Bruce Hoffman
Biographic Data
| ID | 3629321 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bruce Hoffman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bruce |
| FAMILY NAME | Hoffman |
| SIGNATURE | HOFFMAN B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Georgetown University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7740-1545 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 70 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 484 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 69 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1984 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
In Memorium—Gérard Chaliand, 15 February 1934–20 August 2025
In Memorium—Peter Chalk, October 16, 1967–June 20, 2025
Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” the American novelist William Faulkner famously wrote.1 Oren Kessler, in his superb book, Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt andd the Roots of the Middle East Conflict, illustrates Faulkner’s timeless observation. “Palestinians, despairing over their thwarted national hopes, wage acts of protest, boycott, sabotage, and violence,” Kessler writes.The 1936 to 1939 Arab Rebellion, also known as al-Thawra al…
In Memoriam: Christopher Dickey, August 31, 1951–July 16, 2020
In Memoriam: Christopher Dickey, August 31, 1951–July 16, 2020." Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp. 1–2
In Memoriam: Martin Rudner
Martin Rudner, Ph.D., a longstanding, valued member of the Studies in Terrorism & Conflict editorial board, died on December 14, 2019. His passing leaves the fields of intelligence and security stu
Assessing the Threat of Incel Violence
In recent years, increasingly serious incidents of violence have been committed by young men predominantly in the United States and Canada who self-identify as incels (involuntary celibates). Although these attacks often specifically target women, the principal source of their animus, men as well as children have been among the casualties in the series of shootings and vehicular homicides that have occurred at universities, high schools, and on c…
Between Freedom and Justice: Popular Protest and Jurisdictional Contestation of Militarized Governance in Indian-Controlled Kashmir
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, local residents express aspirations for freedom from Indian-militarized governance even as they demand state accountability for pervasive everyday violence. Kashmiris negotiate this complexity through jurisdictional contestation, asserting alternative forms of authority to speak about law and develop strategies for justice and political transformation. Drawing from sociolegal literatures of jurisdiction and global le…
The bombing of The King David Hotel, July 1946
On 22 July 1946, the Irgun Zvai Le’umi (National Military Organization), a Jewish terrorist organization opposed to Britain’s continued rule of Palestine, bombed Jerusalem’s King David Hotel. The incident has always been controversial given the fact that the facility was not an ordinary hotel, but also the nerve center of British rule over that country — housing its military headquarters, intelligence stations, and government secretariat. Further…
Michael Sheehan, February 10, 1955-July 30, 2018
Walter Laqueur, 26 May 1921–30 September 2018
Inside Terrorism
Terrorism and Beyond (RLE: Terrorism & Insurgency): The 21st Century
Terrorism and Beyond: The 21st Century
The Evolution of the Global Terrorist Threat: From 9/11 to Osama bin Laden's Death
Introduction, by Bruce Hoffman and Fernando Reinares Part I. In the West 1. The Evolution of the Post-9/11 Threat to the U.S. Homeland, by Lorenzo Vidino 2. The 2004 Madrid Train Bombings, by Fernando Reinares 3. Operation Crevice in London, by Peter R. Neumann and Ryan Evans 4. Dhiren Barot and Operation Rhyme, by Lindsay Clutterbuck 5. The Van Gogh Murder and Beyond, by Beatrice de Graaf 6. Leadership and the Toronto 18, by Stewart Bell 7. Oper…
A First Draft of the History of America's Ongoing Wars on Terrorism
This research note attempts to map the Al Qaeda movement's trajectory from the 11 September 2001 attacks to the stunning events of 2014—which saw the continued rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), its expulsion from the Al Qaeda movement, followed by ISIS's stunning thrust into Iraq, its declaration of a caliphate, and the re-engagement of American military forces in this region. It attempts to place in context the Al Qaeda movemen…
Hyperdominance in the Amazonian Tree Flora
Introduction Recent decades have seen a major international effort to inventory tree communities in the Amazon Basin and Guiana Shield (Amazonia), but the vast extent and record diversity of these forests have hampered an understanding of basinwide patterns. To overcome this obstacle, we compiled and standardized species-level data on more than half a million trees in 1170 plots sampling all major lowland forest types to explore patterns of commo…
Contestations Over Law, Power and Representation in Kashmir Valley
This essay traces forms of everyday life, political dissent and identity politics under conditions of intensive militarization and ongoing emergency legislation in Indian-administered Kashmir Valley. Drawing on ethnographic material collected during field research in 2009 and 2010, the essay traces patterns of coercion, containment and contestation in the region, with special attention to how law functions as a site of militarization and control …
Al Qaeda's Uncertain Future
This article considers the current state of the Al Qaeda terrorist movement and its likely future trajectory. It considers the principle assumptions both today and in the past about Al Qaeda and how they affect our understanding of the movement and the threat that it poses; Al Qaeda's current capacity for violence; and its ability to plan strategically and implement terrorist operations. The article further identifies nine key change drivers that…
The Palestine Police Force and the challenges of gathering counterterrorism intelligence, 1939-1947
This article assesses the performance of the Palestine Police Force (PPF) in countering the Jewish underground organizations that challenged British rule over Palestine after World War II. It argues that four reasons account for the PPF's inability to contain the terrorist threat: the chronic manpower shortages that ultimately compromised its effectiveness and required the military's intervention; the progressive militarization of the PPF that un…
In Celebration of Walter Laqueur's 90th Birthday: Reflections on His Contributions to the Study of Terrorism and Guerrilla Warfare
Assessing the Jihadist Terrorist Threat to America and American Interests
Al Qaeda and allied groups continue to pose a threat to the United States. Although it is less severe than the catastrophic proportions of a 9/11-like attack, the threat today is more complex and more diverse than at any time over the past nine years. Al Qaeda or its allies continue to have the capacity to kill dozens, or even hundreds, of Americans in a single attack. A key shift in the past couple of years is the increasingly prominent role in …
Stephen Davidson, Still Broken: Understanding the U.S. Health Care System
Still Broken comes at the best of times and the worst of times for books on United States health care policy. As a thorough, detailed and clear explication of the convoluted workings of the US health system, it is helpful and timely. Equally thoughtful are Davidson's recommendations for the direction reform must take. His excellent advice, however, did not make it into print until right after the passage of the sweeping Patient Protection and Aff…
On the frontlines of the law: Legal advocacy and political protest by lawyers in contested Kashmir (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)
This article analyzes the role of Kashmiri lawyers working in a context of conflict, militarization and political resistance in Kashmir Valley, India. It finds that the Kashmir Bar Association, operating under conditions of state control that are maintained and legitimized through the law, constitutes an authoritative normative community and powerful institutional actor, working within the parameters of the Indian legal system while simultaneousl…
The rationality of terrorism and other forms of political violence: Lessons from the Jewish campaign in Palestine, 1939-1947
Does terrorism work? Its targets and victims steadfastly maintain that it does not; its practitioners and apologists that it does. Scholars and analysts are divided. But, if terrorism is as ineffective as many claim, why has it persisted for at least the past two millennia and indeed become an increasingly popular means of violent political expression in the twenty-first century? Using the Jewish terrorist campaign against the British in Palestin…
Everyday violence, institutional denial and struggles for justice in Kashmir
In the summer of 2009, the apparent murder and rape of two young women in the small town of Shopian sparked a year of popular protest in heavily militarised Kashmir Valley expressing outrage at the everyday forms of violence that accompany Indian occupation in the contested region. Here, the authors analyse the case by drawing on ethnographic field research conducted via research visits in 2009-2010, to show how the state has exercised occupation…
Assessing the Threat of Incel Violence
In recent years, increasingly serious incidents of violence have been committed by young men predominantly in the United States and Canada who self-identify as incels (involuntary celibates). Although these attacks often specifically target women, the principal source of their animus, men as well as children have been among the casualties in the series of shootings and vehicular homicides that have occurred at universities, high schools, and on c…
Terrorism, Signaling, and Suicide Attack
This article examines the strategic utility of suicide terrorism. Suicide terrorism, we suggest, can be thought of as a form of strategic "signaling." We define terrorism as a signaling game in which terrorist attacks are used to communicate a group's character and objectives to a set of target audiences. This is followed by an examination of the utility of suicide attacks as a signaling tactic. The relative effectiveness of suicide operations is…
Holy terror”: The implications of terrorism motivated by a religious imperative
One of the distinguishing features of international terrorism the past fifteen years has been the resurgence and proliferation of terrorist groups motivated by a religious imperative. Such groups are far more lethal than their secular counterparts, regarding violence as a divine duty or sacramental act conveyed by sacred text and imparted by clerical authority. Moreover, religious terrorism is not restricted to Islamic terrorist groups exclusivel…
Importance Indices in Ethnobotany
Measuring the “importance” of plants and vegetation to people is a central concern in quantitative ethnobotany. A common tool to quantify otherwise qualitative data in the biological and social sciences is an index. Relative cultural importance (RCI) indices such as the “use values” developed by Prance et al. (1987) and Phillips and Gentry (1993a, 1993b) are applied in ethnobotany to calculate a value per folk or biological plant taxon. These app…
Trends in Outside Support for Insurgent Movements
State support or sponsorship of an insurgency as an instrument of foreign policy was common during the Cold War. The United States, the Soviet Union, and a host of regional powers backed their favored proxies, often transforming local quarrels into international contests. The end of the Cold War did not end the use of insurgents, but the dimensions and nature of outside aid and the identity of the providers have changed significantly. Hundreds of…
Rethinking Terrorism and Counterterrorism Since 9/11
This article examines what has been learned since 11 September 2001 about the nature of twenty-first-century terrorism, the challenges that it poses, and how it must be countered. It attempts to better understand Usama bin Laden and the terrorist entity that he created and to assess whether we are more or less secure as a result of the U.S.-led actions in Afghanistan and the pursuit of the al Qaeda network. The article considers these issues, pla…
Challenging Medicine: Law, Resistance, and the Cultural Politics of Childbirth
Whereas most sociolegal studies concerned with hegemony and resistance focus on the resistances of ordinary citizens in everyday life, this article focuses on the development of a particular social movement-the alternative birth movement-and analyzes the process by which this movement emerged and has achieved significant legislative victories. The analysis makes several contributions to the literatures on hegemony, resistance, and the law. First,…
The Changing Face of Al Qaeda and the Global War on Terrorism
This article assesses current trends and developments in terrorism within the context of the overall progress being achieved in the global war on terrorism (GWOT). It examines first the transformation that Al Qaeda has achieved in the time since the 11 September 2001 attacks and the variety of affiliated or associated groups (e.g., what are often referred to as Al Qaeda "clones" or "franchises") that have emerged to prosecute the jihadist struggl…
Al Qaeda, Trends in Terrorism, and Future Potentialities: An Assessment
This article assesses current trends in terrorism and future potentialities. It examines first the presumed state of Al Qaeda today with particular reference to its likely agenda in a post-Iraq War world. It then more broadly focuses on some key current terrorism trends in order to understand better both how terrorism is changing and what the implications of these changes are in terms of possible future attacks and patterns. The discussion is org…
Assessing the Jihadist Terrorist Threat to America and American Interests
Al Qaeda and allied groups continue to pose a threat to the United States. Although it is less severe than the catastrophic proportions of a 9/11-like attack, the threat today is more complex and more diverse than at any time over the past nine years. Al Qaeda or its allies continue to have the capacity to kill dozens, or even hundreds, of Americans in a single attack. A key shift in the past couple of years is the increasingly prominent role in …
Current research on terrorism and low‐intensity conflict
This article surveys the published literature on terrorism and low‐intensity conflict (LIC). Its purpose is twofold. The first is to assess the role that research on terrorism and LIC can play both in countering present and likely future adversaries and addressing existing and potentially new challenges. The second is to provide a baseline assessment of how firm a foundation current research into these subjects has provided. It argues that the ne…
Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Iraq
The United States has long been frustrated in fighting insurgencies. An almost unbroken string of mostly ill-fated experiences in effectively prosecuting this unique blend of political-military operations can be traced backward over nearly half a century from the situation in Iraq today to the early 1960s when the U.S. became heavily engaged in Indochina's wars. Vietnam and Iraq thus form two legs of a historically fraught triangle—with America's…
From the War on Terror to Global Counterinsurgency
Not only is Al Qaeda alive and kicking, but it is still actively planning, supporting, and perhaps even directing terrorist attacks on a global canvas
Why terrorists don't claim credit
(1997). Why terrorists don't claim credit. Terrorism and Political Violence: Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 1-6
A First Draft of the History of America's Ongoing Wars on Terrorism
This research note attempts to map the Al Qaeda movement's trajectory from the 11 September 2001 attacks to the stunning events of 2014—which saw the continued rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), its expulsion from the Al Qaeda movement, followed by ISIS's stunning thrust into Iraq, its declaration of a caliphate, and the re-engagement of American military forces in this region. It attempts to place in context the Al Qaeda movemen…
Everyday violence, institutional denial and struggles for justice in Kashmir
In the summer of 2009, the apparent murder and rape of two young women in the small town of Shopian sparked a year of popular protest in heavily militarised Kashmir Valley expressing outrage at the everyday forms of violence that accompany Indian occupation in the contested region. Here, the authors analyse the case by drawing on ethnographic field research conducted via research visits in 2009-2010, to show how the state has exercised occupation…
Change and Continuity in Terrorism
(2001). Change and Continuity in Terrorism. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism: Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 417-428
The contrasting ethical foundations of terrorism in the 1980s
(1989). The contrasting ethical foundations of terrorism in the 1980s. Terrorism and Political Violence: Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 361-377
Al Qaeda's Uncertain Future
This article considers the current state of the Al Qaeda terrorist movement and its likely future trajectory. It considers the principle assumptions both today and in the past about Al Qaeda and how they affect our understanding of the movement and the threat that it poses; Al Qaeda's current capacity for violence; and its ability to plan strategically and implement terrorist operations. The article further identifies nine key change drivers that…
The rationality of terrorism and other forms of political violence: Lessons from the Jewish campaign in Palestine, 1939-1947
Does terrorism work? Its targets and victims steadfastly maintain that it does not; its practitioners and apologists that it does. Scholars and analysts are divided. But, if terrorism is as ineffective as many claim, why has it persisted for at least the past two millennia and indeed become an increasingly popular means of violent political expression in the twenty-first century? Using the Jewish terrorist campaign against the British in Palestin…
Radicalization and Subversion: Al Qaeda and the 7 July 2005 Bombings and the 2006 Airline Bombing Plot
This article analyzes the suicide bomb attacks on four London transportation targets on 7 July 2005 and the plot to bomb simultaneously at least seven American and Canadian passenger airliners as they departed from London's Heathrow Airport. American, British, and Pakistani authorities thwarted this planned attack in August 2006. Both incidents are among the most important Al Qaeda operations in recent years. Initially, they were dismissed by the…
The first non-state use of a chemical weapon in warfare: The Tamil Tigers' assault on East Kiran
This article presents research conducted by the author in Sri Lanka to verify the first non-state use of a chemical weapon in warfare. This 1990 incident involved a primitive chemical attack perpetrated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the LTTE or Tamil Tigers) on a Sri Lankan Armed Forces (SLAF) encampment in East Kiran, in the Batticaloa district of Sri Lanka. The article first describes the incident itself, before providing a brief des…
A Counterterrorism Strategy for the Obama Administration
This article assesses the scope and nature of the current terrorist threat to the United States and suggests a strategy to counter it. Al-Qaeda continues to pose the most serious terrorist threat to the U.S. today. If the September 11, 2001 attacks have taught us anything, it is that al-Qaeda is most dangerous when it has a sanctuary or safe haven from which to plan and plot attacks. Al-Qaeda has acquired such a sanctuary in Pakistan's Federal Ad…
Is Europe Soft on Terrorism
The confluence of international and domestic trends in terrorism
This article assesses the changing nature of terrorism in the 1990s within the context of the growing overlap between international and domestic terrorist trends and its potential implications for aviation security. It argues that the emergence of either obscure, idiosyncratic millenarian movements or zealously nationalist religious groups possibly represent a very different and potentially far more lethal threat than more 'traditional' terrorist…
Trends in International Terrorism, 1982 and 1983
This report analyzes incidents recorded in The RAND Corporation’s chronology of international terrorism for 1982 and 1983. The chronology contains data on international terrorist incidents since 1968, derived from newspapers, journals, and the foreign press. It provides a comprehensive database with which trends in various aspects of terrorism can be analyzed
The PLO and Israel in Central America: The geopolitical dimension
Recently, attention has been drawn to the close relations between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the ruling Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. The support, training, and arms furnished by the PLO to the Sandinistas and like‐minded revolutionary movements in surrounding Central American countries have often been cited as proof that Nicaragua has been transformed into a base for international terrorism in the Western Hemisphere. This …
The contrasting ethical foundations of terrorism in the 1980s
(1989). The contrasting ethical foundations of terrorism in the 1980s. Terrorism and Political Violence: Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 361-377
Current research on terrorism and low‐intensity conflict
This article surveys the published literature on terrorism and low‐intensity conflict (LIC). Its purpose is twofold. The first is to assess the role that research on terrorism and LIC can play both in countering present and likely future adversaries and addressing existing and potentially new challenges. The second is to provide a baseline assessment of how firm a foundation current research into these subjects has provided. It argues that the ne…
Terrorist targeting: Tactics, trends, and potentialities
This article analyzes recent trends in international terrorism in the context of tactical and technological innovation. It argues that, while terrorists were undeniably more active and considerably more lethal during the 1980s compared to the 1970s, the targets they chose, the weapons they used, and the tactics they employed remained remarkably consistent. Thus radical in their politics, the vast majority of terrorist organizations appear to be c…
Urbanisation and insurgency: The Turkish case, 1976–1980
Responding to terrorism across the technological spectrum
The ‘revolution in military affairs’ arguably heralds a new era of warfare dominated by the American military's mastery of the conventional battlefield. This ‘revolution’, however, will have little if any impact on American military capabilities so far as countering terrorism, insurgency, or guerrilla warfare are concerned. With regard to terrorism specifically, a combination of the resurgence of terrorism motivated by a religious imperative and …
Holy terror”: The implications of terrorism motivated by a religious imperative
One of the distinguishing features of international terrorism the past fifteen years has been the resurgence and proliferation of terrorist groups motivated by a religious imperative. Such groups are far more lethal than their secular counterparts, regarding violence as a divine duty or sacramental act conveyed by sacred text and imparted by clerical authority. Moreover, religious terrorism is not restricted to Islamic terrorist groups exclusivel…
The urbanisation of insurgency: The potential challenge to US army operations
The Rand-St Andrews chronology of international terrorism, 1994
The Rand-St Andrews chronology of international terrorist incidents, 1995
Reply to pluchinsky and rapoport comments
The confluence of international and domestic trends in terrorism
This article assesses the changing nature of terrorism in the 1990s within the context of the growing overlap between international and domestic terrorist trends and its potential implications for aviation security. It argues that the emergence of either obscure, idiosyncratic millenarian movements or zealously nationalist religious groups possibly represent a very different and potentially far more lethal threat than more 'traditional' terrorist…
Why terrorists don't claim credit
(1997). Why terrorists don't claim credit. Terrorism and Political Violence: Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 1-6
The Rand-St Andrews chronology of international terrorism and noteworthy domestic incidents, 1996∗
(1998). The RAND‐St Andrews chronology of international terrorism and noteworthy domestic incidents, 1996∗. Terrorism and Political Violence: Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 135-180
Aviation security and terrorism: An analysis of the potential threat to air cargo integrators
Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction: An Analysis of Trends and Motivations
Inside Terrorism
Is Europe Soft on Terrorism
It Could Happen Here: Facing the New Terrorism
Ruminations on Political Violence
Trends in Outside Support for Insurgent Movements
State support or sponsorship of an insurgency as an instrument of foreign policy was common during the Cold War. The United States, the Soviet Union, and a host of regional powers backed their favored proxies, often transforming local quarrels into international contests. The end of the Cold War did not end the use of insurgents, but the dimensions and nature of outside aid and the identity of the providers have changed significantly. Hundreds of…
Change and Continuity in Terrorism
(2001). Change and Continuity in Terrorism. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism: Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 417-428
Rethinking Terrorism and Counterterrorism Since 9/11
This article examines what has been learned since 11 September 2001 about the nature of twenty-first-century terrorism, the challenges that it poses, and how it must be countered. It attempts to better understand Usama bin Laden and the terrorist entity that he created and to assess whether we are more or less secure as a result of the U.S.-led actions in Afghanistan and the pursuit of the al Qaeda network. The article considers these issues, pla…
Al Qaeda, Trends in Terrorism, and Future Potentialities: An Assessment
This article assesses current trends in terrorism and future potentialities. It examines first the presumed state of Al Qaeda today with particular reference to its likely agenda in a post-Iraq War world. It then more broadly focuses on some key current terrorism trends in order to understand better both how terrorism is changing and what the implications of these changes are in terms of possible future attacks and patterns. The discussion is org…
Political science (59 works) · Law (52 works) · Terrorism (44 works) · Sociology (41 works) · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence (37 works) · Law (31 works) · Criminology (30 works) · Politics (29 works) · History (23 works) · Computer Science (20 works)