Saudi Arabia, homeland of Osama bin Laden and many 9/11 hijackers, is widely considered to be the heartland of radical Islamism. For decades, the conservative and oil-rich kingdom contributed recruits, ideologues and money to jihadi groups worldwide. Yet Islamism within Saudi Arabia itself remains poorly understood. Why has Saudi Arabia produced so many militants? Has the Saudi government supported violent groups? How strong is al-Qaida’s foothold in the kingdom and does it threaten the regime? Why did Bin Laden not launch a campaign there until 2003? This book presents the first ever history of Saudi jihadism based on extensive fieldwork in the kingdom and primary sources in Arabic.
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Anne Stenersen:
Al-Qaida’s Quest for Weapons of Mass Destruction: The history behind the hype
(Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag, 2009)

Ever since the late 1990s, it has been claimed that the threat of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) terrorism from al-Qaida is real and growing. This book explores al-Qaida’s interest in CBRN weapons, as reflected by statements and activities on various levels within the network between 1996-2007. Drawing on the author's extensive collection of al-Qaida CBRN-manuals, online discussions and 'chatter' on CBRN-related themes, the author finds that a high level of amateurism has characterised al/Qaida's efforts in this field. The book is aimed at students, scholars, and practitioners with an interest in the topics of CBRN terrorism and militant Islamism, and is of particular interest to professionals within the counter-terrorism community. Read more..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brynjar Lia:
Architect of Global Jihad: The Life of Al-Qaeda Strategist Abu Mus'ab Al-Suri
(London and New York: Hurst & Columbia University Press, 2008)

Despite his alleged capture in Pakistan in late 2005, Abu Mus'ab al-Suri, a Syrian originally known as Mustafa Sethmarian Nasar, remains a potent political and ideological figure. Al-Suri trained a generation of young jihadis at al-Qaeda's Afghan camps and helped establish the organisation's European networks. Having gained extensive military experience fighting in the Syrian Islamist insurgency of the early 1980s, he helped to shape al-Qaeda's global strategy in a series of writings, including his influential Global Islamic Resistance Call. In this 1,600 page book, Al-Suri outlines a broad strategy for al-Qaeda's younger generation to follow and describes practical ways to implement the theories and tactics of jihadi guerrilla warfare. In Architect of Global Jihad, Brynjar Lia translates two key chapters from Al-Suri's Global Islamic Resistance Call and exposes his methods for maximising the political impact of jihadi violence and building successful, autonomous cells for "individualised terrorism". Al-Suri's words have inspired many of today's militants, making Lia's detailed portrait required reading for students and specialists of Islamist movements and the study of contemporary forms of terrorism. Read more..

 

 

 

Gilles Kepel, Jean-Pierre Milelli, Thomas Hegghammer, Stephane Lacroix, and Omar Saghi:  

Al-Qaida dans le texte
(Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2005).

Al Qaeda in its Own Words
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008).

Thomas Hegghammer has co-authored a book in French containing translations of ideological texts by Usama bin Ladin, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abdallah Azzam, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, supplemented by in-depth textual commentary and biographical chapters. A German translation has already been published (Texte des Terrors [Munchen: Piper-Verlag, 2006]), and an English version (Al Qaeda in Its Own Words) was released in April 2008. Read more..

 

 

  

 

 

Brynjar Lia:
The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt 1928-1942: The Rise of an Islamic Mass Movement

(Reading: Ithaca Press, 1998).

This book examines the rise of the mother organization of all modern Islamist movements, the Society of the
Muslim Brothers in Egypt.

It explores the socio-economic and cultural factors which facilitated the movement’s expansion and analyses the keys to its success – its organization, internal structure, modes of action and recruitment techniques as well as its ideological and class appeal. Read more..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Osama bin Laden: mannen bak al-Qaida", Samtiden, 3/2011, pp.247-251. By Brynjar Lia. 

 

"The Rise of the Macro-Nationalists", New York Times (Sunday Review), 31 July 2011. By Thomas Hegghammer
 

"Al Qaeda Without Bin Laden", Foreign Affairs.com, 11 May 2011. By Brynjar Lia. Also republished in Gideon Rose and Jonathan Tepperman (eds.) The U.S. vs. al Qaeda: A History of the War on Terror (NY: Council of Foreign Affairs, August 2011), pp.247-251; and on CNN's Global Square Blog

 

"Arven etter Osama", VG, 7. mai 2011. Av Anne Stenersen og Petter Nesser.

 

"Hvor står al-Qaida i dag?", Forsvarets forum, april 2011. Av Brynjar Lia

 

"Folket utfordrer al-Qaida," Forsvarets forum, mars 2011. Av Truls Hallberg Tønnessen.

 

"Sikkerhetspolitiske implikasjoner av opprørene i Midtøsten", DNAK Kortinfo 1 (mai 2011). By Thomas Hegghammer.

"The Islamic Emirate of Fallujah". Paper presented at the Annual International Studies Association Convention in Montreal, 16-19 March 2011. By Truls Hallberg Tønnessen.

 

"Jihadi Insurgents and the Perils of Territorialisation". Paper presented at the Annual International Studies Association Convention in Montreal, 16-19 March 2011. By Brynjar Lia.

 

 

"Al Qaeda's Foot Soldiers: A Study of the Biographies of Foreign Fighters Killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan Between 2002 and 2006", Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 34 (3) (March 2011), pp. 171 - 198. By Anne Stenersen. 

 

"The Rise of Muslim Foreign Fighters: Islam and the Globalization of Jihad", International Security, 35, 3 (2011). By Thomas Hegghammer.

 

"Chronology of Jihadism in Western Europe Update 2008-2010", Working Paper, 20 December 2010. By Petter Nesser.

 

"Arab and non‐Arab Jihadis", Assaf Moghadam and Brian Fishman (eds.) Self-Inflicted Wounds Debates and Divisions within al-Qa’ida and its Periphery (West Point, NY : Combating Terrorism Center, 2010), pp. 131-154. By Anne Stenersen.

 

"Jihadi Strategists and Doctrinarians", Assaf Moghadam and Brian Fishman (eds.) Self-Inflicted Wounds Debates and Divisions within al-Qa’ida and its Periphery (West Point, NY : Combating Terrorism Center, 2010), pp.100-131. By Brynjar Lia.

 

 

 

 

 

"What is audio-visual jihadi propaganda? An overview of the content of FFI’s jihadi video database". FFI Research Report No.2010/00960. By Cecilie Finsnes.

 

"Why Does Al-Qaeda Have a Problem With Norway?", TheAtlantic.com, 13 July 2010. By Thomas Hegghammer.

 

"The Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan: Organization, leadership and worldview", FFI Research Report No.2010/00359. By Anne Stenersen.

"Al-Qaeda’s Allies: Explaining the Relationship Between Al-Qaeda and Various Factions of the Taliban After 2001", Counterterrorism Strategy Initiative Policy Paper, New America Foundation, April 2010. By Anne Stenersen.

"Hvor går al-Qaida?", Hvor hender det? (HHD), No.20, 12. April 2010. By Anne Stenersen.

 

"Lady Gaga vs. the Occupation", ForeignPolicy.com, 31 March 2010. By Thomas Hegghammer.

"Yemeni Threat in Saudi Arabia", ForeignPolicy.com, 26 March 2010. By Thomas Hegghammer

"There is nothing soft about Saudi counterterrorism", ForeignPolicy.com, 11 March 2010. By Thomas Hegghammer

"The Failure of Jihad in Saudi Arabia", Occasional Paper Series, West Point, NY: Combating Terrorism Center, 25 February 2010. By Thomas Hegghammer

"Family Values", book review of Najwa bin Laden et al., Growing up Bin Laden, in The National, 7 January 2010. By Thomas Hegghammer

"Jihad, Yes, But Not Revolution: Explaining the Extraversion of Islamist Violence in Saudi Arabia", British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 36, 3, pp. 395-416. By Thomas Hegghammer

"Jihadi Salafis or Revolutionaries: On Religion and Politics in the Study of Islamist Militancy", in R Meijer (ed), Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement, (London/New York: Hurst/Columbia University Press, 2009), pp. 244-266. By Thomas Hegghammer

 

"Destructive Doctrinarians’: Abu Musab al-Suri’s Critique of the Salafi s in the
Jihadi Current" in R Meijer (ed), Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement, (London/New York: Hurst/Columbia University Press, 2009), pp. 281-300. By

 

"Islamist opposition in the Islamic Republic: Jundullah and the spread of extremist Deobandism in Iran"
FFI Research Report No.2009/01265. By Audun Kolstad Wiig.

"Are the Afghan Taliban Involved in International Terrorism?", CTC Sentinel, 2, 9 (September 2009). By Anne Stenersen.

 

"Truer verden med terrorangrep". Kronikk om internasjonal terrorisme av Brynjar Lia og Thomas Hegghammer i Dagsavisen, 15 august 2009, s-38-39.

Book review of Laurent Murawiec, The Mind of Jihad. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2008, published in Times Higher Education, 11 June 2009. By Thomas Hegghammer

 

”Islamic Jihad Union: al-Qaida’s Key to the Turkic World?”. FFI Research Report No.2009/00687. By Einar Wigen. (Kjeller: The Norwegian Defence Reserch Est. (FFI), 2009).

 

"Irreparable Damage", Op-Ed by Thomas Hegghammer in Foreign Policy, 5 May 2009.

 

A round-table seminar jointly organized by the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), Sciences Po (France) and Combating Terrorism C-enter/West Point (USA), was held at the Holmenkollen Park Hotel Rica in Oslo on 19-21 March 2009. See program (pdf) and summaries of the seminar here and here. The following papers were presented by FFI research staff:

 

 

"Whither Al-Qaida? Assessing Its Ideological Evolution and Its Struggle to Stay Relevant in Local Insurgencies". FFI's Terrorism Research Group organised a panel at The Annual International Studies Association Convention (ISA) in New York, 14-18 February 2009, during which the following papers were presented:

• "Blood Brothers or a Marriage of Convenience? The Ideological Relationship between al-Qaida and the Taliban". By Anne Stenersen
• "Ideological influences and patterns of Jihadism in Europe". By Petter Nesser.
• "Which Jihad in Iraq?" By Truls Hallberg Tønnessen
• "Al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb: Ideological Dissent in the Algerian Jihad". By Hanna Rogan 
• "Does al-Qaida Articulate a Consistent Strategy? A Study of al-Qaida Leadership Statements, 2001-2008". By Brynjar Lia 

"The Struggle Within", review of the documentary film "Recycle", The National, 13 February 2009. By Thomas Hegghammer