Research

War against terror will increase attacks on the West – claims new study

The US-led 'war on terror' is likely to increase, rather than decrease, Islamic terrorism against the West, according to a new scientific analysis involving an Essex academic.

The report, written by Professor Thomas Pluemper, from the Department of Government, and Professor Eric Neumayer, from the London School of Economics and Political Science, analyses terrorist attacks and concludes that Western countries are in a 'no-win situation'.

It says: 'If they retreat from the Muslim world, this will be celebrated as a victory by the terror leaders and a toppling of pro-Western regimes dependent on Western support might follow. However, with continuing Western military intervention in the Muslim world, Islamic terror leaders will maintain and possibly increase their attacks on Western targets.

'Unless the "war on terror" leads to the military defeat and destruction of terror groups, which seems unlikely based on what we have seen since 9/11, then it is likely to increase, rather than decrease, Islamic terrorism against the West. Not only does the "war on terror" raise the strategic benefits of perpetrating terrorist acts on Western targets, but, in addition, every Muslim hurt or killed in this war may facilitate the recruitment of new followers by Islamic terror leaders.'

The report, International Terrorism and the Clash of Civilizations, is published in the British Journal of Political Science. It challenges the influential ideas of the political scientist Samuel P. Huntington whose 'clash of civilizations' theory is that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world.

Professors Pluemper and Neumayer argue that Islamic terrorists target Westerners not because of civilizational conflict, but because of Western interference in countries of the Islamic civilization whose support is often crucial in preventing Islamic terror groups' bid for political influence.

The painful truth about medical and healthcare students 

Essex lecturer Maggie Whittaker was part of the research team which conducted a major study into the amount of pain education given to medical and healthcare students. 

The results of the UK Undergraduate Pain Education Survey revealed a distinct lack of time was being dedicated to educating students on pain and how best to manage it in their patients. 

The findings came on the back of the Chief Medical Officer’s annual report at the beginning of the year which highlighting the inadequacy of current pain management systems and called for a greater focus on improving the provision of care for those with chronic pain.

The report highlighted that pain is one of the world’s most common symptoms, but chronic pain and its consequences were not being controlled as they could be. 

The research, carried out by the British Pain Society Education Special Interest Group, surveyed 19 universities across the UK. 

Commenting on the study’s findings, Maggie Whittaker said: ‘The number of hours recorded as devoted to pain education (the science of pain, its assessment and management) is surprisingly low considering the number of hours of education that is required in the healthcare professions and the incidence of pain in the population. 

‘Although highlighting a shortfall in pain education the survey’s findings will bring the importance of pain education to the much-needed attention of healthcare educators, the regulatory and professional bodies of the healthcare professions, the Department of Health and parliamentarians.’

Research looks into what makes people move

Married couples are much more likely to move if a woman dislikes a neighbourhood than if her husband does. 

That is one of the findings from new research at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), which also concludes that the decision to move is based more on people’s perceptions of a neighbourhood than the reality.

Using information from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), Dr Mark Taylor and Dr Birgitta Rabe looked at data from more than 4,000 households in 30,000 different neighbourhoods across the UK and found a big difference between the sexes when it came to influencing decisions on whether to relocate.

The findings were part of a research paper called Residential mobility, neighbourhood quality and life-course events. The University’s researchers looked at whether people moved for subjective reasons – for example liking or not liking the neighbourhood or used more established objective criteria such as crime rates and employment opportunities. They found that people’s perceptions had a greater influence on the decision to move than reality.

The research also found that for singles and couples, many life-course events such as taking up a new job, partnership break-up, a child leaving home and leaving the parental home were associated with moving house. 

Among the objective measures of neighbourhood deprivation, crime and the quality of the local environment both within and beyond the home were most important. Ceasing to live with parents or having a child leave home was associated with single people moving into more deprived neighbourhoods.

Also in the printed December edition of Wyvern:

• Talk questions 'green' initiatives on cutting carbon footprint
• Academics get to grips with the senses