Blessed by a direct connection and shared interests on LinkedIn, we had the privilege of receiving two of the latest works by Professor Schmid: "The Handbook of Terrorism Prevention and Preparedness," edited by Schmid, and the report "Defining Terrorism."

These resources are made accessible by ICCT in an open access format, and you can access them via the hyperlink provided below. With a wealth of experience spanning several prestigious universities and organizations, Professor Schmid's proposed books, serves as a comprehensive resource on counter-terrorism.

"The Handbook of Terrorism Prevention and Preparedness", that involved the participation of nearly 40 contributors and spanning over 35 chapters, provides an extensive exploration of alternative approaches to countering terrorism, totaling over a thousand pages. These approaches focus on anticipation and the reduction of risk factors, drawing insights from various disciplines such as criminology, counter-insurgency, conflict studies, and politicide analysis. The handbook delves into the factors contributing to radicalization, violent extremism, and terrorism.

The concept of prevention is delineated into three levels:

• Upstream prevention: aimed at reducing the risk of terrorist group formation.
• Midstream prevention: focused on mitigating the risk of terrorist groups preparing for a campaign.
• Downstream prevention: aimed at minimizing the risk of individual terrorist operations by thwarting and deterring them.

Preparedness is conceptualized as proactive and pre-emptive measures to mitigate risks and threats. Additionally, it involves planning and implementing precautionary measures to strengthen governmental readiness and societal resilience, thus reducing the adverse impact of terrorist attacks.

"Defining Terrorism" builds upon the author's previous conceptual work and explores terrorism from multiple angles.

It approaches the definition of terrorism from five angles:

• by focusing on the history of terrorism;
• by focusing on the psychology of ‘terror’ (the threat and fear factor);
• by focusing on forms of political violence other than terrorist violence;
• by focusing on the terrorist act; and
• by focusing on the terrorists.

Subsequently it addresses the question who should have definition power?

The author looks at how terrorists, mass and social media, national governments, the United Nations, and members from academia have tried to define terrorism.

In his conclusion, the author pleads for a narrow definition of terrorism.

Professor emeritus Alex P. Schmid is a Distinguished Fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) and Director of the Terrorism Research Initiative (TRI), an international network of scholars who seek to enhance human security through collaborative research.

Between 1978 and 2018 he was, for various periods of time, working in different capacities at Leiden University.

In addition, he was Extraordinary Professor for Conflict Resolution at Erasmus University in Rotterdam and later held a Chair in International Relations at the University of St. Andrews, where he was also Director of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV).

Prof. em. Alex Schmid has also held various other positions, including, for nearly seven years, Officer-in-Charge of the Terrorism Prevention Branch of UNODC in Vienna in the rank of a Senior Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer. His latest book is his Handbook of Terrorism Prevention and Preparedness, which features contributions from leading experts in the field and aims to be an authoritative resource on counter-terrorism. You can read the Handbook in full here.

With nearly 200 publications in ten languages to his name, including an award-winning handbook on terrorism, Professor Schmid is a leading figure in Terrorism Studies. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Perspectives on Terrorism, the largest scholarly online journal in the field.

• https://www.icct.nl/sites/default/files/2023-01/Handbook_Schmid_2020.pdf

• https://www.icct.nl/sites/default/files/2023-03/Schmidt%20-%20Defining%20Terrorism_1.pdf 

Take pleasure in reading and utilize the knowledge gained effectively.