challenges is contextualizing the part of socialization and indoctrination – …
TSAS WP14-10: Social Perspectives on National Security: A review of recent literature
This review was commissioned by TSAS to survey the ways in which academic researchers have been trying to understand the experiences of exclusion by marginalized youth, and how these might – …
TSAS WP14-09: A Systematic Approach to Develop a Computational Framework for Counter-terrorism and Public Safety
Can agent-based modelling and virtual environment technologies be used to create a decision support, response planning and risk assessment system for emergence preparedness?
TSAS WP14-08: A Framework for Estimating the Number of Extremists in Canada
How can researchers appropriately estimate the number of extremists, particularly violent extremists, in Canada?
TSAS WP14-07: The Process of Radicalization: Right-Wing Skinheads in Quebec
This research studies the radicalization process of right-wing skinheads in the province of Quebec by identifying the mechanisms that shape pathways toward extremism and violence.
TSAS WP14-06: (Mis)Understanding Muslim Converts in Canada: A Critical Discussion of Muslim Converts in the Contexts of Security and Society
This research seeks to understand the causes and processes of Islamic conversion in Canada through this initial study of Islamic conversion in Ontario. It attempts to contextualize Islamic conversion within – …
TSAS WP14-05: The Effectiveness & Effects of Canada’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams
This paper is part of a larger project that studies the emergence of the idea of integration together with its implications. This paper asks: how has the idea of integration – …
TSAS WP14-04: Eco-Terrorism and the Corresponding Legislative Efforts to Intervene and Prevent Future Attacks
This study reviews the extent of attacks related to eco-terrorism from 1970 to 2012 to understand the development of this relatively new phenomenon in Canada, Japan and the United States. – …
TSAS WP14-03: Right-wing Extremism in Canada
What factors may promote violent right-wing extremism in Canada, and how is it connected to similar movements in the US and Europe? What impacts might this violence have on radicalization – …
TSAS WP14-02: Between Here and There: Pre- and Post-migration Experiences and Generalized Trust among Recent Immigrants in Canada
This study examines levels and origins of trust among recent immigrants in Canada.
TSAS WP14-01: Researching Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism through a Network Lens
In this paper, we argue that integrating network concepts and network methods to the study of terrorism and counter-terrorism are central ingredients in bringing the field forward from theoretical, empirical, – …
TSAS WP13-04: Les théories des mouvements sociaux et la dialectique des niveaux: un cadre d’analyse pour l’étude des évolutions d’Al-Qaïda au Maghreb islamique.
Le développement d’Al-Qaïda au Maghreb islamique (AQMI) dans l’espace sahélo-saharien est-il le résultat de choix stratégiques du groupe en réponse à des contraintes et opportunités environnementales ou le fruit de – …
TSAS WP13-03: Les Dimensions Émotionnelles du Terrorisme
Quel(s) rôle(s) pour les émotions et dynamiques affectuelles dans les processus de radicalisation violente et d’engagement individuel dans le terrorisme ?
TSAS WP13-02: Le projet de loi antiterroriste canadien: une sélection sécuritaire
Comment les parlementaires canadiens ont-ils défini le problème du terrorisme dans le cadre des débats sur le projet de loi antiterroriste canadien (C-36), qui ont eu lieu du 15 octobre – …
TSAS WP13-01: C, B, R, or N: The Influence of Related Industry on Terrorists’ Choice in Unconventional Weapons
The assumption of technological determinism for CBRN underlies Canadian policy, but it has not been empirically tested.