Studies in Criminal Justice, Terrorism, and International Political Conflicts (original) (raw)
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Critical Studies on Terrorism, 2013
The articles in this special issue are drawn from papers presented at a conference titled Terrorism and Peace and Conflict Studies: Investigating the Crossroad. The conference was organised by the Conflict Analysis Research Centre of the University of Kent and the Critical Studies on Terrorism Working Group of the British International Studies Association, and was held at the University of Kent from 10 to 11 September 2012. The conference aimed to highlight and explore the empirical, methodological, ontological and epistemological points of interjection of the two fields through the engagement of scholars, postgraduate students, national and international policy and civil society actors. The articles in this issue reflect those aims.
Terrorism and Political Violence Criminology Theory and Terrorism: Introduction to the Special Issue
In this short essay, we introduce readers to a special issue of Terrorism and Political Violence on criminological approaches to the study of terrorism. In addition to summarizing the eight articles in the issue, we outline some general points about the relationship between criminological thinking and our understanding of terrorism. Our goal is to place the special issue's contributions in context and highlight under-explored issues that future research could address.
Introduction The topic of terrorism is both complex and emotive. It is complex because it combines so many different aspects of human experience, including subjects such as politics, psychology, philosophy, military strategy, and history, to name a few. Terrorism is also emotive both because experiences of terrorist acts arouse tremendous feelings, and because those who see terrorists as justified often have strong feelings concerning the rightness of the use of violence. Without a doubt, terrorism evokes strong feelings whenever it is discussed. A key challenge of understanding terrorism is both acknowledging the moral outrage at terrorist acts, while at the same time trying to understand the rationale behind terrorism. Terrorism is not a new phenomenon in human experience. Violence has been used throughout human history by those who chose to oppose states, kings, and princes. This sort of violence can be differentiated from what is termed as terrorism. Violence in opposition to a government is often targeted against soldiers and those who govern. Terrorism, however, is characterized by the use of violence against civilians, with the expressed desire of causing terror or panic in the population. Terrorism is not unique to the 20th and 21st centuries. Terrorism existed in 18th century revolutionary France during the reign of terror, as well as among the Zealots of Palestine in opposition to Roman rule some 2000 years ago. Arriving at a consensual definition of the phenomenon of terrorism has been a particularly difficult undertaking. Some definitions are either too specific or too vague, concentrating on some essential “terrorist” aspect of the actions, strategies, or types of non-state organizations that engage in terrorism. In this paper we draw on global approaches from international relations and world systems theories to propose a definition of terrorism that skirts these issues by concentrating on terrorist actors rather than terrorist behavior. Arguing that this approach has several advantages, including the dissolution of several empirical and analytical problems produced by more essentialist definitions, and the location of terrorism within a two dimensional continuum of collective-violence phenomena in the international system which discloses important theoretical insights. We proceed to examine the characteristics of terrorism by comparing it with other forms of violence in the international system. I propose that terrorism may be defined as being part of the cycles and trends of unrest in the world system, responding to the same broad families of global dynamics as other forms of system-level conflict. It is no secret that arriving at a consensual definition of terrorism is a difficult task. Some might say that constructing a characterization of terrorism that would be satisfactory for everyone is a downright impossible undertaking. It is much easier to point out the flaws in extant conceptions and usages of the term than to come up with a definition that would be free of those same faults, while being comprehensive enough to be both acceptable to most lay observers and useful for the conduct of academic research on the subject. Taking a birds-eye view of the field, it is clear what is wrong with current characterizations of terrorism: they are either too specific or too vague, they concentrate on particular (and theoretically arbitrary) aspects of the phenomenon while de-emphasizing others, or are too normatively oriented, mixing up descriptive and prescriptive terminology.
EXPC-6054 Terrorism and Conflict: Issues and Perspectives (Online Course)
1. Overview of the Course General description: Terrorism is one of the most elusive concepts to define. Definition of Terrorism is controversial for reasons other than conceptual issues and problems. Because labeling actions as terrorism promotes condemnation of the actors, a definition may reflect ideological or political bias. Once freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela were also labeled as terrorists. In this course we will focus on terrorism and related forms of political violence from a comparative and global perspective. This course will provide a theoretical and empirical understanding and explanation of terrorism. It will try to look at definitions, the prevalence of terrorism, techniques, and the choice of targets, the effects of the media, and sources of support. The course will also look at different types of terrorist organizations including ones that are primarily seeking to attain ideological objectives, groups with an ethnic or nationalist agenda, organizations with religious motivations, and those groups with a mixture of motives that are difficult to disentangle. A portion of the course will also look at the state sponsored terrorism. In addition, it will look at counterterrorism and counterinsurgency techniques, including the effects that such activities can have on civil liberties. Finally, the relative success or failure of terrorist groups in achieving their objectives will be evaluated as part of the process of determining what the future is likely to hold. 2. Pre-or co-requisites Students should have the ability to read, understand and analyze complex material and to write in English. Students should also possess basic computer skills, including the ability to navigate the Internet, access their email and download documents.