This chapter describes the state of the data on terrorism and isolates some of the key factors associated with the number of terror attacks using a random forest machine learning algorithm. The variables that emerge include several policy outcomes such as health expenditures, anti-government demonstrations, income inequality, democratic accountability, and strikes. Using the example of income inequality we show how model-agnostic machine learning algorithms can uncover nonlinear associations in the determinants and in doing so can improve our measurement and understanding of the nature of causality.

The deployment of 5G has raised diverse national security concerns, leading to policies restricting Chinese companies’ participation in this critical infrastructure. This chapter examines these policies against the background of international investment law, focusing on restrictions against Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE. It evaluates the compatibility of these measures with international investment agreements and explores potential violations of national treatment, most-favored-nation treatment, fair and equitable treatment, and full protection and security standards. The chapter also discusses the justification of these policies under national security exceptions, concluding that international investment law may not be fully equipped to address the evolving geo-economic landscape.

We take stock of the literature on countrywide determinants of terrorism and evaluate the robustness of 61 previously proposed variables. Using extreme bound analysis, we employ the two most used datasets on terrorism: the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) and ITERATE. This allows us to analyze both location as well as victim definitions of terrorism. The majority of the variables (34) cannot be considered robustly related to terrorism. The variables passing the criterion for robustness are prime candidates for ensuing studies. They should either be considered as control variables or be scrutinized further regarding causality.

This chapter covers the current state of knowledge on the relationship between terrorism and voter’s preferences and political attitudes. Theoretical models deliver very often ambiguous predictions since, on the one hand, voters may want to punish incumbents for their lack of competence in preventing terrorist attacks but, on the other hand, the “rally-around-the-flag” effect can benefit them. The empirical evidence shows that terrorist attacks change the political preferences of voters and the result of elections. Terrorist attacks usually increase the participation of voters and, in general, the support for right-wing parties since they are perceived by the population as stronger against terrorism than left-wing parties. The effect is stronger the closer is the terrorist attack to the data of the election. Despite these improvements in our knowledge on the empirical relationship between terrorism and political attitudes, there is a need to move to more credible empirical methodologies using natural experiments or agent-based models.

In this chapter, we explore the scholarly literatures on the effects of liberal democratic governance on the likelihood of terrorist violence, and on the threat posed by terrorist campaigns to liberal democracy.  Most disagreements in these literatures stem from the fact that the reciprocal relationship between democracy and terrorism is highly complex and largely contingent upon structural elements and other characteristics of states and terrorist organizations.  In regard to general institutional structure, we maintain that in offering checks against the majoritarian impulse towards authoritarianism, in subjecting policymaking to institutional competition, and in allowing for the responsible and effective exercise of executive prerogative, presidential democracy offers greater resistance to autocratization in the face of terrorism than parliamentary democracy.  We find empirical support for this proposition in analysis of cross-national time-series data on democratic structural integrity and the maintenance of civil rights and liberties for the period 1970-2012.

Like other areas of law and legal practice, the arbitration world is beginning to grapple with how to harness the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) while managing its risks. Analogizing to existing AI tools for analysing case law and judicial behavior, as well as to algorithmic hiring applications, this chapter explores how similar technology could be used to improve the process of selecting investment arbitrators. As criticisms of investment arbitration continue to mount, a new selection tool could help to address systemic concerns about fairness, diversity, and legitimacy. Such a tool could level the playing field for parties in terms of access to information about prospective arbitrators as well as expand and diversify the pool of viable candidates. In addition to providing guidance for the parties making their own selections, the suggested tool could be used by arbitral institutions to help with appointing the tribunal president or even, with the parties’ consent, the entire panel. The chapter provides a framework for thinking through questions of design and implementation and concludes by addressing potential challenges and objections.

This chapter investigates the role of science and technology as a function of the history of the World War II effort to transform national security resource and acquisition under Vannevar Bush at MIT, its effects upon American society as President Eisenhower warned the nation in 1961, and the later forces of globalization, the knowledge economy and accelerating emerging and disruptive science and technology as applied to war and terror today. Important is our understanding of our application of a specific logic to war and terror after 9/11; forward deployment of American military power overseas and homeland security (defense of the homeland) for the purpose of understanding the rapid evolution of technological capability in achieving outcomes. Furthermore, we will look more specifically at emerging science and technology as a particular area of technological innovation that stems from research and development phenomena that is tasked to provide outsize national security, specifically counterterrorism deliverables for the United States.

The aim of this chapter is to provide a global estimate of how many people die as a result of organized violence. To address this question organized violence has to be defined, and the forthcoming discussion highlights that it is difficult to distinguish terrorism from armed conflicts. A recently developed automated protocol (MELTT) identifies events that are listed in terrorism as well as armed conflict data sets. Using this information, I provide two estimates of the burden of terrorism: (1) an estimate of terrorism victims outside of armed conflict and (2) an aggregated estimate of the victims of terrorism and armed conflict. These estimates suggest that the number of people killed in terrorist events outside of armed conflict is about fifteen percent of the total number of victims due to terrorism and armed conflicts.

This Chapter proposes a coherent approach to the review of security exceptions under international trade and investment agreements by international adjudicators. The contribution of this Chapter is two-fold. First, it examines whether the clarification of the scope of the existing security exception clauses and their coherent application by international adjudicators under both regimes could help restrain the securitization of states’ trade and investment policies. Secondly, and conversely, it aims to draw some conclusions about the extent to which existing security exception clauses provide sufficient policy space for WTO members to protect their national interests.

This Chapter examines the diversity of practice in drafting security exceptions under the international economic agreements entered into by the US, the EU, and BRICS. The first part discusses trade agreements, and the second part examines investment treaties. The Chapter compares the texts of the security exceptions used by the US, the EU, and BRICS, identifies to what extent the texts of the analysed agreements differ from the WTO agreements, and examines how such differences affect the approaches of the US, the EU, and BRICS to the application of security exceptions and their interpretation by international and domestic adjudicative bodies. Ultimately, it concludes whether and why different WTO members have different approaches to drafting security exceptions under WTO Agreements and in their regional and bilateral trade and investment agreements.

This chapter examines the intersection of blockchain technology and international investment law, offering an analysis that moves beyond the traditional focus on blockchain’s financial aspects. It explores how blockchain’s decentralization is poised to impact the principles and practices of international investment law. As blockchain technology matures, it becomes essential to assess its implications for the rules governing cross-border investments. A comparative analysis of blockchain’s treatment across jurisdictions provides insights into global legal trends and jurisdiction-specific approaches. The chapter also contemplates ideal normative approaches for adapting to blockchain’s advancements. It underscores that integrating blockchain technology into legal structures can lead to a more transparent, efficient, and inclusive global economic system. This chapter contributes to the broader theme of the book by proposing that international investment law should anticipate and respond to the challenges posed by emerging technologies, preserving and enhancing legal principles.

The chapter provides a selective survey of studies on terrorism. In particular, we emphasize theoretical and empirical studies where the rationality of terrorists, their allies, and their adversaries are essential. With data on terrorist attacks during 1970–2018, we indicate the evolving nature of terrorism in terms of the distribution of attacks by alternative terrorist groups’ ideologies, the casualties of terrorist attacks, and the regional distribution of terrorist incidents. Based on key studies, we evaluate differences between domestic and transnational terrorism, the effectiveness of counterterror measures, the economic impact of terrorism, and the drivers of terrorism. Next, we highlight areas of deficient knowledge: e.g., governments’ actions to address terrorism, governments’ expenditures on counterterrorism, and practices of international cooperation. Finally, we indicate omissions to our knowledge including the melding of micro- and macro-level studies, the collection of counterterror event data, and the impact of immigration on transnational terrorism.

This chapter surveys existing work on the connection between religion and terrorism and proposes an alternative theory, the religious utility hypothesis, in which terrorist organizations piggyback on the utility of religion as a source of meaning and belonging. By tying the duty to perform violent acts to an individual’s faith and community, terrorist organizations can (1) elicit costlier sacrifices (e.g. suicide bombing), even when these actions run counter to the actor’s moral convictions, (2) motivate a small group of extreme types to radicalize a larger community, and (3) use moderate religious organizations, which are shielded from monitoring, infiltration and closure due to their value to the community, for recruitment and incubation of more extreme groups.

Security forces around the world use offensive counterterrorism tactics against specific terrorist targets. These actions are initiated by security forces against specific terrorist targets and are launched in the areas where terrorists inhabit and operate. Government policies to deter terrorism and disrupt the operations of terror organizations can be effective but may also have a boomerang effect. That is, harsh measures of counterterrorism may backfire by fostering hatred and attempts to exact revenge. This chapter surveys and evaluates the use and effectiveness of offensive counterterrorism tactics, focusing on the actions of the Israeli security forces.