Lecture
How Armed Groups Adapt: Illicit Financing and Counterterrorism Sanctions
- Date
- Monday 15 June 2026
- Time
- Serie
- Diplomacy and Global Affairs Research Seminar Series 2026
- Address
-
Wijnhaven
Turfmarkt 99
2511 DP The Hague - Room
- 3.48
Registration
Participation is free, but registration is required. Please note: this is an English-language event.
Apply hereAbout the event
Countries around the world increasingly impose sanctions on armed organizations – proscribing them or putting them on terrorist lists – in hopes that these sanctions will hinder terrorist activity. Does terrorist designation reduce violence? Does it achieve the intended results? Co-authors Hyeran Jo and Brian Phillips seek to address these questions in a book project. The project presents an argument about armed group adaptation, explaining how some armed groups are more financially adaptable than others, and thus better able to survive sanctions. Using case studies of groups on the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization list, the authors show that most armed groups have adaptable financial portfolios, and as a result, they are usually unaffected by sanctions. The findings point to the importance of understanding armed group financial adaptability, and they suggest substantial challenges for counterterrorism policy.
About the speaker
Brian Phillips is a Reader (Associate Professor) in the Department of Government at the University of Essex. He teaches and researches terrorism, civil war, and organized crime. His co-authored book Insurgent Terrorism: Intergroup Relationships and the Killing of Civilians was published by Oxford University Press. He is currently an Associate Editor of the journal Terrorism and Political Violence.
Diplomacy and Global Affairs (DGA) Research Seminar
The Diplomacy and Global Affairs (DGA) Research Seminar is a series launched by the Research Group on Diplomacy and Global Affairs at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs. The seminars of internationally acknowledged guest researchers and faculty members deal with current research topics in diplomacy, international relations, global affairs, and political economy broadly conceived and target a broad audience through their interdisciplinary focus.
If you have any questions, please contact Arash Pourebrahimi.