Michael Stohl - Research Interests
In the 1970s I became interested in the problem of
responses to human rights violations and creating a
data source that was accessible, reliable and trusted
that could be used to evaluate current conditions within
nations. The data was then used to evaluate the implementation
of the human rights standards for United States development
assistance decisions. It has been used quite widely
by scholars exploring the implementation of human rights
policies around the world. Information on the scale
may be found at:
Political
Terror Scale
(Click here
to download a PDF version)
You can view a creative visual use of the scales at: http://www.goalsforamericans.org/publications/pioom/atf_world_conf_map.pdf
My most recent research using the scale is United States Foreign Policy and Foreign Assistance
The first of the published articles
using the scale was Human
Rights and U.S. Foreign Assistance Policy from Nixon
to Carter
Most recently I have collaborated with Cynthia Stohl
to explore the development of the human rights regime
in Human
Rights, Nation States, and NGOs: Structural Holes and
the Emergence of Global Regimes. Communication Monographs,
72, 442-467.
Currently we are combining our interest in human rights
with an exploration of corporate social responsibility.
The first publication in this area will be A New Generation
of Global Corporate Social Responsibility , (with C.
Stohl and N. Townsley) in S. May, G. Cheney, and J.
Roper (Eds.). The Debates Over Corporate Social Responsibility,
Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006 forthcoming.
I have been studying terrorism for the past thirty
years.
My recent publications on terrorism include
Cyber Terrorism: A Clear and Present Danger, The Sum
of All Fears, Breaking Point or Patriot Games? Crime,
Law and Social Change, forthcoming
“Knowledge Claims and the Study of Terrorism,”
in J. Victoroff, Ed.). Tangled Roots: Social and Psychological
factors in the Genesis of Terrorism. Amsterdam: IOS
Press, 2006
“Counterterrorism and Repression,” in L.
Richardson and P. Neumann (Eds.) The Roots of Terrorism:
London: Routledge, 2006 pp. 57-69.
“The State as Terrorist: Insights and Implications”
Democracy and Security, 2:1-25, 2006
“National Interests and State Terrorism in International
Affairs,” in R.H.T. O’Kane (Ed.) Terrorism.
London, Edgar Elgar, 2005: (Volume 1) pp. 208-233. reprint
of "National Interests and State Terrorism"
Political Science, Volume 36, No. 2, July 1984: pp.
37-52.
Cyber Terrorism (with Peter Grabosky) in Reform Issue
82, Autumn 2003 -National and international security
pages 8-13.
Exploring understanding terrorism after September 11
in “Mystery of the New Terrorism” in The
New Global Terrorism: The Characteristics, Causes, Controls
Charles W. Kegley (ed) , Prentice Hall, 2003, pp 84-91.
and a longer book chapter on “Myths
and Realities of Cyber terrorism.”
in Countering Terrorism Through International Cooperation,
Alex P. Schmid (ed.), ISPAC
(International Scientific and Professional Advisory
Council of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice Program), Vienna, 2001,pp: 70-105.
In addition, in June 2004, I participated in
an International Experts meeting on the “root
causes of terrorism” under the sponsorship of
the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo. The
meeting was the precursor for a one day meeting on September
22, 2003 in New York featuring about twenty heads of
state on the eve of the opening of the United Nations
General Assembly. Information on the meeting may be
found at
http://www.end-terror.org/background/
My contribution to the meeting was on Expected Utility and State Terrorism and is now published in Root Causes of Terrorism (T. Bjorgo, Ed.) New York and London: Routledge, 2005 pp 198-214.
In March 2005 I participated in the International
Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security in Madrid
sponsored by the Club de Madrid to honor the victims
of the attacks of March 11, 2004.
http://english.safe-democracy.org/
Most recently, Cynthia Stohl and I participated
in the ANU Terrorism Workshop 31 March-1 April 2005.
Here are the two presentations we made to the workshop.
The Madrid Agenda
Networks and The War on Terror
"Failed States" are defined by the patterns
of governmental collapse within a nation which often
bring demands (because of the refugees they foster,
the human rights they abridge and their inability to
forestall starvation and disease) which threaten the
security of their surrounding states and region. The
failed state is considered "utterly incapable of
sustaining itself as a member of the international community"
(Helman and Ratner, Foreign Policy, 1992) and depends
on steady streams of foreign assistance. The list of
failed states is growing as they impinge on what Chase,
Hill and Kennedy (Foreign Affairs, 1996) referred to
as "pivotal states" and their importance as
a threat to that region and global security. Consequently,
the growth and potential growth, of failed states is
of primary importance to the international community
in its effort to enhance international peace and security.
For the past eight years I have coordinated a study
group on failed states and have convened the study group
annually.
Click below for more info and my papers as well as the
other contributions from our meetings:
1998 Failed States and International Security: Causes, Prospects and Consequences
Rachel Stohl and I have recently published a further
failed states article
The Failed and Failing State and the Bush Administration
In 2005 Lothar Brock, Hans-Henrik Holm, Georg Sorensen
and I presented “Why Weak States Persist: Empirical
and Juridical Statehood in the New Millennium,”
at the World International Studies Conference (WISC)
First Global International Studies Conference, Bilgi
University, Istanbul, Turkey, 24 – 27 August
2005.