Stephen Vertigans
Biographic Data
| ID | 8957804 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stephen Vertigans |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stephen |
| FAMILY NAME | Vertigans |
| SIGNATURE | VERTIGANS S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Robert Gordon University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 42 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Integrating indigenous communities’ needs and practices to develop a better energy pathway – the case of Togo
This paper explores the energy landscape in rural and remote areas of Togo to better understand local energy needs, practices, and challenges, with the goal of identifying key factors for sustainable energy solutions. The study employs a mixed method approach, integrating both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. It engages a diverse range of community members—including farmers, fishermen, artisans, and others—across five rural commu…
Forced to Live: Controlled Forced Feeding of Political Prisoners and the Challenge to Nation-States' Civilising Processes
Since the nineteenth century, struggles between state power and political prisoners' right to die have aroused considerable interest. State enforcement to 'make live' through force-feeding also raises important questions concerning processes that inform government approaches, often through methods considered to be brutal, and how these actions fit within perceptions of civilised behaviour. The social scientific focus of hunger strikes tends to be…
Theorising political legitimisation: From stasis to processes
Legitimacy remains a key concept in political sociology, and perhaps even more so in lay understandings of political processes and structures, as evidenced by conflict over territories and regimes around the world. However, the concept suffers from a rather static representation, and even when addressed in processual form, in terms of specific moments in the process, such as conditions favouring legitimacy or its effects. Building from an Eliasia…
Rational and Emotional Tension Balances in the Organization of Political Hunger Strikes
This paper is concerned with the relationship between the organization of political hunger strikes, rational calculations and actions and emotions. Drawing from the theoretical formulations of Norbert Elias, we examine how rational-emotional balances generated by different and intertwined tiers of social integration partly shaped the organization of political hunger strikes. Political hunger strikes are interesting because they tend to involve ac…
Women's gendered experiences of political instability: Kibera during the 2017 Kenyan elections
This study examines how residents of Kibera, an multi-ethnic informal settlement and opposition stronghold in Nairobi, Kenya, understood and negotiated political instability in the run up to, and during, the contested elections of 2017. Much of the scholarship on election violence has been gender-blind, ignoring the ways in which gender roles shape the experiences but also the nature of conflict. When women's experiences during conflict and war a…
Empowering Kibera during political change: A case study through a Freirean lens
Empowerment is an often used concept and the work of Paulo Freire has helped to define the application and outcomes of approaches. The researchers visited Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, during periods of political activity which had previously resulted in violence. Community members identified strategies employed in an attempt to curtail heightened risk. These factors were analysed to evaluate whether empowerment, as espoused by Freire, was still rele…
Terrorism and Societies
Which socializing agents are influential in people joining terror groups? What ideologies do terror groups hold? Which aspects of societies and social contexts contribute towards groups forming and people joining them? This book considers a range of influential terror groups from the last 40 years, exploring relationships between people, local and global social processes, and activities that result in acts of terrorism. Examining Islamic groups a…
Terrorism
The Sociology of Terrorism: Peoples, Places and Processes
This is the first terrorism textbook based on sociological research. It adopts an innovative framework that draws together historical and modern, local and global, and social processes for a range of individuals, groups and societies. Individual behaviour and dispositions are embedded within these broader relationships and activities, allowing a more holistic account of terrorism to emerge. In addition, the shifting forms of identification and in…
Sociology of Terrorism: People, Places and Processes
British Muslims and the UK government's 'war on terror' within: Evidence of a Clash of Civilizations or Emergent De-Civilizing Processes
In the immediate aftermath of the September 2001 attacks on America, defending civilization was quickly established at the core of the 'war on terror'. Unintentionally or otherwise this incorporation of civilization connected with Samuel Huntington's 'Clash of Civilizations' thesis. Within the 'war on terror' the dark side of counterterrorism has become apparent through international practices like extrajudicial killing, extraordinary rendition a…
Militant Islam: A Sociology of Characteristics, Causes and Consequences
Integral to the resurgence of Islam have been the growing significance of the umma (Islamic 'community') and the perceptions of a global Muslim community or nation. Reasons for these trans-national feelings and loyalties include changing patterns of communication and transportation associated with globalisation and the perceived movement towards supranational and subnational collectivities identified across nation-states. Clearly, globalisation i…
Beyond the Fringe? Radicalisation within the American Far‐Right
The concentration within America upon terrorism and Muslims overlooks recent acts of political violence undertaken by the indigenous extreme far‐right. In this article the rise of the militia and Christian Identity movement in America is explored and the social processes and agents behind the radicalisation of individuals and groups and emergence of political violence examined. It is argued that, while the 1995 Oklahoma bombing led to the movemen…
Islamic "New Social Movements"? Radical Islam, AL-QA'IDA and Social Movement Theory
European new social movement (NSM) theory was developed to describe and explain the apparently unique character of the wave of collective action that began in the 1960s and continues to this day. Key characteristics of NSM theory are a post-industrial orientation, middle-class activist core, loose organizational form, use of symbolic direct actions, creation of new identities, and a "self-limiting radicalism." The theory's claims to movement inno…
Social Barriers to Peace: Socialisation Processes in the Radicalisation of the Palestinian Struggle
Contemporary analysis of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians tends to focus upon Islamic terrorism and Israeli state aggression. Representations and analysis are dominated by media images of terrorist/freedom fighters atrocities and military incursions. Explanations have concentrated upon 'tit-for-tat' killings and, in the case of Islamic terrorists/freedom fighters, their actions are seen as acts of desperation against a backdrop of…
Globalisation Theory and Islamic Praxis
(2002). Globalisation Theory and Islamic Praxis. Global Society: Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 31-46
Concept Development in Sociology: A Comment on Steve Fuller's, 'Will Sociology find some New Concepts before the US finds Osama bin Laden
An interesting issue is raised by Steve Fuller's 'Will Sociology Find Some New Concepts' in the previous issue of this journal. This is the extent to which the research programmes of sociologists are or should be influenced by particular, significant events. If this is a call for scientific open-mindedness in the interpretation of violent forms of terrorism and their causes, then it is good advice for us all. However, there is a danger that the i…
Back to the Future: Islamic Terrorism' and Interpretations of past and Present
Commentaries on September's acts of terrorism have tended to rely upon secular accounts to explain both the terrorism and the wider, less violent Islamic resurgence. This has meant that the explanatory focus has been upon threats to Muslims, the negative impact of globalization and interrelated modernization and the role of America within global relations and the Middle East in particular. These generalisations are problematic because they fail t…
British Muslims and the UK government's 'war on terror' within: Evidence of a Clash of Civilizations or Emergent De-Civilizing Processes
In the immediate aftermath of the September 2001 attacks on America, defending civilization was quickly established at the core of the 'war on terror'. Unintentionally or otherwise this incorporation of civilization connected with Samuel Huntington's 'Clash of Civilizations' thesis. Within the 'war on terror' the dark side of counterterrorism has become apparent through international practices like extrajudicial killing, extraordinary rendition a…
Islamic "New Social Movements"? Radical Islam, AL-QA'IDA and Social Movement Theory
European new social movement (NSM) theory was developed to describe and explain the apparently unique character of the wave of collective action that began in the 1960s and continues to this day. Key characteristics of NSM theory are a post-industrial orientation, middle-class activist core, loose organizational form, use of symbolic direct actions, creation of new identities, and a "self-limiting radicalism." The theory's claims to movement inno…
Back to the Future: Islamic Terrorism' and Interpretations of past and Present
Commentaries on September's acts of terrorism have tended to rely upon secular accounts to explain both the terrorism and the wider, less violent Islamic resurgence. This has meant that the explanatory focus has been upon threats to Muslims, the negative impact of globalization and interrelated modernization and the role of America within global relations and the Middle East in particular. These generalisations are problematic because they fail t…
Theorising political legitimisation: From stasis to processes
Legitimacy remains a key concept in political sociology, and perhaps even more so in lay understandings of political processes and structures, as evidenced by conflict over territories and regimes around the world. However, the concept suffers from a rather static representation, and even when addressed in processual form, in terms of specific moments in the process, such as conditions favouring legitimacy or its effects. Building from an Eliasia…
Back to the Future: Islamic Terrorism' and Interpretations of past and Present
Commentaries on September's acts of terrorism have tended to rely upon secular accounts to explain both the terrorism and the wider, less violent Islamic resurgence. This has meant that the explanatory focus has been upon threats to Muslims, the negative impact of globalization and interrelated modernization and the role of America within global relations and the Middle East in particular. These generalisations are problematic because they fail t…
Globalisation Theory and Islamic Praxis
(2002). Globalisation Theory and Islamic Praxis. Global Society: Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 31-46
Concept Development in Sociology: A Comment on Steve Fuller's, 'Will Sociology find some New Concepts before the US finds Osama bin Laden
An interesting issue is raised by Steve Fuller's 'Will Sociology Find Some New Concepts' in the previous issue of this journal. This is the extent to which the research programmes of sociologists are or should be influenced by particular, significant events. If this is a call for scientific open-mindedness in the interpretation of violent forms of terrorism and their causes, then it is good advice for us all. However, there is a danger that the i…
Social Barriers to Peace: Socialisation Processes in the Radicalisation of the Palestinian Struggle
Contemporary analysis of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians tends to focus upon Islamic terrorism and Israeli state aggression. Representations and analysis are dominated by media images of terrorist/freedom fighters atrocities and military incursions. Explanations have concentrated upon 'tit-for-tat' killings and, in the case of Islamic terrorists/freedom fighters, their actions are seen as acts of desperation against a backdrop of…
Islamic "New Social Movements"? Radical Islam, AL-QA'IDA and Social Movement Theory
European new social movement (NSM) theory was developed to describe and explain the apparently unique character of the wave of collective action that began in the 1960s and continues to this day. Key characteristics of NSM theory are a post-industrial orientation, middle-class activist core, loose organizational form, use of symbolic direct actions, creation of new identities, and a "self-limiting radicalism." The theory's claims to movement inno…
Beyond the Fringe? Radicalisation within the American Far‐Right
The concentration within America upon terrorism and Muslims overlooks recent acts of political violence undertaken by the indigenous extreme far‐right. In this article the rise of the militia and Christian Identity movement in America is explored and the social processes and agents behind the radicalisation of individuals and groups and emergence of political violence examined. It is argued that, while the 1995 Oklahoma bombing led to the movemen…
Militant Islam: A Sociology of Characteristics, Causes and Consequences
Integral to the resurgence of Islam have been the growing significance of the umma (Islamic 'community') and the perceptions of a global Muslim community or nation. Reasons for these trans-national feelings and loyalties include changing patterns of communication and transportation associated with globalisation and the perceived movement towards supranational and subnational collectivities identified across nation-states. Clearly, globalisation i…
British Muslims and the UK government's 'war on terror' within: Evidence of a Clash of Civilizations or Emergent De-Civilizing Processes
In the immediate aftermath of the September 2001 attacks on America, defending civilization was quickly established at the core of the 'war on terror'. Unintentionally or otherwise this incorporation of civilization connected with Samuel Huntington's 'Clash of Civilizations' thesis. Within the 'war on terror' the dark side of counterterrorism has become apparent through international practices like extrajudicial killing, extraordinary rendition a…
The Sociology of Terrorism: Peoples, Places and Processes
This is the first terrorism textbook based on sociological research. It adopts an innovative framework that draws together historical and modern, local and global, and social processes for a range of individuals, groups and societies. Individual behaviour and dispositions are embedded within these broader relationships and activities, allowing a more holistic account of terrorism to emerge. In addition, the shifting forms of identification and in…
Sociology of Terrorism: People, Places and Processes
Terrorism
Terrorism and Societies
Which socializing agents are influential in people joining terror groups? What ideologies do terror groups hold? Which aspects of societies and social contexts contribute towards groups forming and people joining them? This book considers a range of influential terror groups from the last 40 years, exploring relationships between people, local and global social processes, and activities that result in acts of terrorism. Examining Islamic groups a…
Empowering Kibera during political change: A case study through a Freirean lens
Empowerment is an often used concept and the work of Paulo Freire has helped to define the application and outcomes of approaches. The researchers visited Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, during periods of political activity which had previously resulted in violence. Community members identified strategies employed in an attempt to curtail heightened risk. These factors were analysed to evaluate whether empowerment, as espoused by Freire, was still rele…
Women's gendered experiences of political instability: Kibera during the 2017 Kenyan elections
This study examines how residents of Kibera, an multi-ethnic informal settlement and opposition stronghold in Nairobi, Kenya, understood and negotiated political instability in the run up to, and during, the contested elections of 2017. Much of the scholarship on election violence has been gender-blind, ignoring the ways in which gender roles shape the experiences but also the nature of conflict. When women's experiences during conflict and war a…
Rational and Emotional Tension Balances in the Organization of Political Hunger Strikes
This paper is concerned with the relationship between the organization of political hunger strikes, rational calculations and actions and emotions. Drawing from the theoretical formulations of Norbert Elias, we examine how rational-emotional balances generated by different and intertwined tiers of social integration partly shaped the organization of political hunger strikes. Political hunger strikes are interesting because they tend to involve ac…
Theorising political legitimisation: From stasis to processes
Legitimacy remains a key concept in political sociology, and perhaps even more so in lay understandings of political processes and structures, as evidenced by conflict over territories and regimes around the world. However, the concept suffers from a rather static representation, and even when addressed in processual form, in terms of specific moments in the process, such as conditions favouring legitimacy or its effects. Building from an Eliasia…
Forced to Live: Controlled Forced Feeding of Political Prisoners and the Challenge to Nation-States' Civilising Processes
Since the nineteenth century, struggles between state power and political prisoners' right to die have aroused considerable interest. State enforcement to 'make live' through force-feeding also raises important questions concerning processes that inform government approaches, often through methods considered to be brutal, and how these actions fit within perceptions of civilised behaviour. The social scientific focus of hunger strikes tends to be…
Integrating indigenous communities’ needs and practices to develop a better energy pathway – the case of Togo
This paper explores the energy landscape in rural and remote areas of Togo to better understand local energy needs, practices, and challenges, with the goal of identifying key factors for sustainable energy solutions. The study employs a mixed method approach, integrating both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. It engages a diverse range of community members—including farmers, fishermen, artisans, and others—across five rural commu…
Political science (16 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Law (14 works) · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence (10 works) · Politics (9 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Islam (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Political economy (6 works) · Social science (6 works)