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Perspectives on the war on terror

It is now commonplace to claim that the attacks of 9/11 as well as the events that have flowed from them – war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the ‘war on terror’, the adoption of a policy of preventive war - have reshaped world politics. Governments have struggled to find the answers/policies/institutions to understand and mitigate the multiple threats posed by terrorism. This series seeks to bring together existing expertise within and beyond Warwick in a seminar series structured to enable a cross-disciplinary dialogue around these dilemmas that can enhance both particular disciplinary research agendas, develop synergies between relevant disciplines (for academic staff and postgraduate students) and create policy outreach. The core focus of the series is the choices that governments have made about the relation between traditional assumptions about civil liberties and the allegedly new character of the threat, and therefore of the security measures necessary to meet that threat.

Terrorist Use of the Internet - Maura Conway

12:25 Mon 05 Jan 2009

Terrorist Use of the Internet

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Cybercrime: How Organized Crime Profit From Technology - Phillipe Very and Betrand Monnet

12:25 Mon 05 Jan 2009

Cybercrime is a generic concept that covers a huge diversity of illicit activities developed by individuals as well as structured groups. Criminal organizations like mafias, cartels and gangs nowadays use cybercrime for attacking companies.

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Covering Cyberterrorism: Issues For Journalists - Philp Seib

12:25 Mon 05 Jan 2009

Even journalists who have covered conflict for many years may find themselves challenged by the complexities of reporting about Internet-based terrorist activity.

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Combatting terrorism or excluding foreigners - Naomi Norberg

12:25 Mon 05 Jan 2009

Naomi Norberg (Collège de France). The Europe Union began tightening immigration controls well before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States: as the Schengen acquis made it easier to move about within the Union, the moat around “fortress Europe” grew deeper and wider as the 1990s wore on. But those attacks, and subsequent ones in Europe, catalyzed the passage of stricter immigration laws that, in many cases, implement harsh asylum policies as well. In an attempt to keep their citizens safe from terrorists, states are barring the door to foreigners and making it easier to deport those who’ve already made it inside. Antiterrorist measures are thus taking on an antiforeigner tinge that conflicts with states’ obligations under international human rights treaties and the Refugee Convention of 1951.

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The effect of the war on terrorism on civil liberties in the European Union - Tony Bunyan

12:25 Mon 05 Jan 2009

Tony Bunyan (Statewatch). This talk will examine the nature of the terrorist threat posed after 11 September 2001, considering the claims that demands for security have been balanced by respect for rights and civil liberties and that this terrorism threatens to destroy "our way life" - by asking whose way of life? I will contend that there are at least two world views on what has happened and that the threat to "our way of life" comes more from the reactions of EU governments to the threat of terrorism than from this form of terrorism itself. These contentions will be examined with reference to the measures taken to tackle terrorism, the targeting and surveillance of migrant communities, the surveillance society and the policing state. The response to terrorism will be situated in the role of the emerging state and political culture in the EU.

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How terrorism has invaded German law - Professor Thomas Weigend

12:25 Mon 05 Jan 2009

Professor Thomas Weigend (University of Cologne). The threat of terrorism hit Germany in two waves, the first in the 1970s and 1980s, the second in the general context of 11 Sept., 2001. Both waves have led to extensive legislation in substantive and procedural criminal law. The 1970s saw the introduction of the new criminal offence of being a member of a terrorist organisation as well as ad hoc legislation cutting back on the rights of the defence. More recently, the powers of the State to use secret methods of surveillance in investigating crime have been extended with terrorism suspects being the main target. Additional measures are in the planning and drafting stages. The (perceived and real) threat of terorrism has thus significantly changed the climate of criminal justice in Germany.

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Intelligence, Evidence & the Prevention of Terrorism - Dr Adrian Hunt

12:25 Mon 05 Jan 2009

Dr Adrian Hunt (School of Law, University of Birmingham) When does intelligence become evidence? Is this a way of justifying action which ordinarily would not be then treated as evidence without clear protections of disclosure and opportunities for legal challenge? This paper will consider a range of activities from UN blacklisting to EU measures and domestic control orders.

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Obsessions with the Unknown - Dr Bill Durodié

12:25 Mon 05 Jan 2009

Dr Bill Durodié (Resilience Centre, Cranfield University). When former US Secretary of State for Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, warned of the dangers lurking within the 'unknown unknowns' at a press conference in 2002, he was using an increasingly common argument - widely advocated by environmental campaigners before him - that the risks we should really worry about are those that we don't even know we know nothing about. Is this line of argument fruitful for risk management processes or is society in danger of paralysing policy and action through its growing focus on uncertainty and ignorance?

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Intelligence and Evidence - Mark Tuley & Mike Griffiths

12:25 Mon 05 Jan 2009

Mark Tuley & Mike Griffiths (Police International Counter-Terrorism Unit/National Counter-Terrorism Security Office) address the following: What is intelligence? Goodies and Baddies both gather intelligence. The Intelligence Cycle and it’s use within the Governments counter-terrorism Strategy. Government counter-terrorism strategy

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