Terrorism and Violence in Southeast Asia Transnational Challenges to States and Regional Stability

This timely work examines the scale and root causes of terrorism across Southeast Asia, including the role of al-Qaeda's ascendancy in the region. It begins with an overview of the analytical and theoretical framework for discussing the subject. Individual chapters then examine terrorist activities from both functional and country-specific perspectives. The book traces fundamental linkages between terrorism and security issues, such as illegal immigration, narcotics trafficking, and other criminal activity. In addition, it considers the issue of convergence - the growing connection between criminal groups and terrorism, and how this may facilitate future violence. Written by a range of experts in the field, the individual chapters reflect a variety of perspectives. The contributions fall into two broad categories - chapters that directly address terrorism (the groups, their ideologies, their modus operandi, their origins, and state responses to them); and chapters that address the "enabling environment" that exists in Southeast Asia (the role of transnational crime, porous borders, convergence between terrorism and crime).

Introduction, Paul J. Smith; 1. Transnational Violence in the Asia-Pacific: An Overview of Current Trends, Alan Dupont; 2. Militant Islamic Extremism in Southeast Asia, Peter Chalk; 3. Al-Qaeda Comes to Southeast Asia, Zachary Abuza; 4. Understanding Al-Qaeda and Its Network in Southeast Asia, Rohan Gunaratna; 5. Al-Qaeda and Political Terrorism in Southeast Asia, Carlyle A. Thayer; 6. Terrorism and the Political Landscape in Indonesia: The Fragile Post-Bali Consensus, Anthony L. Smith; 7. The Philippines and the Challenge of International Terrorism, Paul A. Rodell; 8. Countering Radical Islam in Southeast Asia: The Need to Confront the Functional and Ideological 'Enabling Environment,' Kumar Ramakrishna; 9. Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime: Tracing the Crime-Terror Nexus in Southeast Asia, Tamara Makarenko; 10. Trading the Tools of Terror: Armed Groups and Light Weapons Proliferation in Southeast Asia, David Capie; 11. Border Security and Transnational Violence in Southeast Asia, Paul J. Smith; 12. Media, Information Revolution, and Terrorism in Southeast Asia, Shyam Tekwani

Smith, Paul J.