ISSN 2334-3745 Volume XV, Issue 4 August 2021 PERSPECTIVES ON TERRORISM Volume 15, Issue 4 Table of Contents Welcome from the Editors...............................................................................................................................1 Articles Counter-Terrorism as a Public Policy: Theoretical Insights and Broader Reflections on the State of Counter-Terrorism Research .........................................................................................................................2 by Thomas Renard Rival Consolidation in Nascent Insurrections: Why Some Militant Groups Wage Sustained Insurgencies .................................................................................................................................................11 by Michael Shkolnik The Terrorism Recidivism Study (TRS): An Update on Data Collection and Results.................................27 by Omi Hodwitz The Dead Drops of Online Terrorism ..........................................................................................................39 by Gabriel Weimann and Asia Vellante Connecting, Competing, and Trolling: “User Types” in Digital Gamified Radicalization Processes........54 by Linda Schlegel International Links and the Role of the Islamic State in the Barcelona and Cambrils Attacks in 2017.....65 by Carlos Igualada Evidence to Explain Violent Extremist Communication: A Systematic Review of Individual-Level Empirical Studies .........................................................................................................................................76 by Phillip de Bruijn Frictional Security Governance: Policing the Crime-Terror Nexus in Denmark......................................111 by Mette-Louise E. Johansen, Anna Bræmer Warburg and Maya Mynster Christensen Tracing the Fate of Central Asian Fighters in Syria: Remainers, Repatriates, Returnees, and Relocators ...................................................................................................................................................125 by Nodirbek Soliev From Spandau to Guantanamo: Prisons as Propaganda Instruments for Extremists and Terrorists......141 by Nathan Thompson and Amber Hart Research Note Counter-Terrorism Studies: A Glimpse at the Current State of Research (2020/2021)............................155 by Alex P. Schmid, James J.F. Forest and Timothy Lowe Resources Counter-Terrorism Bookshelf: 5 Books on Terrorism & Counter- Terrorism-Related Subjects..............184 by Joshua Sinai Bibliography: Terrorism by Country - United States..................................................................................187 by Judith Tinnes ISSN 2334-3745 I August 2021 PERSPECTIVES ON TERRORISM Volume 15, Issue 4 Bibliography: Hamas ..................................................................................................................................240 by David Teiner Recent Online Resources for the Analysis of Terrorism and Related Subjects..........................................258 by Berto Jongman Announcements Best Theses on Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Award 2019-2020: Presentation of, and Praise for, Finalists and Winners (Thomas Renard, Michael Shkolnik and Gian Maria Campedelli).......................297 by Alex P. Schmid New Members of the Editorial Board of Perspectives on Terrorism and Vacancy Associate Editor........299 Conference Monitor/Calendar of Events (August 2021 and beyond)........................................................300 by Olivia Kearney About Perspectives on Terrorism ................................................................................................................304 ISSN 2334-3745 II August 2021 PERSPECTIVES ON TERRORISM Volume 15, Issue 4 Words of Welcome from the Editors Dear Reader, We are pleased to announce the release of Volume XV, Issue 4 (August 2021) of Perspectives on Terrorism (ISSN 2334-3745). Our independent online journal is an Open Access publication of the Terrorism Research Initia- tive (TRI), Vienna, and the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) of Leiden University’s Campus in The Hague. All past and recent issues are freely available online at URL: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/ perspectives-on-terrorism. Perspectives on Terrorism (PoT) is indexed by JSTOR, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar where it ranks No. 3 among journals in the field of Terrorism Studies. Now in its 15th year, it has nearly 9,500 registered subscribers and many more occasional readers and website visitors in academia, government and civil society. The Ar- ticles of its six annual issues are fully peer-reviewed by external referees while its Research Notes and other content are subject to internal editorial quality control. The current issue features ten Articles. The opening articles are from Thomas Renard and Michael Shkolnik, the two winners of the bi-annual TRI Award for the Best Doctoral Thesis on Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism (more on them and the third finalist, Gian Maria Campedelli can be found in the Announcements section). The third article is an update of a previous contribution by Omi Hodwitz, noting the continuing low recidivism rate of terrorists and supporters of terrorism released from the US prison system. Two articles by Gabriel Wei- mann and Asia Vellante on the one hand and by Lisa Schlegel on the other, address the role of the Internet in terrorism, looking at ‘dead drops’ and the influence of computer games respectively. In the next article, Phillip de Bruin surveys the vast literature of violent extremist communication. Then Carlos Igualada explores the international links of two terrorist attacks in Spain in 2017, based in part on new court documents. Mette-Lou- ise E. Johansen and two of her colleagues look at how organized crime and terrorism in Denmark combine to affect the government’s security policies. Nodirbek Soliev discusses Central Asian foreign fighters in terms of a new typology. And finally, Nathan Thompson and Amber Hart show how supporters of terrorism have used allegedly ‘heroic’ prison experiences as propaganda tools in past and recent cases. The ten articles are followed by a Research Note from the hands of Alex Schmid, James Forest and Timothy Lowe. It complements the one they published (on terrorism research) in the June issue of Perspectives on Ter- rorism, this time looking at the state of counter-terrorism research. The Resources section features five brief reviews by Joshua Sinai, the Book Reviews Editor of our journal, fol- lowed by a large bibliography on the United States in Judith Tinnes’ series of ‘Terrorism by Country’. Then Da- vid Teiner provides a bibliography on the Palestinian Hamas, and Berto Jongman presents his survey of recent online resources on terrorism and related subjects. In Announcements, the chairman of the TRI Award jury presents the finalists and winners of the bi-annual TRI Thesis Award, praising their contribution to our knowledge and providing links to the full text of their outstanding doctoral theses. In a further announcement, we welcome three new members to the Editorial Board of Perspectives on Terrorism and advertise a vacancy for an Associate Editor in the Editorial Team of our journal. This is followed by the regular Conference Calendar assembled by Olivia Kearney. The articles and other texts of the current issue of Perspectives on Terrorism have been edited by Alex Schmid and James For- est, the journal’s principal editors. Editorial Assistant Jodi Moore handled proof-reading, while the technical online launch of the August 2021 issue of our journal has been in the hands of Associate Editor for IT Christine Boelema Robertus. ISSN 2334-3745 1 August 2021 PERSPECTIVES ON TERRORISM Volume 15, Issue 4 Counter-Terrorism as a Public Policy: Theoretical Insights and Broader Reflections on the State of Counter-Terrorism Research by Thomas Renard Editor’s Note: This article has been written by invitation of the chairman of the jury of the Terrorism Research Initiative. It summarizes key aspects of Thomas Renard’s doctoral dissertation (Ghent University), for which he was the co- recipient of the TRI Award for the best Ph.D. thesis in the field of terrorism studies written in 2019 or 2020. For more information on the Award, see the Announcement at the end of this issue of Perspectives on Terrorism. Abstract In spite of the growing amount of literature published on terrorism over the past 20 years, counter-terrorism is rarely considered as a subject of research by itself. Empirical or data-driven research on counter-terrorism policy is relatively rare, and theoretical approaches are even scarcer. This article first reflects on the seeming absence of ‘counter-terrorism studies’ (contrasting with the thriving ‘terrorism studies’). Then, it suggests studying counter- terrorism policymaking through the lens of public policy theory. This approach offers innovative insights to our understanding of counter-terrorism and opens new horizons for the development of a theory of counter-terrorism policymaking. Keywords: Counter-terrorism; P/CVE; policymaking; terrorism research; public policy theory Introduction Over the past 20 years, following the 9/11 attacks in the USA, massive efforts and resources have been invested in counter-terrorism policy worldwide. Counter-terrorism has become the dominant security priority in many countries, as well as one of the main structuring forces in international relations. The scope of “counter-terrorism” has expanded quite significantly over