Oct |
How 2G Computational Social Science Can Revolutionize the Study of 'Dark' Networks
Speaker: Jytte Klausen, Lawrence A. Wien Professor of International Cooperation, Department of Politics, Brandeis University
When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, October 15, 2018
Where: Morgan Library Event Hall
Contact: Anura Jayasumana (Anura.Jayasumana@ColoState.edu)
Abstract: Klausen will illustrate the utility of computational social science methodologies with examples from her own research on global terrorist networks. She will review the development of the Western Jihadism Project, a web-based integrated relational database and archive comprised of quantitative and qualitative data collected from public records about 6,000 known terrorism offenders inspired by Al Qaeda and ISIS, and associated groups and her research on transnational terrorist networks.
Bio: Jytte Klausen, Ph.D. (political science), is the Lawrence A. Wien Professor of International Cooperation at Brandeis University and an Affiliate at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University. In 2016-2017, she was a scholar in residence at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington D.C. She is a senior advisor to the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (London). She is the recipient of a Carnegie Scholars Award. Klausen is a contributor to Foreign Affairs. Her most recent books are The Cartoons That Shook the World (Yale University Press 2009) about the worldwide protests against the Danish cartoons of the Muslim Prophet, and The Islamic Challenge: Politics and Religion in Western Europe (Oxford University Press 2005, pb. 2007 (translated into German and Turkish; Arabic translation in progress).
In 2006, Klausen founded the Western Jihadism Project, a data archive and digital platform for collaborative research using real-world data to chart the demographics and networks of Western violent extremists associated with Al Qaeda and ISIL, and associated organizations. Her research on jihadism in Western states has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the United Kingdom’s Home Office and the National Institute for Justice in Office of Justice Programs in the U.S. Department of Justice, and by The U.S. Army Research Office and The Minerva Initiative, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Defense, and supported by Brandeis University. Klausen has been a subject matter expert for the United Kingdom’s Home Office, National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) in the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Intelligence Council, and the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and other government agencies.