Limits of tolerance under pressure: a case study of Dutch terrorist detention policy
Policy-makers who are confronted with the potential spread of violent extremist ideologies among prison inmates are challenged to design sustainable prison regimes which are suitable to counter prison radicalisation whilst rehabilitating and reintegrating inmates into society. This article outlines...
“Listing terrorists”: the impact of proscription on third-party efforts to engage armed groups in peace processes – a practitioner's perspective
This article explores the effects of proscription – the act of listing an armed group as a designated terrorist organisation – as an example of how international counterterrorist policy can impact on the possibility for third-party actors to engage with listed armed groups in the context of peac...
Online jihadist magazines and the “religious terrorism” thesis
This article presents findings from an empirical study of 39 issues of five online terrorist magazines in order to problematise the concept of religious terrorism. The presentation of the study’s findings focuses on the magazines’ textual content, examining the types of textual item each magazi...
Political communication and political violence: a Luhmannian perspective
“Communication” is widely employed in social movement and terrorism studies in the description of symbolic structures related to protest mobilisation and clandestine political violence. This article argues, however, that common understandings of communication over-emphasise its instrumental aspe...
Preventing extremisms, taming dissidence: Islamic radicalism and black extremism in the U.S. making of CVE
This article explores the effects of the recent discursive re-articulation of terrorism into one of violent extremism. To do that, we examine the conditions for the emergence of the “Countering Violent Extremism” (CVE) strategy as a solution to diagnoses of failure in the war on terror. More...
Problems with the critical studies approach to the study of terrorism
This paper responds to many of the criticisms of conventional terrorism studies expressed by those who have chosen to adopt the ‘critical terrorism studies’ approach. Given our own limitations, we cannot comment very much on the virtues or vices of critical theory in aiding our understanding of...
Re-visioning the “Eye in the Sky”: targeted drone strikes and an ethics of the encounter
The complexities which beset any attempts to ascribe a foundational ethic to matters of a political stripe are well known, and continue to provoke fierce debate within studies of international relations, geopolitics and security studies. Unsurprisingly, these questions have taken on crucial import ...
“Terrorism”, “democracy” and the Spanish 1978 “constitution”: transitional concepts, posttransitional metap
In this article, I argue that during the Spanish Transition (1975– 1982) there was a gradual semantic displacement that would strongly condition subsequent usages of the terms “terrorism”, “democracy” and “Constitution” in mass public discourse as supposedly designating self-eviden...
Terrorism, organised crime and the biopolitics of violence
Despite the lack of consensus on a broadly accepted definition of terrorism, a vast majority of scholars agree that terrorist violence is intrinsically political in contrast to organised crime, which is viewed as mainly profit-driven. This article critically examines this widely accepted distinctio...
Terrorism and revolutionary violence: the emergence of terrorism in the French Revolution
Accounts of terrorism, which locate the emergence of the concept in the French Revolution, tend to accept two premises. First, they assume that the concept of terrorism names a particular form of violence. Second, they regard Robespierre as the first practitioner of terrorism, thus suggesting an und...
Terrorism and taboo: an anthropological perspective on political violence against civilians
After three decades of use of and debate over the concept of ‘terrorism’, in 2006 a working group on Critical Studies on Terrorism (CST) was finally established in the British International Studies Association to provide a network for the many scholars from diverse disciplines who have been crit...
Terrorism and trust
Trust enables us to simplify and understand complicated realities and orientate ourselves in them, which we do through symbolic systems, including myth and religion. Terrorism results when those systems generate extreme distrust, especially between ethnic or religious groups. Within nation-states p...
Terrorism Programming
Mass media reports about terrorism prepared audiences for the Iraq War. Expanded social control efforts, including surveillance and suspension of civil liberties, were deemed necessary to fight terrorism. The fight against terrorism and the Iraq War were presented to audiences through an exhaustive ...
Terrorist violence and the enrollment of psychology in predicting Muslim extremism: critical terrorism studies meets critical algorithm studies
Discourse on terrorist violence has long facilitated an especially liberal form of securitisation. Originally evoked in reference to anarchists and communists, a rational consideration of terrorist violence, inaugurated by the concept, asks for deferred judgement about the nature of, or reasons behi...
Terrorists going transnational: rethinking the role of states in the case of AQIM and Boko Haram
This study moves beyond theories emphasising “state failure” as the cause for terrorist “spill-over”. The aim is to offer new theoretical and empirical considerations concerning the determinants of terrorist groups’ geographical strategies. The main argument this article presents is that ...
TerrorWars: Boston, Iraq
This article queries the difference between experiencing an urban terror attack and experiencing war in an urban war zone. The case considered is the Boston marathon bombings of April 2013 and the lockdown that followed, a first in the USA. Official responses to the bombings exceeded militarised urb...
The 2008 Mumbai terror attacks: (re-)constructing Indian (counter-)terrorism
This paper deploys a discursive approach to the ‘scripting’ of the November 2008 Mumbai ‘terror attacks’ and their aftermath, including ensuing debates about counterterrorism in India. It explores the perspectives of a range of actors who participated in very different ways in the social co...
The blurring of boundaries: images of abjection as the terrorist and the reel Arab intersect
In her treatise on abjection, Julia Kristeva argues that the abject is located outside the self, remaining in a state of repulsion that threatens to destroy the self. Abject representations are prevalent in the way terrorists have been portrayed in the Western news media post-September 11, 2001. Th...
The discourse of terror: carceralism, border politics, and security in Aotearoa New Zealand
The discursive construction of terrorism in the media allows and limits possible policy responses. These constructions help set the precedent for modes of intervention and regularisation by the state by locating potential terrorists within the logic of security. Such a logic was a trademark of t...
The impact of orthodox terrorism discourses on the liberal peace: internalisation, resistance, or hybridisation?
This article examines the relationship between orthodox terrorism discourses and liberal peacebuilding, particularly where states are being reconstituted after a conflict. Drawing upon fieldwork in Sri Lanka, Palestine, Kashmir, Nepal, and Northern Ireland, our findings suggest that conflicts in wh...
The life of children in families affiliated with terrorism: an ecological systems theory approach
Children who grow up in families who are affiliated with violent extremism and terrorism are frequently viewed through a securityoriented lens which focuses on their risk of radicalisation, or the security risk they may pose to society. This security-oriented approach limits a broader understand...
The political importance of labelling: terrorism and Turkey's discourse on the PKK
Labelling the ‘other’ is one of the most relevant aspects in an armed conflict context. Summarising what the opponent is in one single expression is a strong rhetorical tool in any belligerent discourse. The use of the ‘terrorist’ label assumes a particularly powerful role in such a constru...
The power of words: the deficient terminology surrounding Islam-related terrorism
Terms usurped and capitalised upon by Al-Qaeda and other similar terrorist and extremist organisations have a special place in Islamic culture and a particular resonance with Muslim populations. The aforementioned terrorist groups normally utilise these terms in order to further their objectives an...
The securitisation of immigration through the Tactical Terrorism Response Team
This article considers a significant stage in the convergence of US counterterrorism policy and immigration enforcement exemplified by the emergence of a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unit known as the Tactical Terrorism Response Team (TTRT). In my analysis I show: (i) that TTRT agents eng...
The terror/counterterror edge: when non-terror becomes a terrorism problem and real terror cannot be detected by counterterrorism
On the basis of cases such as the recent ban on the building of minarets in Switzerland or the prohibition on wearing a burka in France and the Netherlands, and the passage of terrorism legislation in various European countries in which there has never been a terrorism problem, as well as the recent...
Times of terror: writing temporality into the War on Terror
This paper contributes to the growing academic literature of Critical Terrorism Studies. It does so by tracing the ways in which the George W. Bush administration narrated the unfolding War on Terror around specific and distinct conceptions of temporality. Claims to temporal discontinuity, linearity...
Understanding Africa’s terrorism debacle: a critical analysis of counterterrorism in Burkina Faso
Despite Burkina Faso’s emergence as a strong player in terrorism activity in Africa, the country is practically overlooked by Critical Terrorism Studies scholarship. This article is framed at the intersection of Critical Terrorism Studies and Postcolonialism, investigating how a “critical”...
Understanding public constructions of counterterrorism: an analysis of online comments during the state of emergency in France (2015-2017)
This article aims to analyse how lay members of the public conceptualised security politics in France within the context of the twoyear-long state of emergency implemented after the Paris attack in November 2015. Building upon research on everyday narratives of security, this article examines th...
“Unthinking” sexual violence in a neoliberal era of spectacular terror
The article begins with a question about the value of revitalising the equation between sexual/intimate violence and terrorism in the current neoliberal/post-feminist political and epistemological landscape. We argue that the intensifying international interest in sexual violence, and an accompanyin...
“Unthinking” sexual violence in a neoliberal era of spectacular terror
The article begins with a question about the value of revitalising the equation between sexual/intimate violence and terrorism in the current neoliberal/post-feminist political and epistemological landscape. We argue that the intensifying international interest in sexual violence, and an accompanyin...
Who’s afraid of the vulnerable terrorist? Framing violent jihadists’ life and intimate relationships
This article looks at a sample of academic articles in the field of terrorism studies and international relations to explore the ways in which marriage, sexual activity and close relationships in jihadist groups are framed, imagined and investigated. Despite the scarcity of research being conduc...
Why me? An autoethnographic account of the bizarre logic of counterterrorism
The core concern of this article is derived from my personal experience of being stopped and questioned at Heathrow Airport on 28 March 2012 for possession of “suspect materials”: academic books on terrorism. I seek to utilise this experience to reflect on how logics of counterterrorism can beco...
A human rights perspective on the war on terror: an interview with Letta Tayler
The problem is that their views are often overly broad, and that they have not settled on a universally accepted definition. The expression that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter has caught on for a reason. Today, there are more than 100 definitions of terrorism in laws and tr...
A Trojan horse of a different colour: counterterrorism and Islamophobia in Alan Gibbons’ An Act of Love and Anna Perera’s Guantanamo Boy
Alan Gibbons’ An Act of Love and Anna Perera’s Guantanamo Boy offer a poignant treatment of a personal and political desire for vengeance in response to terrorism, and of the consequent erosion of particular communities. This article provides a critical reading of Gibbons’ and Perera’s novel...
“Academics for Peace” in Turkey: a case of criminalising dissent and critical thought via counterterrorism policy
On 11 January 2016, 1128 academics in Turkey and abroad signed a petition calling on Turkish authorities to cease state violence in mainly Kurdish populated areas of the country, which had been under curfew and an extended state of emergency. The petition received an immediate reaction from Presiden...
Africa unsecured? The role of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) in securing US imperial interests in Africa
This paper explains and illustrates how the US Administration of President George W. Bush used the pretext of its global war on terror to justify the launch of a new African, Saharan–Sahelian front in the global war on terror, which in turn justified the creation of a new regional combatant comman...
Community reporting on violent extremism by “intimates”: emergent findings from international evidence
To promote early intervention strategies, Countering/Preventing Violent Extremism (C/PVE) policies internationally seek to encourage community reporting by “intimates” about someone close to them engaging in terrorist planning. Yet historically, we have scant evidence around what either help...
Counter-insurgency goes to university: the militarisation of policing in the Puerto Rico student strikes
This article presents a case study of the recent student strike at the University of Puerto Rico (held between 2010 and 2011) and the militarisation of the campus that followed. The strike has been a significant site of resistance to the imposition of neo-liberal structural adjustment in Puerto Ric...
Counterterrorism laws and state repression in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks
The relationship between terrorism and human rights has attracted considerable research and policy attention. As countries grapple with formulating effective strategies to combat terrorist groups, governments have faced criticism for resorting to increased repression in the name of counterterror...
Foreign Fighters and International Peace: Joining Global Jihad and Marching Back Home
The discourse about foreign terrorist fighters (FTF) in media, politics, and academic writings is mostly Western-focused, that is, it is focused on FTF from Western Europe. Indeed, thousands travelled from countries such as Germany, France, Belgium, and the UK to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS and o...
Future security threats arising from the UK’s deprivation of citizenship: a model to understand the human rights-security risk landscape
ABSTRACT Following the collapse of the Islamic State, the issue of “Returning Foreign Fighters” became a dominant global problem. The securitised response adopted by many states is a cause for concern, particularly in relation to human rights. Men, women and children with a range of physical...
Just war and the Lebanese resistance to Israe
The literature on Lebanese resistance to Israel is overwhelmed with work on Hezbollah, the role of religion, and its connection to Iranian influence. However, few of these studies have looked at the totality of Lebanese resistance, from its secular origins to its Islamic monopoly. Moreover, no work...
Mental discipline, punishment and recidivism: reading Foucault against de-radicalisation programmes in the War on Terror
This article uses Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish to examine how de-radicalisation programmes in the War on Terror transform power–knowledge relations, mental discipline and punishment by attempting to instil self-governance through non-violence. Foucault’s theories on the evolution o...
Mobilisation and violence in the new media ecology: the Dua Khalil Aswad and Camilia Shehata cases
This article examines two cases in which political groups sought to harness the new media ecology to mobilise and justify acts of violence to public audiences and to supporters. In each case, a woman’s suffering is presented and instrumentalised. However, the new media ecology offers an increasin...
National heroes or coming anarchy? Vigilant youth and the “war on terror” in Nigeria
In this article, I explore analytically how local youth vigilante groups in terror-stricken northeastern Nigeria – locally known as the Civilian Joint Task Force or yan gora (“youth with sticks”) – are responding to threats to their communities posed by the terrorism of Boko Haram and the hu...
Pork, risk, or reaction? The determinants of US counterterrorist funding
A wealth of literature exists on the relationship between a country’s domestic politics and its counterterrorism policies, yet few examine this relationship in the US. Past studies examining counterterrorism spending in the US find that domestic politics have little impact and that funding is ...
Pork, risk, or reaction? The determinants of US counterterrorist funding
A wealth of literature exists on the relationship between a country’s domestic politics and its counterterrorism policies, yet few examine this relationship in the US. Past studies examining counterterrorism spending in the US find that domestic politics have little impact and that funding is ...
Rehabilitation to deradicalise detainees and inmates: a counter-terrorism strategy
The most significant threat to national security in the twenty-first century is terrorism. The ‘smart approach’ to counter terrorism is a blend of both hard and soft approaches. Governments now adopt a whole of nation strategy to counter terrorist recruitment and deradicalise inmates and detaine...
Restorative justice in the aftermath of politicallymotivated violence: the Basque exp
An emerging body of literature discusses how restorative justice can contribute to the response to terrorism. This paper expresses concerns about the uncritical acceptance of many orthodox assumptions about terrorism inherent in the search for a “restorative response” to terrorism. When restora...
Understanding rehabilitation in Ukraine from the perspective of key informants
Background: The evolution of healthcare in Ukraine has been impacted by a number of factors, including years of communist control followed by the birth of an emerging democracy and most recently, conflict in the eastern part of the country. Rehabilitation is an aspect of Ukraine’s healthcare syste...
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