DOI: 10.7256/2454-0617.2017.2.23312

Abstract: This article analyzes the extremist and terrorist acts as a singular social phenomenon - the most dangerous and destructive kind of mass violence observed in Western Europe and the globalized world. The object of this article are the social relations based on religious values and regional economic interests of various social and political groups in their interaction with extremist and terrorist manifestations. The subject of this article is the Western European conflictological approach to the counteraction of social conflict that leads to extremist and terrorist acts. The author examines the overall determination of such manifestations in the light conflictological approach and specific examples considers the experience of the countries of the European Union on the harmonization of (mediation) of public life in order to minimize this social conflict. The article presents the author's conclusions, as well as a number of proposals that could be used in a social, political and legal practice in Russian Federation, and developed by Russia within Eurasian integrative international organizations. In particular, the author concludes that the determinants of modern international terrorism are global in their nature, stresses the key role of political interference with national interests of the pro-Islamic countries, which gives rise to conflicts of interests and provokes global cooperation Islamist extremist forces. The author also substantiates the proposal for the unification of social values with a view to the harmonization of social life, without which countering extremism and terrorism is impossible.

Keywords: interests, violence, mediation, harmonization, humanism, the European Union, values, conflict, terrorism, extremism

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0617.2020.3.32469

Abstract: The subject of this research is the expert opinions of RAND Corporation prepared during the warfare against terrorism. Their characteristic feature consists in reference to the colonial experience of the leading European powers in counter-insurgency. Special attention is given to the analysis of two vectors in the activity RAND Corporation: publication of the articles of 1960s-1970s dedicated to the problems of anti-insurrection and adaptation of the colonial experience of counter-insurgency activity to the new conditions of warfare against terrorism in the Near and Middle East. The selected methodology demonstrates how the leading powers perceive the role of colonial knowledge in ensuring domestic security in the “third world” countries (it refers to the lessons of history analyzed on the expert level within the framework of historical modeling of asymmetric conflicts). The conclusion is made that the expert opinions of RAND Corporation virtually resemble the key expert opinions of the time of Vietnam War, but adjusted them to the current conditions of warfare against terrorism. The aforementioned works were rather used for justification of the decisions of political and military elites, and clarification of the context and origins of the new American anti-insurrection doctrine to mainstream audience, as well as to the U. S. officials and commanders inexperienced in subjection of the rebels.

Keywords: David Galula, Afghanistan, Iraq, counterinsurgency, colonial experience, RAND Corporation, War on Terror, asymmetric conflict, rebellion, terrorism

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0617.2014.1.13048

Abstract:

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0617.2014.1.65855

Abstract: In this article, we offer a political and psychological analysis of reislamization, in the context of mental transformation of the Northern Caucasus. Enhancement of Islam on the south of Russia is explained by a multitude of historic, religious, global and domestic aspects, which have controversial influence on the state of North Caucasian society. The authors point out that one of the key mental and political factors of the political expansion of Islam in its radical forms is the Stavropol region, which is not only a cultural, but also an education and economic center of the Russian North Caucasus, as well as a nexus of intensive communication processes, especially in the polymental environment of youth, which is susceptible to radical Islamic ideologies. The methodology of this research is a systemic, structural and functional, comparative and historical, comparative and political, geopolitical and cultural-civilizational approaches, as well as methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, modeling and observation. The authors reach a conclusion that the global operators of political Islam are realizing a strategy of reformatting of self-identification views and settings of North Caucasian citizens. The goal of this plot is the destruction of a historically established polymentality of this region, and the forming of a basis for a religious dogma-based totalitarian monomentality, which is a part of the «new Islam» project for separating North Caucasus from Russia.

Keywords: conflict studies, politics, North Caucasus, mentality, identity, Islamism, conflict, nation, interests, security.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0617.2015.2.14282

Abstract: The article explores the events of January 7-11, 2015 in France: the terrorist attack on the editorial board of the weekly, “Charlie Hebdo”, the killing of police officers, taking of hostages, as well as the mass manifestations known as the Republican march. The methods of analysis of this "outlier case", i.e. extreme, atypical, deviant situation, examined in this article, reveal hidden social processes and phenomena, as well as offer some explanations as to the reasons of those events. The study is based on a variety of sources such as eyewitness accounts, French mass media, photo- and video materials, official statements, public statistics, and results of mass surveys conducted by various French sociological organizations, as well as qualitative data collected by the author in France in the period from 2004 to 2014.The methodological basis of the study constitute a systemic, structural-functional, comparative-historical, comparative political, geopolitical, cultural and civilizational approaches, methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, modeling, observation.This study rejects an opinion widespread in Russian scholarship about the religious and cultural nature of this type of conflict, it also rejects the proposed methods of solving such conflicts by tightening immigration policy and enhancing security measures. The study identifies the "risk zones": city suburbs, public schools, and prisons, which require urgent radical reforms, public attention and investment. The study warns about the real possibility of an escalation of radicalism, intolerance, xenophobia, and sympathy for the ideology of the extreme right groups. The study concludes that public safety cannot be achieved without the strengthening of civil and national unity. The mass manifestations of January 11 demonstrated the ability of French society to unite in front of the threat and challenges, and this potential should be further employed.

Keywords: security, freedom, the city suburbs, radical Islam, terrorism, France, Conflictology, republican march, republican values, school

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0617.2015.2.66679

Abstract: The article explores the events of January 7-11, 2015 in France: the terrorist attack on the editorial board of the weekly, “Charlie Hebdo”, the killing of police officers, taking of hostages, as well as the mass manifestations known as the Republican march. The methods of analysis of this "outlier case", i.e. extreme, atypical, deviant situation, examined in this article, reveal hidden social processes and phenomena, as well as offer some explanations as to the reasons of those events. The study is based on a variety of sources such as eyewitness accounts, French mass media, photo- and video materials, official statements, public statistics, and results of mass surveys conducted by various French sociological organizations, as well as qualitative data collected by the author in France in the period from 2004 to 2014.The methodological basis of the study constitute a systemic, structural-functional, comparative-historical, comparative political, geopolitical, cultural and civilizational approaches, methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, modeling, observation.This study rejects an opinion widespread in Russian scholarship about the religious and cultural nature of this type of conflict, it also rejects the proposed methods of solving such conflicts by tightening immigration policy and enhancing security measures. The study identifies the "risk zones": city suburbs, public schools, and prisons, which require urgent radical reforms, public attention and investment. The study warns about the real possibility of an escalation of radicalism, intolerance, xenophobia, and sympathy for the ideology of the extreme right groups. The study concludes that public safety cannot be achieved without the strengthening of civil and national unity. The mass manifestations of January 11 demonstrated the ability of French society to unite in front of the threat and challenges, and this potential should be further employed.

Keywords: security, freedom, the city suburbs, radical Islam, terrorism, France, Conflictology, republican march, republican values, school