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

我们的研究与黎巴嫩第二大城市的黎波里的相关性在过去八年里见证了暴力程度的显著增加。这主要是因为犯罪环境和恐怖主义环境、做法和叙述逐渐合并，并日益融入Qobbe、Bab al-Tebbaneh和Mankoubin等边缘化地区。的确，有一种‘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年因与恐怖主义有关的指控而被捕的152名的黎波里人中，超过三分之二来自这三个地区之一，绝大多数人正在或曾经参与犯罪活动。这种伊斯兰帮派现象远非的黎波里独有--事实上，学者和安全从业人员已经证明，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，来自大城市的边缘化社区。在曼彻斯特的莫斯赛德或布鲁塞尔的莫伦贝克，犯罪和恐怖网络的盛行和重叠是伊斯兰黑帮如何在特定的社会政治、空间和历史背景下扎根的一个例子。迫切需要研究TNOC为什么以及如何扎根于贫困的城市社区，并日益与恐怖主义交织在一起，我们正在以的黎波里为例，说明如何解决这一问题。研究问题解释的黎波里的Qobbe、Bab al-Tebbaneh和Mankoubin等空间以及更广泛的大城市贫困社区(1)成为TNOC的特权环境和(2)成为犯罪与恐怖互动的安全区的潜在因素和过程是什么？我们的研究方法回答这个问题需要关于TNOC起源、嵌入以及与的黎波里社区极端主义网络互动的社会政治、空间和历史维度的数据。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、对居民的调查和定性访谈。(1)档案研究：我们将通过研究黎巴嫩和的黎波里报纸的档案，追溯体现这一现象早期形式的两个革命团体--愤怒组织和通缉运动--的兴衰，调查的黎波里犯罪-恐怖互动的历史。(2)数据收集：我们将检索和分析关于恐怖分子和罪犯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-恐怖相互作用的空间和社会政治层面，以确定当地对犯罪和极端主义环境、做法和叙述的看法的性质和程度。(4)定性访谈：我们将采访20名的黎波里犯罪-恐怖关系的资深观察家，以获得更多的见解并阐明这一现象。我们的项目使用了一种解释性的视角，借鉴了城市社会学、有争议的政治和文化人类学，以掌握社区动态、持不同政见者的历史以及强调羞辱和叛乱的叙事的盛行，与STAKEHOLDERSOUR项目的发展依赖于在进程的每个阶段与非学术利益攸关方的持续接触，以实现两个目标：(1)使我们能够不断反思从的黎波里得出的结论是否以及如何适用于其他地方(顾问委员会成员：约翰·登利和安东尼奥·桑帕约)；(2)加强我们成果的传播和推广(项目合作伙伴：MARCH、伯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).