International Conference on Conflict, Terrorism and Society (ICCTS) 2026

Name: International Conference on Conflict, Terrorism and Society (ICCTS) 2026
Start: 2026-12-27T00:00:00Z
End: 2026-12-28T00:00:00Z
Location: Vienna

Dec 27–28, 2026Vienna, AustriaIn-person

Registration open

The International Conference on Conflict, Terrorism and Society (ICCTS) 2026, held in Vienna, AUT, offers a platform for academics, researchers, and practitioners to engage with critical issues surrounding conflict, terrorism, and their societal impacts. This event focuses on fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and presenting new research findings in these complex fields. Participants will have the opportunity to explore various dimensions of these global challenges, from theoretical frameworks to practical interventions. The conference aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas and insights, contributing to a deeper understanding of the root causes, manifestations, and consequences of conflict and terrorism. By bringing together diverse perspectives, ICCTS seeks to advance scholarly discourse and inform policy-making in areas crucial for global stability and human security.

Committees & topics

Topics
Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Cyberspace · Cyber Warfare and Terrorism · Cyber Terrorism, Online Surveillance and Privacy · Human Rights, Security and Freedom in Cyberspace · Resistance, Activism and New Media Tools · States' Policies Against Terrorism in Cyberspace · The Thin Line Between Cyber-Terrorism and Cyber-Activism · The Future of Terrorism, Cyber-Terrorism and Cyber-Activism

Why it matters

Understanding the dynamics of conflict and terrorism is paramount in an increasingly interconnected world. Events like ICCTS provide a vital forum for dissecting these phenomena, moving beyond superficial analyses to explore their intricate societal underpinnings. The discussions at this conference are critical for developing effective strategies to mitigate violence and build sustainable peace.

Furthermore, the conference's focus on the societal aspects of conflict and terrorism highlights the human cost and the broader implications for communities and nations. This includes examining how these issues intersect with social structures, political systems, and cultural narratives. Such an approach is essential for crafting comprehensive responses that address not only immediate threats but also long-term societal resilience.

The insights generated from ICCTS can directly inform the work of diplomats, policymakers, and international organizations. By presenting cutting-edge research and diverse viewpoints, the conference helps to bridge the gap between academic theory and practical application, ensuring that responses to conflict and terrorism are evidence-based and context-sensitive. This collaborative environment is key to developing innovative solutions to some of the world's most enduring problems.

How to prepare

Delegates preparing for ICCTS 2026 should focus on developing a robust understanding of contemporary theories of conflict resolution and the sociological drivers of terrorism. Reviewing key academic literature and recent case studies will be beneficial. Consider how different analytical frameworks, such as those discussed in the lesson on "dynamic-analysis", can be applied to current global events.

Effective participation will also require an appreciation for the diverse perspectives that will be present. Delegates should prepare to engage with a wide range of viewpoints, including those that may challenge their own assumptions. Familiarity with the "power-interest-grid" and "hidden-stakeholders" lessons can help in anticipating the various actors and their motivations in conflict scenarios.

Finally, delegates should consider how their contributions can foster constructive dialogue and potential solutions. Preparing specific questions or points for discussion, particularly those that encourage interdisciplinary collaboration, will enhance the conference experience. Reflect on how the "engagement-strategies" lesson might inform your approach to discussions and networking.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 6 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

United States

Focuses on counter-terrorism strategies and the impact of global conflicts on national security.

Role in topic

A major global actor in counter-terrorism efforts, often leading international coalitions and providing significant research funding for conflict studies. Its perspective frequently emphasizes national security interests and the use of intelligence and military tools.

United Kingdom

Emphasizes intelligence-led counter-terrorism and the role of international cooperation.

Role in topic

A key partner in international security, contributing to both military and diplomatic efforts. Its approach often highlights the importance of multilateral institutions and intelligence sharing in combating terrorism and managing conflicts.

France

Concerned with domestic terrorism threats and regional conflicts in Africa and the Middle East.

Role in topic

Faces significant domestic challenges from terrorism and is actively involved in security operations in various regions, particularly in Africa. Its perspective often includes a focus on cultural integration, secularism, and the challenges of radicalization.

Austria

Promotes neutrality and multilateral approaches to conflict resolution and peacebuilding.

Role in topic

As the host nation, AUT often plays a role in facilitating international dialogue and peace initiatives. Its historical neutrality and commitment to multilateralism shape its perspective on conflict and terrorism, emphasizing diplomatic solutions and humanitarian aid.

Israel

Prioritizes national security in the face of persistent regional conflicts and terrorism.

Role in topic

Operates in a highly volatile region and has extensive experience in counter-terrorism and conflict management. Its perspective is often shaped by immediate security concerns and the need for robust defense mechanisms.

China

Views terrorism through the lens of internal stability and regional security, particularly in Central Asia.

Role in topic

Increasingly active in global security discussions, CHN often frames terrorism as a threat to national sovereignty and internal stability. Its approach emphasizes economic development as a tool for preventing radicalization and maintaining social order.

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Cyberspace

The use of the internet by terrorist organizations has evolved dramatically since the early 2000s, when groups such as al-Qaeda began using forums and static websites for propaganda and recruitment. The rise of social media platforms in the 2010s, exploited most visibly by the Islamic State during its 2014-2017 territorial peak, transformed online radicalization into a mass phenomenon and forced a global policy response. Counter-terrorism in cyberspace now spans takedown coordination (via bodies such as the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism), financial monitoring of crypto-assets, and disruption of operational planning conducted over encrypted channels. The core dispute is how to balance aggressive disruption of terrorist content and infrastructure with due process, jurisdictional limits, and the integrity of the open internet. UN Security Council Resolutions 2178 (2014) and 2396 (2017) obligate states to prevent the use of ICTs for terrorist purposes, and the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) and CTED coordinate capacity-building. Yet states diverge sharply on definitions, on the role of private platforms, and on whether 'terrorism' online should encompass far-right and lone-actor networks alongside jihadist groups. Today the debate centers on AI-generated propaganda, livestreamed attacks (in the lineage of Christchurch 2019), and the migration of recruitment to gaming platforms and end-to-end encrypted apps.

Key players

Cyber Warfare and Terrorism

Cyber warfare emerged as a recognized domain of state conflict after incidents such as the 2007 denial-of-service attacks on Estonia, the 2010 Stuxnet operation against Iranian centrifuges, and Russia's 2015 and 2016 attacks on the Ukrainian electricity grid. The 2017 NotPetya attack, attributed to Russia, caused over USD 10 billion in global damages and blurred the line between targeted military operations and indiscriminate harm comparable to terrorism. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has been accompanied by sustained cyber operations against critical infrastructure, while non-state actors and proxy groups have increasingly conducted disruptive attacks on hospitals, pipelines, and water utilities. The central legal and political dispute concerns thresholds: when does a cyber operation constitute an armed attack triggering self-defense under UN Charter Article 51, and when does it cross into 'cyber terrorism' against civilian populations? The UN Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) reports of 2013, 2015, and 2021, and the parallel Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) process, affirm that international law applies in cyberspace, but states disagree on attribution standards, the application of international humanitarian law, and whether new binding instruments are needed. Today the discussion is shaped by ransomware-as-a-service ecosystems, hybrid operations against undersea cables, and concerns that AI will accelerate both offensive cyber capability and the difficulty of attribution.

Key players

Cyber Terrorism, Online Surveillance and Privacy

After the September 11 attacks, counter-terrorism became the dominant justification for expansion of state surveillance, codified in instruments such as the US PATRIOT Act and parallel European legislation. The 2013 Snowden disclosures revealed the global scale of signals intelligence collection and triggered reform debates and the invalidation of EU-US data transfer agreements (Schrems I and II at the CJEU). Subsequent revelations about commercial spyware, particularly the Pegasus tool sold by NSO Group, showed that surveillance once limited to major intelligence services is now available to many states and is regularly used against journalists, dissidents, and opposition figures under counter-terrorism pretexts. The issue today sits at the intersection of UN Human Rights Council resolutions on the right to privacy in the digital age (notably 28/16 and successors), the work of the Special Rapporteur on privacy, and ongoing negotiations over the UN Cybercrime Convention adopted by the General Assembly in 2024. Civil society groups warn that broad 'cyber terrorism' definitions can criminalize encryption, anonymity tools, and security research, while governments argue that lawful access is essential to prevent attacks. The core dispute is how to define proportionate, judicially supervised surveillance that respects ICCPR Article 17 while addressing genuine threats from violent actors operating online.

Key players

Human Rights, Security and Freedom in Cyberspace

The principle that human rights apply online as they do offline was affirmed by the Human Rights Council in resolution 20/8 (2012) and has been reiterated repeatedly since. In practice, however, the past decade has seen a surge in internet shutdowns, platform bans, content takedowns, and criminalization of online speech under broad national security, public order, or counter-extremism laws. According to civil society trackers, dozens of shutdowns occur annually, often during elections or protests, with India, Pakistan, Iran, Myanmar, and several African states among the most frequent users. The central tension is between state claims that restrictions are necessary to prevent terrorism, incitement, and disinformation and the requirements of ICCPR Article 19, which demands that any restriction on expression be provided by law, necessary, and proportionate. The OHCHR's reporting under HRC resolution 47/16 (2021) and successive Special Rapporteur reports on freedom of expression have raised concerns about platform content moderation, government takedown demands, and the chilling effect of vague cybercrime statutes. The debate now extends to algorithmic curation, age-verification mandates, and the obligations of states and companies under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Key players

Resistance, Activism and New Media Tools

Digital activism became a defining feature of global politics during the 2009 Iranian Green Movement and the 2010-2012 Arab uprisings, when platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube were used to coordinate protests and broadcast state violence. Subsequent movements—Hong Kong's 2014 and 2019 protests, Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, Belarus 2020, Iran's 2022 Mahsa Amini protests, and ongoing climate activism—have leveraged encrypted messaging, livestreaming, mesh networks, and decentralized social media to mobilize and document repression. New media tools have likewise empowered indigenous, labor, and pro-democracy movements that previously lacked access to mass communication. The issue is contested because the same tools enabling civic mobilization are also used by states to surveil organizers and by disinformation actors to disrupt movements. The UN Special Rapporteurs on freedom of assembly and on freedom of expression have repeatedly stressed that online organizing is protected under the ICCPR, and the Human Rights Council in resolution 38/11 (2018) condemned the use of internet shutdowns to suppress protest. Today the debate centers on protecting encryption, regulating platform deplatforming of dissident speech, addressing transnational repression conducted online, and ensuring that counter-disinformation policies do not become tools to silence legitimate activism.

Key players

States' Policies Against Terrorism in Cyberspace

National counter-terrorism strategies have steadily expanded their cyber components since UN Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001) required states to deny safe haven to terrorists, including online. The EU's Terrorist Content Online Regulation (2021/784), the UK's Online Safety Act (2023), Australia's Abhorrent Violent Material Act (2019), and similar laws in Singapore, India, and Turkey impose obligations on platforms to remove designated content within tight timeframes. Many states have also created dedicated internet referral units within police agencies and established public-private partnerships such as the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism and Tech Against Terrorism. State policies diverge sharply in scope and oversight. Liberal democracies typically tie obligations to designated terrorist organizations and provide for judicial review, while other states use broader 'extremism' or 'fake news' categories that human rights bodies have criticized as overbroad. The UN Counter-Terrorism Committee and UNOCT promote technical assistance, but there is no binding international framework specifically on online counter-terrorism, and the 2024 UN Cybercrime Convention's relationship to terrorism offenses remains contested. Current debates focus on encryption mandates, AI-driven content classifiers, transparency of takedowns, and the export of restrictive models to states with weaker rule-of-law protections.

Key players

The Thin Line Between Cyber-Terrorism and Cyber-Activism

There is no internationally agreed definition of either 'terrorism' or 'cyber-terrorism,' and the boundary with politically motivated 'hacktivism' has been contested since the rise of groups like Anonymous in the late 2000s. Distributed denial-of-service campaigns against government websites, defacements, and data leaks have been variously prosecuted as terrorism, as cybercrime under the Budapest Convention, or treated as civil disobedience. The 'IT Army of Ukraine,' the role of Anonymous against Russian state media, and ransomware groups claiming political motives have further complicated categorization, as has the prosecution of journalists and whistleblowers under espionage and computer-misuse statutes. The core dispute is whether intent, target, and effect—or merely the act of unauthorized access—should determine classification. Human rights bodies, including the UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, have repeatedly warned against vague definitions that conflate protest with terrorism, citing the risk that 'cyber-terrorism' labels are deployed against dissidents, security researchers, and journalists. At the same time, attacks on hospitals, water systems, and election infrastructure raise genuine questions about when politically motivated cyber action crosses into terrorism as understood under UN sectoral conventions. The 2024 UN Cybercrime Convention's broad scope has revived this debate among states and civil society.

Key players

The Future of Terrorism, Cyber-Terrorism and Cyber-Activism

Forecasting in this field is shaped by three converging trends. First, the diffusion of generative AI is lowering the cost of producing propaganda, deepfakes, and tailored recruitment content, while also enabling automated detection at scale. Second, the threat landscape is fragmenting: alongside jihadist movements, security services in North America, Europe, and Oceania increasingly cite racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism, accelerationist networks, and lone actors radicalized across multiple ideologies. Third, infrastructure dependencies—cloud services, undersea cables, satellites, and connected industrial systems—create new high-impact targets for both state and non-state actors. Looking forward, the policy agenda is being shaped by the implementation of the 2024 UN Cybercrime Convention, the ongoing OEWG successor process on responsible state behavior in ICTs, and the EU's AI Act and Digital Services Act. Key open questions include whether AI-generated terrorist content will be regulated through liability or model-level safeguards, how to govern cross-border evidence and takedowns without enabling repression, and whether decentralized platforms and quantum-era cryptography will further shift the balance between activists, criminals, and states. The committee's task is to anticipate these shifts while preserving the human rights and rule-of-law foundations that distinguish counter-terrorism from political control.

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for International Conference on Conflict, Terrorism and Society (ICCTS) 2026.

Recent reporting to ground your prep

Supreme Court's Voting Rights Impact on 2026

Trump's Federal Election Strategy

Supreme Court VRA Ruling Empowers GOP 2026

Arming an archipelago: Is time running out for Europe's oldest DMZ? | Euronews

Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

The Power-Interest Grid

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Media & Press Relations

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Policy Brief Writing

Austria December 2026

By committee

Frequently asked questions

International Conference on Conflict, Terrorism and Society (ICCTS) 2026

Dec 27–28, 2026Vienna, AustriaIn-person

Registration open

Committees & topics

Topics
Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Cyberspace · Cyber Warfare and Terrorism · Cyber Terrorism, Online Surveillance and Privacy · Human Rights, Security and Freedom in Cyberspace · Resistance, Activism and New Media Tools · States' Policies Against Terrorism in Cyberspace · The Thin Line Between Cyber-Terrorism and Cyber-Activism · The Future of Terrorism, Cyber-Terrorism and Cyber-Activism

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 6 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

United States

Focuses on counter-terrorism strategies and the impact of global conflicts on national security.

Role in topic

United Kingdom

Emphasizes intelligence-led counter-terrorism and the role of international cooperation.

Role in topic

France

Concerned with domestic terrorism threats and regional conflicts in Africa and the Middle East.

Role in topic

Austria

Promotes neutrality and multilateral approaches to conflict resolution and peacebuilding.

Role in topic

Israel

Prioritizes national security in the face of persistent regional conflicts and terrorism.

Role in topic

China

Views terrorism through the lens of internal stability and regional security, particularly in Central Asia.

Role in topic

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Cyberspace

Key players

Cyber Warfare and Terrorism

Key players

Cyber Terrorism, Online Surveillance and Privacy

Key players

Human Rights, Security and Freedom in Cyberspace

Key players

Resistance, Activism and New Media Tools

Key players

States' Policies Against Terrorism in Cyberspace

Key players

The Thin Line Between Cyber-Terrorism and Cyber-Activism

Key players

The Future of Terrorism, Cyber-Terrorism and Cyber-Activism

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for International Conference on Conflict, Terrorism and Society (ICCTS) 2026.

Recent reporting to ground your prep

Supreme Court's Voting Rights Impact on 2026

Trump's Federal Election Strategy

Supreme Court VRA Ruling Empowers GOP 2026

Arming an archipelago: Is time running out for Europe's oldest DMZ? | Euronews

Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

The Power-Interest Grid

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Media & Press Relations

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Policy Brief Writing

Austria December 2026

By committee

Committees & topics

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Resources

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Frequently asked questions

Committees & topics

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Resources

Related conferences

Diplomacy in the Age of Conflict: Challenges, Shifts, and Future Directions

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Frequently asked questions