Terrorism and the Complexity of Soft Targets: The Case of the Tourism Industry
Wednesday 10 March 2010, 09:30 until 17:00
Who this event is for
Staff - teaching / Staff - research / Current students - postgraduate taught / Current students - postgraduate research / Academic community
Location
Stuart Rooks Lecture Theatre, Postgraduate Centre, Wheatley Campus
Details
LSE Complexity Research Programme and Department of Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism Management, Business School, Oxford Brookes University
Soft targets (relatively unguarded sites where people congregate, normally in large numbers) have always attracted international and national terrorist groups as the impact of such attacks can be devastating in terms of damage, intimidation and media attention.
In the last two decades, tourism destinations, attractions, hotels, restaurants, clubs and events have been the preferred targets of terrorists. The vulnerabilities of such targets are multiple and complex whereas ‘hardening’ them is not an easy, if not impossible, task. The ‘command and control’ approach often taken, in attempting to reduce the risk of a terrorist attack on such targets, has often proved ineffective.
Complexity thinking can provide a framework for a new, perhaps more realistic view of countering the threat of a terrorist attack on a soft target that will enable academics and practitioners to move beyond current practice and to explore new possibilities of action and reaction.
This seminar aims at setting the context for this exploration by introducing the complexity of securing soft targets and by looking at how a ‘paradigm shift’ in this area may produce better outcomes. One of the objectives of the ESRC-funded Seminar Series is to identify key challenges and to prepare research project proposals for submission.
The first session will therefore set the scene and the last session will allow time to start the discussion on potential project ideas. Another objective is to bring together practitioners and academics to discuss these challenges in depth, to offer some insights from complexity theory, and to consider whether it can provide a new framework for policy.
For more information, please download the programme and to book please download the application form. A press release is also available here.
Places are limited and early application is advised.
