Research Institute for the Study of Conflict and Terrorism

The Research Institute for the Study of Conflict and Terrorism (RISCT) was founded on 12 December 1989 by William Gutteridge as a successor organisation to the Institute for the Study of Conflict. Gutteridge had written books for the ISC. The RISCT was less overtly political than the ISC, it mostly put out papers on middle-eastern terrorism. It now appears to be defunct.

The Times reported its creation in 1989:

The head thinker the infant institute's first director is Professor Paul Wilkinson, head of the department of politics and international relations at Aberdeen University and an authority on terrorism.

'We don't propose to compete with public security agencies or intelligence networks, ' Wilkinson says. 'What we hope is that, in the long run, our research will have a leavening influence on official policy-makers by giving them a deeper understanding of the subject.'

Nor does he intend the institute's cerebral resources to be restricted to the common room. 'We are not exclusively academic. We want to call upon people in such fields as journalism, diplomacy and the law anyone whose expertise can contribute to an up-to-date analysis of conflict and instability. It will be a broad church, bringing High Court judges into discussion with the newest young students.

'Our funds will be limited so there can be no question of a finely furnished international headquarters. Our basis will be the campus, through which we can reach a network of, say, a criminologist in Melbourne, a London expert in the law of policing, a psychiatrist in Los Angeles. The kind of violence we are experiencing all over the world deserves a degree of research which is at least comparable.'

In terms of academic and practical expertise, the think-tank's groundbase is impressive. In charge of its publications programme is William Gutteridge, professor emeritus of international studies at Aston University and a Southern Africa specialist. Council members of the Institute for the Study of Conflict which now amalgamates with the Research Foundation for the Study of Terrorism to form the new research institute include Lord Denman, of the London School of Economics, Vice-Admiral Sir Louis Le Bailly, former director-general of intelligence at the Ministry of Defence, and Lord Beloff, principal of University College, Buckingham.

The RISCT's council is composed entirely of figures from academia, politics and the military, including former Defence Intelligence chief Sir Louis Le Bailly; counter-insurgency expert Sir Robert Thompson; former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander of NATO Sir Harry Tuzo; Thatcher speech-writer Robert Moss; and ex-diplomat Sir Edward Peck. The calibre of its personnel, with their intimate knowledge of the workings of the state, makes the institute an influential part of the right-wing lobby in Britain.

According to Gutteridge the Institute closed in 1999:

In the 1980s, William Gutteridge, former professor of international studies at Aston University, raised the possibility of armed guards on planes and of screening overseas students studying aviation.

"There's no lack of publications. Some of us feel fairly frustrated. We've been concerned by how little the lessons of Lockerbie have been applied, except perhaps in Britain and Germany," says Gutteridge, a former director of the Research Institute for the Study of Conflict and Terrorism, an educational charity that folded two years ago for lack of subscriptions.

Funding

In November 1990 the Institute received $25,000 from the The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc. which has a record of funding conservative causes including the Heritage Foundation. The money was ' To support the publication of Conflict Studies and the institute's annual conference.'

People

Alumni / contributors

• William Gutteridge, past director
• Paul Wilkinson, past director (now at Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St Andrews)
• Peter Janke
• Max Beloff
• Stephen R. Bowers

Council

• Sir Louis Le Bailly
• Sir Robert Thompson
• General Sir Harry Tuzo, the General Officer commanding the British Army in Northern Ireland at the time of the 'Bloody Sunday' killings by the British in 1972.
• Robert Moss
• Edward Peck
• Duncan Slater CMG: Chairman of the RISCT

Publications, References

Publications

• Harbottle, Michael. New Roles of the Military: Humanitarian and Environmental Security. Conflict Studies 285. London: Research Institute for the Study of Conflict and Terrorism, November 1995.