Twenty Months of Terror: Examining the Proliferation of Islamic-Related Terrorism in France during 2015 and 2016
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Between December 1996 and January 2015, France experienced only one Islamic-related terrorist attack. Then, starting in 2015, France experienced an acceleration of terrorism that shocked the country and the wider European community. Between the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015 and the assassination of Jacques Hamel, a Catholic priest in Normandy on July 26, 2016, 239 people of various nationalities and religious backgrounds were killed by Islamic terrorists on French soil. Existing literature has attempted to explain the phenomenon by analyzing changing French foreign policy and shifting domestic conditions. While helpful for shedding light on the driving forces behind the attacks, existing texts fail to explain the dramatic increase in the number and scope of the attacks during this time period. This thesis evaluates the acceleration from two opposing angles: the breakdown of counterterrorism operations and the evolution and adaptation of terrorist strategies and targets. French counterterrorism agencies had historically been extremely capable of adapting to new threats, but the dramatic change in the nature of the threat and inability to recognize precursor attacks lead to distinct challenges for law enforcement. On the other side, terrorists themselves perfected low sophistication strategies, such as stabbings and vehicle rammings, to perpetuate fear and persuade others of the ease of carrying out attacks within French borders. Ancillary factors, such as the high correlation between criminalization and terrorism, the deteriorating conditions in the banlieues, and the high numbers of foreign fighters further contributed to the dramatic acceleration.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | 2018 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Huchro, Christina |
|---|---|
| Advisor | Blacker, Coit |
| Advisor | Chamorel, Patrick |
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University, Center for International Security and Cooperation |
Subjects
| Subject | France |
|---|---|
| Subject | terrorism |
| Subject | Center for International Security and Cooperation |
| Subject | CISAC |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Huchro, Christina. (2018). Twenty Months of Terror: Examining the Proliferation of Islamic-Related Terrorism in France during 2015 and 2016. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/vf313vs2167
Collection
Stanford University, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Interschool Honors Program in International Security Studies, Theses
View other items in this collection in SearchWorksContact information
- Contact
- christiehuchro@gmail.com
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...