'The Crime-Terror Nexus: Investigating the overlap between criminal and extremist practices, narratives and networks in Tripoli, Lebanon

我们研究的相关性黎巴嫩第二大城市的黎波里在过去的八年中见证了暴力水平的显著上升。这主要是由于犯罪和恐怖主义的环境、做法和叙述逐渐合并，并日益深入到Qobbe、Bab al-Tebbaneh和Mankoubin等边缘地区。事实上，“邻里效应”在起作用：我们从黎巴嫩内政部收集的初步数据显示，在2016年和2017年因恐怖主义相关指控被捕的152名的黎波里人中，超过三分之二的人来自这三个地区之一，绝大多数人曾经或曾经参与过犯罪活动。这种伊斯兰黑帮现象远不是的黎波里独有的——学者和安全从业人员实际上已经证明，在欧洲所有被定罪的圣战分子中，有四分之一到一半有犯罪背景，来自大城市的边缘社区。在曼彻斯特的莫斯赛德（Moss Side）或布鲁塞尔的莫伦贝克（Molenbeek），犯罪和恐怖主义网络的盛行和重叠是一个恰当的例子，说明伊斯兰黑帮主义是如何根植于特定的社会政治、空间和历史背景的。迫切需要研究TNOC为何以及如何扎根于贫困的城市社区，并日益与恐怖主义交叉，我们正在以的黎波里为例，说明如何解决这一问题。研究问题：像的黎波里的Qobbe、Bab al-Tebbaneh和Mankoubin这样的地方，以及更普遍地说，大城市的贫困社区(1)如何成为TNOC的特权环境，(2)如何变成犯罪和恐怖分子互动的安全地区，这些地方的潜在因素和过程是什么？我们的研究方法要回答这个问题，需要从社会政治、空间和历史的角度来分析TNOC的起源、嵌入性以及与的黎波里社区极端主义网络的互动。我们将使用严格的混合方法研究设计来收集这些数据，包括进行档案研究，数据收集，居民调查和定性访谈。(1)档案研究：我们将通过探索黎巴嫩和的黎波里报纸的档案，通过追溯两个革命团体的兴衰来调查的黎波里犯罪与恐怖互动的历史，这两个革命团体是这种现象的早期形式的缩影-愤怒组织和通缉运动。(2)数据收集：我们将从黎巴嫩内政部检索和分析有关恐怖分子和罪犯的数据，以及的黎波里贫困地区的数据。(3)居民调查：我们将通过对上述三个地区的150名居民进行调查，探索犯罪-恐怖互动的空间和社会政治维度，以确定当地对犯罪和极端主义环境、实践和叙述的看法的性质和程度。(4)定性访谈：我们将采访20位观察的黎波里犯罪与恐怖联系的资深观察员，以获得更多的见解，并阐明这一现象。我们的项目使用了一个解释性的镜头，借鉴了城市社会学、有争议的政治学和文化人类学，来把握社区动态、不同意见的历史以及强调羞辱和反叛的叙事的流行，如何与犯罪和极端主义实践相交叉。与利益相关者的接触我们的项目依赖于与非学术利益相关者在过程的每个阶段的持续接触，以实现两个目标：(1)使我们能够不断反思的黎波里的发现是否以及如何适用于其他地方（咨询委员会成员：总警长约翰·丹利和安东尼奥·桑帕约）；(2)加强我们成果的传播和外联（项目合作伙伴：March、伯格霍夫基金会和卡内基MEC）。

THE RELEVANCE OF OUR RESEARCHTripoli, Lebanon's second city, has over the past eight years witnessed a significant increase in levels of violence. This mainly stems from the progressive merger of criminal and terrorist milieux, practices and narratives and their growing embeddedness in the marginalized districts of Qobbe, Bab al-Tebbaneh and Mankoubin. Indeed, there is a 'neighbourhood effect' at work: preliminary data we collected from the Lebanese Interior Ministry shows that out of 152 Tripolitans arrested for terrorism-related charges in 2016 and 2017 over two-thirds hailed from one of these three districts, and that the overwhelming majority were, or had been, involved in criminal activities. This phenomenon of Islamo-gangsterism is far from unique to Tripoli - scholars and security practitioners have in fact demonstrated that between a quarter and a half of all convicted jihadis in Europe have a criminal background and hail from the marginalized neighbourhoods of large cities. The prevalence and overlap of criminal and terrorist networks in Manchester's Moss Side or Brussels' Molenbeek are a case in point of how Islamo-gangsterism can become rooted in certain sociopolitical, spatial and historical contexts. There is an urgent need to study why and how TNOC becomes rooted in deprived urban communities and increasingly intersects with terrorism, and we are using Tripoli as an example of how to address this. THE RESEARCH QUESTIONWhat are the underlying factors and processes that explain how spaces such as Tripoli's Qobbe, Bab al-Tebbaneh and Mankoubin as well as, more generally, the deprived neighbourhoods of large cities (1) become the privileged milieus of TNOC and (2) turn into safe territories for crime-terror interaction?OUR RESEARCH METHODSAnswering this question demands data on the sociopolitical, spatial and historical dimensions of TNOC's genesis, embeddedness and interaction with extremist networks in Tripolitan neighbourhoods. We will collect this by using a rigorous mixed methods research design that involves undertaking archival research, data collection, a survey of residents and qualitative interviews. (1) Archival research: we will investigate the history of crime-terror interaction in Tripoli by retracing the rise and fall of two revolutionary groups which epitomized early forms of this phenomenon - the Organization of Anger and the Movement of the Wanted - by exploring the archives of Lebanese and Tripolitan newspapers.(2) Data collection: we will retrieve and analyse data on terrorist and criminal convicts, as well as on Tripoli's deprived districts, from the Lebanese Interior Ministry.(3) Survey of residents: we will explore the spatial and sociopolitical dimension of crime-terror interaction by conducting a survey of 150 residents in each of the three aforementioned districts in order to ascertain the nature and extent of local perceptions of criminal and extremist milieux, practices and narratives. (4) Qualitative interviews: we will interview twenty well-placed observers of the crime-terror nexus in Tripoli in order to obtain additional insights and shed light on this phenomenon.Our project uses an interpretative lens that draws upon urban sociology, contentious politics and cultural anthropology to grasp how neighbourhood dynamics, a history of dissent as well as the prevalence of narratives emphasizing humiliation and rebellion, can intersect with criminal and extremist practices.ENGAGEMENT WITH STAKEHOLDERSOur project relies on sustained engagement with non-academic stakeholders at each stage of the process in order to achieve two goals: (1) to allow us to continuously reflect on whether and how findings derived from Tripoli can be applicable elsewhere (members of advisory board: Ch Supt John Denley and Antonio Sampaio) and; (2) to enhance the dissemination and outreach of our output (project partners: March, Berghof Foundation and Carnegie MEC).