Terrorism, Security and the Power of Informal Networks

Book excerpt: This innovative work examines the concept of the informal network and its practical utility within the context of counterterrorism. Drawing together a range of practitioner and academic expertise it explores the character and evolution of informal networks, addressing the complex relationship between kinship groups, transnational linkages and the role that globalization and new technologies play in their formation and sustainability. By analysing the informal branch of networked organization in the context of security policy-making, the chapters in this book seek to address three questions: how do informal networks operate? which combination of factors draws individuals to form such networks? what are their structures? Informal networks are necessarily elusive owing to their ad hoc development, amorphous structures and cultural specificity but they are nonetheless pivotal to the way organizations conduct business. Identifying and manipulating such networks is central to effective policy-making. Terrorism, Security and the Power of Informal Networks argues that informal networks are important to policy-makers and their mastery is critical to success both in tackling the challenges of hostile networks and in the processes of organizational reform currently preoccupying governments. Practitioners, policy-makers and researchers in the fields of international politics, international relations, history and political science will find much to interest them in this timely resource.