Selected Articles
What Motivates Terrorists?: It’s an important question. But is it the best one to be asking? / by Simon Cottee. Published in The Atlantic, June 9, 2015
Recommended Databases
Link to Subscription Databases, Many with Full Text
NOTE: Subscription based resources require restricted access. If you are off campus, please sign in. If you are from another location, sign onto your school's proxy server as your library may subscribe to the same resources. If unsuccessful, note the name of the resource and search for it on the library's website at your school or in your public library system.
℗ indicates primary source materials
WE RECOMMEND:
- Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO) This link opens in a new windowCollection of documents on international affairs from wide variety of sources.
Compiled and made available on the website of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS)
- CQ Press Library This link opens in a new windowCQ Researcher provides in-depth coverage of current events and important issues that influence and inform policy and impact our lives and social structures. .CQ reports are written by highly qualifies people, are cited, fact-checked, and provide a wealth of additional reading in each issue. Articles include historical background, chronology, a pro/con feature, and suggested resources for additional research. Graphics, photos and short "sidebar" features round out the reports. Shorter "Hot Topics" articles provide a solid introduction to subjects.
- Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new windowScholarly journal articles in the field of criminal justice.
- Criminal Justice Database (1981 - current) This link opens in a new windowJournal, magazine and news articles in criminal justice.
The Global Terrorism Database (GTD) is an open-source database including information on terrorist events around the world from 1970 through 2012 (with annual updates planned for the future). Unlike many other event databases, the GTD includes systematic data on domestic as well as international terrorist incidents that have occurred during this time period and now includes more than 125,000 cases.
- PAIS Index This link opens in a new windowArticles, papers and reports on international public affairs topics.
Other Good Databases
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowJournal, magazine and news articles in all academic disciplines.
- America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new windowIndex of scholarly literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present.
- American Women's History Online This link opens in a new windowOnline encyclopedia of the history of women in the United States.
- GenderWatch This link opens in a new windowNews, magazine and journal articles on the impact of gender.
- Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new windowSearch tool for scholarly literature in world history outside North America.
- Historic Documents This link opens in a new windowPrimary source documents from 1972 forward in U.S. government and politics.
- Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new windowIndex to articles published 1907 – 1984 in the humanities and social sciences.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowArchive of full-text scholarly journal articles in a broad range of academic disciplines.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new windowFull text database of scientific journal articles with data on who has cited them.
Terrorism-Specific Resources
CPOST Suicide Attack Database
The Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism (CPOST) maintains a searchable database on all suicide attacks from 1982 through June 2016. The database includes information about the location of attacks, the target type, the weapon used, and systematic information on the demographic and general biographical characteristics of suicide attackers. (source: website)Government Actions in Terror Environments (GATE) Project
This project is a multi-institutional effort to collect and code data on state action toward terrorist organizations or their constituencies in select countries. (source: website)High Casualty Terrorist Bombings, 1989-2016
Center for Systemic Peace, High Casualty Terrorist Bombings (HCTB), September 11, 1989-September 10, 2016, case list of bomb attacks on non-combatant (civilian and political) targets by non-state actors resulting in 15 or more deaths (1,272 cases). (source: website)ICT's Incidents and Activists Database
From the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, the information has been compiled since 1975, and records over 33,000 incidents, including successful terror attacks, foiled attacks, and counter-terror operations, along with background and follow-up information. (source: website)ISIL, Syria & Iraq Resources / from the CTC at West Point
The Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point bridges the operational and academic realms by providing present and future leaders with the intellectual tools needed to defeat and deter terrorist threats to our nation. The site provides Resources and Publications of great interest.(source:website)Monterey WMD Terrorism Database
The Monterey WMD Terrorism Database is the largest open source catalog of worldwide incidents involving the acquisition, possession, threat and use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by sub-state actors. The site includes more than 1,100 incidents from 1900 to the present. (source: website)
Government Resources
- Country Reports on Terrorism (State Department)U.S. law requires the Secretary of State provide Congress, by April 30 of each year, a full and complete report on terrorism with regard to those countries and groups meeting criteria set forth in the legislation.
- Defense Technical Information CenterThe (DTIC®) serves the DoD community as the largest central resource for DoD and government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business related information available today
The HSDL website produces Critical Releases of Documents every two weeks, which it believes are of particular interest or of potential importance.
- United Nations Action to Counter TerrorismA highly informative website of the UN detailing policies and steps to counter terrorism, with links to additional useful information.
Primary Sources ℗
- Archives Unbound This link opens in a new windowDigital collection of historical documents from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.
- Nineteenth Century Collections Online (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new windowPrimary source materials about the Nineteenth Century. See the Subcollections Guide for a list of collections.
- U.S. Declassified Documents Online This link opens in a new windowProvides access to a broad range of previously classified U.S. federal records spanning the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Includes over 700,000 of the most sensitive documents from all the presidential libraries and numerous executive agencies.