Against a backdrop of increasing access to full text and the perceived success of Web search engines, academic disciplines with highly specialized, if not esoteric, nomenclature remain in need of specially crafted metadata. Art history and the study of architecture represent two such...

The traditionally clandestine nature of the art market poses challenges to assessing looting and trafficking in developing nations. In the absence of direct information on transactions in source nations, sales at auction provide a sense of the market value and trade volume of antiquities and...

Military engagement of insurgents risks destruction of religious monuments and historic structures, and political and economic instability that follows armed conflict enables looting of antiquities. In combination, threats to cultural structures and movable cultural patrimony compromise cultural...

The market value of tribal art has implications for the risk of looting in Africa. Consequent trafficking in tribal art compromises security on the continent by eroding cultural identity, fostering public-sector corruption, and providing a source of revenue for insurgents. This paper examines...

The tightening interrelation of cultural property and international security - cultural security - creates a need for the collection and analysis of specialized intelligence. “Cultural intelligence” enables assessments of the tactical and strategic significance of antiquities, fine art, and...

Reflection on wartime treatment of artworks, historic buildings, and religious monuments since World War I reveals the compounding value of cultural property in foreign affairs. The poignant plunder of artworks during World War II has led to a history of restitution that suggests a model for the...

In the background of immediate threats of terrorism and political violence, a non-physical, insidious threat to international security develops. Progressive abuses against cultural heritage support campaigns of terrorism while simultaneously undermining the political credibility of targeted...

By examining the historically progressive role of cultural property in terrorism and political violence, this paper reveals the evolving significance of art to international security. Over the past two centuries, abuse of antiquities and fine art has evolved from the spoils-of-war into a medium...

Over the past two centuries, abuse of antiquities and fine art has evolved from the “spoils of war” into a medium for conducting terrorism which strives to erase the cultural heritage of “the other”. At the same time, the growth of the art market over the past fifty years has created...

Recent armed conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan and political violence in Egypt have revealed the strategic significance of cultural property. This paper assesses the role of historic sites and antiquities in foreign engagement. Over the past century, U.S. foreign policy has had successes and...