The Changing Face of Terrorism and the Designation of Foreign Terrorist Organizations

In this Article, I take up one slice of what should be a broad re-examination of U.S. law and policy. I argue that the new attacks have been undertaken by entities that can and should be designated as foreign terrorist organizations. Doing this would permit prosecutors to target those who support these entities with tools that are not currently available. This Article is both a doctrinal argument that directly addresses the many legal hurdles that make designating groups, such as foreign hackers and troll farms, terrorist organizations a complicated endeavor, and a policy argument about how U.S. law and policy should respond to new modes of terrorism. To make this case, I make two principal claims. First, on the doctrinal front, I argue that my proposed reconsideration of the kinds of entities that may be designated as terrorist organizations is consistent with existing law and with the purposes of 8 U.S.C. § 1189, the statute permitting designation. Making this case requires consideration of what it means for an entity to be an “organization,” what activities constitute terrorism, and how this activity is similar to activity that is currently considered terrorism. Although the context is different, new organizations have similar structures and characteristics as organizations that have been designated already. With respect to what constitutes terrorism, I argue that a harms-based approach is appropriate. The magnitude and type of harm done by the new organizations are similar to harm done by existing organizations.16 Second, on the policy side, I argue that the problem of the entities that are threatening U.S. economic, governmental, and social infrastructure can be more effectively addressed if they are designated as terrorist organizations. Despite the attention paid to counterterrorism law and policy in the past two decades, the area of law is far from fully developed and has struggled to keep up with changes in the world. Designating these entities as foreign terrorist organizations would amount to an updating of law and policy to better combat an evolving threat

Governance of climate change related migrations in Assam (India)

The thesis asks two crucial questions, (a) what are the normative frameworks available for protecting the rights and status of a person migrating due to climate change related hydro-metrological changes? (b) why is there a non-uniformity and inadequacy in the deliverance of assistance from the state? To address these questions, I have analysed the perception, framing and assistance a climate change migrant receives from the state of Assam in India, while also explaining the reasons for the differential nature and deficits in protection. Based on interviews with senior bureaucratic officials (elite actors), group-discussions, field surveys, and engagements at the block and village level, the thesis makes three critical arguments. First, the sub-national government perceive climate-induced migrations as a developmental issue. Second, the way in which climate change migration is framed as a developmental issue by elite actors does not correspond with how the issue is understood by street-level bureaucratic actors. Instead, the routine judgements and discretions exercised by street-level actors are complexly tied to the political and social circumstances of local areas. Finally, while it is known that socio-political and demographic factors (such as gender, membership of a social group, and religion) contribute to forced forms of migration, the thesis argues that these demographic factors also adversely affect the performance of the programs meant to reduce climate vulnerabilities

Life, the Law and the Politics of Abandonment: Everyday Geographies of the Enclaves in India and Bangladesh

This PhD strives to understand what roles politico-spatial-legality play in shaping everyday life in the enclaves located in the northwest borderland curve in the India-Bangladesh border. Conceptually and legally, an enclave is a fragmented territory of one sovereign power located inside another sovereign territory. Following the decolonisation process in 1947, both India and Pakistan/Bangladesh inherited more than 200 enclaves. By investigating an everyday geography of the politico-spatial-legality in Indian and Bangladeshi enclaves, the aim of this thesis is to understand how the long existence of these enclaves shape their residents’ everyday lives. This thesis examines four research questions – i) how do the politico-spatial-legal factors shape citizenship in the enclaves? ii) What role(s) do boundaries perform in everyday life in the enclaves? iii) What are the (il)legal-political vulnerabilities present in the enclaves? And iv) What are the (il)legal survival methods adopted by the enclave residents’? The whole research is based on a seven-month ethnographic account in six enclaves and short visits (one day in each enclave) to another twenty enclaves during the pilot study in India and Bangladesh. The field sites were selected based on enclave size, distance from the border, practice of religion and relationship with the concerned states. The ethnography involved observing mundane events at different periods of time in different segments of the enclaves and nearby borderlands, and participating in local gathering in tea stalls, women’s evening socialisation and other social events. 55 in-depth interviews with the enclave residents and 10 interviews with the state officials were conducted for a detailed understanding of personal experiences and negotiations, and state perspectives on the enclave matter respectively. The thesis reveals that the enclave residents live in a non citizenship status, and the border is experienced in myriad ways in the enclaves constituting politico-juridical, social and gendered forms of bare life. On the other hand, the enclave dwellers find ways of attempting to cope with such circumstances and try to survive and advance their life through the loopholes of the state-system. The approach adopted in this thesis to study enclaves through the framework of politico-spatial-legality interactions is expected to advance enclave research. In addition, the thesis contributes to the academic literatures on citizenship and abandonment, border, bare life and rhythms of survival tactics. At policy level, the thesis can help policy makers understand ground vulnerabilities and difficult lives in the enclaves as there is very little government work available on enclave life

Reviewing energy system modelling of decentralized energy autonomy

Research attention on decentralized autonomous energy systems has increased exponentially in the past three decades, as demonstrated by the absolute number of publications and the share of these studies in the corpus of energy system modelling literature. This paper shows the status quo and future modelling needs for research on local autonomous energy systems. A total of 359 studies are roughly investigated, of which a subset of 123 in detail. The studies are assessed with respect to the characteristics of their methodology and applications, in order to derive common trends and insights. Most case studies apply to middle-income countries and only focus on the supply of electricity in the residential sector. Furthermore, many of the studies are comparable regarding objectives and applied methods. Local energy autonomy is associated with high costs, leading to levelized costs of electricity of 0.41 $/kWh on average. By analysing the studies, many improvements for future studies could be identified: the studies lack an analysis of the impact of autonomous energy systems on surrounding energy systems. In addition, the robust design of autonomous energy systems requires higher time resolutions and extreme conditions. Future research should also develop methodologies to consider local stakeholders and their preferences for energy systems

From Stateless People to Citizens: The Reformulation of Territory and Identity in India-Bangladesh Border Enclaves

This dissertation analyzes nation-building in hitherto ungoverned territories of two Indian chhitmahals in Bangladesh and explores the transformation of their residents from stateless Indian nationals to citizens of Bangladesh. Chhitmahals comprised nearly two hundred enclaves located along the Bangladesh-India border that belonged to one country but were located inside another’s territory. Chhitmahals came into existence with the partition of India in 1947; their non-contiguous locations kept them without state administration and citizenship rights. People developed political councils and adopted illicit practices to survive in the absence of the state, but the impossibility of exercising sovereignty in chhitmahals led Bangladesh and India to swap enclave territories in 2015. Ensuing nation-building projects reformulated the sociopolitical landscape while ordinary individuals embraced citizenship as a tool to realize diverse aspirations. Citizenship fuelled a sense of empowerment to normalize previously illicit everyday practices, contest local hierarchies, confront powerful neighbors, cultivate political connections, and make claims on the state. Access to boundaryless opportunities broke down the façade of common interest that prevailed in the stateless era. Viewed from a legal perspective, citizenship in chhitmahals might conjure images of a nation with paved roads, police stations, and other administrative services and infrastructure. An anthropological lens, however, reveals a reconfigured community that no longer finds normalcy and affluence in the traditional practices of livelihood, ethics, and leadership that were dominant before the merger with the enveloping state. Instead, clientelist party politics set the terms for the realization of aims. The implications of this reconfiguration were mixed and differed according to gender, generation, access to new media, and party affiliation. The emerging significance of these factors enabled citizenship’s cultural and political effects to gradually overshadow its legal meaning. Citizenship is now a malleable concept in chhitmahals that has departed from the originally egalitarian goals of normalization

Proceedings of the GIS Research UK 18th Annual Conference GISRUK 2010

This volume holds the papers from the 18th annual GIS Research UK (GISRUK). This year the conference, hosted at University College London (UCL), from Wednesday 14 to Friday 16 April 2010. The conference covered the areas of core geographic information science research as well as applications domains such as crime and health and technological developments in LBS and the geoweb. UCL’s research mission as a global university is based around a series of Grand Challenges that affect us all, and these were accommodated in GISRUK 2010. The overarching theme this year was “Global Challenges”, with specific focus on the following themes: * Crime and Place * Environmental Change * Intelligent Transport * Public Health and Epidemiology * Simulation and Modelling * London as a global city * The geoweb and neo-geography * Open GIS and Volunteered Geographic Information * Human-Computer Interaction and GIS Traditionally, GISRUK has provided a platform for early career researchers as well as those with a significant track record of achievement in the area. As such, the conference provides a welcome blend of innovative thinking and mature reflection. GISRUK is the premier academic GIS conference in the UK and we are keen to maintain its outstanding record of achievement in developing GIS in the UK and beyond

Climate emergency, urban opportunity: how national governments can secure economic prosperity and avert climate catastrophe by transforming cities

This report, a collaborative effort of more than 50 organisations brought together by the Coalition for Urban Transitions, outlines the immense social and economic benefits of creating compact, connected and clean cities with net-zero emissions, and presents a clear six-part action plan for national governments around the world. Zero-carbon cities offer a powerful lever to secure economic prosperity and boost living standards across a country – all while tackling the climate crisis. City governments cannot realise this opportunity alone. National governments have unique and crucial roles to play