Rethinking democracy and terrorism: a quantitative analysis of attitudes to democratic politics and support for terrorism in the UK

© 2016 Society for Terrorism Research. The relationship between democracy and terrorism remains a source of significant debate, with academic evidence suggesting that democracy both inhibits and encourages acts of terrorism and political violence. Accepting this apparent contradiction, this paper argues that a more nuanced approach to understanding political systems, focussing on the subjective perceptions of individual actors, may allow these differences to be reconciled. Using regression analysis undertaken with UK data from the European Values Study, the results shows how attitudes to politics may frame assessments of the intrinsic valence–or attractiveness–of political participation, support for terrorism, and the implications this may have for both counter-terrorism and counter-extremism policy

Adrift or ashore? Desert Island Discs and celebrity culture

Why do we want to imagine celebrities as adrift, as banished from the rest of the world, and yet, at the same time, to find out more about them? The idea of celebrities as 'intimate strangers', with the media providing us with privileged access to the alleged 'real' person 'behind' a distanced, glossy façade of superstardom, has long been a constituent element of modern celebrity culture. Desert Island Discs' capacity to use and perpetuate such motifs has been a key reason for its success. At the same time, the programme also registers shifts in celebrity culture: towards a less white and male-dominated demographic, towards the hyper-intimate confessional, and towards expanding celebrity power. In this chapter I consider how Desert Island Discs connects to changing formations of celebrity culture, to ideas of meritocracy, and to a social culture of individualization

After Osama: what Londoners think

Osama Bin Laden, the public face of Al Qaeda widely acknowledged as the mastermind behind the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, was killed by US special forces on 2 May. The announcement was greeted with scenes of jubilation in New York and Washington, but gave much of the rest of the world pause. Was the operation to kill him legal, let alone moral? Would it unleash a series of revenge attacks? The slow, often confused flow of information surrounding the US mission also prompted a more fundamental question: was Bin Laden really dead? Over the 4th and 5th of May, Demos researchers and volunteers surveyed hundreds of London residents, asking them their views on the death of the history's most notorious terrorist. This unique research uncovered a reluctance to accept the information presented about Bin Laden's death, and concern over the justification and potential fallout of his killing

'We do not have to be vicious, competitive, or managerial'

Akwugo Emejulu discusses changes to 'collective public politics' – including the third sector, activism, community development and political and union campaigning – alongside Black feminist activism, her own intellectual development, and institutional racism at British universities. In these right-wing times, she argues 'we need people in lot of different kinds of spaces and places to take back power'. She outlines the consequences of the defeat of the left since the 1980s and the rise of neoliberal technocratic managerialism in the third sector: how it put already-vulnerable people further at risk and destabilised the political power of NGOS. More recently there has been a surge of interest in political education and in campaigning on 'the bigger political picture' amongst community activists. We need a far more expansive conception of 'activism': for more attention to be given to its role in everyday life, its intersectionality and its sustainability. To do this, and to foreground the diverse contributions of women of colour activists, is to address and redress the 'raceless discussions of the white left'. The interview concludes by considering academia in a neoliberal climate. 'We do not have to be vicious, competitive, or managerial', she says: all academics need to behave well at every level to change institutional racism

Inside the EDL: Populist politi

The English Defence League (EDL) is the biggest populist street movement in a generation. Yet the make-up of the group and what its members believe remain a mystery because it has no formal joining procedures or membership list and much of its activity takes place online. While leaders of the EDL claim they are a pluralistic, liberal movement that is fighting Islamic extremism, chants heard at demonstrations and the vitriol frequently posted on the EDL’s chat forums suggest otherwise. It is in this context that we have undertaken the first ever large-scale empirical study of the EDL, which comprises responses from 1,295 sympathisers and supporters, and includes data on their demographics, involvement in EDL activity, political attitudes and social views. The results show that, although the EDL is usually understood as an anti-Islamic or anti-Islamist demonstrating group, the reality is more complex. Supporters are characterised by intense pessimism about the UK's future, worries about immigration and joblessness. This is often mixed with a proactive pride in Britain, British history and British values, which they see as being under attack from Islam. Although their demonstrations have often involved violence and racist chants, many members are democrats who are committed to peaceful protest and other forms of activism. The collection of large amounts of data from social media presents new opportunities for social research to understand the relationship between off- and online activity. As more movements combine – and blur – virtual and real protest, these questions will become increasingly urgent and important. These surveys, collected through Facebook using a new methodology, offer new ways forward in exploring this challenge

Organizational control & the Catholic Church: a case study

This paper presents an analysis of the problem of child-abusing priests in the Catholic Church using data from the USA, UK and Ireland. The apparent scale of this issue raises crucial theoretical as well as policy issues. This paper explores various organizational explanations, linking it to traditional methods of ‘confessional control’ of organizational members. This is a novel concept which brings the issue into a wider organizational lens. Confessional control creates a series of guilt-laden identities that serve to maintain hierarchical control as well as social inclusion. Thus the process of recycling priests was part of a long-persisting pattern applied to child abuse cases. The theoretical implications of this are explored. The data consists of a series of cases across the three countries, partly drawn from a data-base of 4,000 alleged cases

Modelling and control of a variable-speed switched reluctance generator based wind turbine

This paper studies the system modelling and control aspects of switched reluctance generator (SRG) based variable speed wind turbines. A control system is implemented to provide proper operation of the SRG as well as power tracking capabilities for varying wind speeds. The control system for the grid side inverter that will allow the SRG to properly generate power to the system is also presented. Studies are presented of both the SRG and inverter control systems capabilities during a balanced three-phase fault. The paper will demonstrate that the SRG based wind turbine presents a feasible variable wind speed solution with good fault response capabilities

Managers on the move

The proportion of managers who change jobs in any given year has risen from about 10% in 1980 to 30% by the mid 1990s. And the results of restructuring are a major cause for this increase