The Dynamics of Entangled Political Violence: From the Greensboro Massacre (1979) to the War on Terror (2001)

2021 ◽  
pp. 33-42
Author(s):  
Martin A. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Greensboro Massacre

Religion, Violence, and the State

2018 ◽  
pp. 226-262
Author(s):  
Muhammad Qasim Zaman
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
State And Society ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
The Military ◽  
Subsequent Rise

This chapter focuses on religio-political violence, whose widespread incidence—after Pakistan's realignment in the US-led War on Terror in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent rise of a new, Pakistani Taliban—has threatened the very fabric of state and society. It examines the violence in question from two broad and intertwined perspectives, one relating to the state, and the other to Islam and those speaking in its terms. Part of the concern in this chapter is to contribute to an understanding of how the governing elite and the military have often fostered the conditions in which the resort to religiously inflected violence has been justified. It also suggests that the nonstate actors—ideologues and militants—have had an agency of their own, which is not reducible to the machinations of the state. Their resort to relevant facets of the Islamic tradition also needs to be taken seriously in order to properly understand their view of the world and such appeal as they have had in particular circles.

scholarly journals The political use of victimhood: Spanish collective memory of ETA through the war on terror paradigm

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Charlotte Heath-Kelly ◽  
Laura Fernández de Mosteyrín
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Moral Authority ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
International War ◽  
The Impact

AbstractVictims have become a topic of scholarly debate in conflict studies, especially regarding the impact of their activism on the evolution and termination of violence. Victims of terrorism are now enlisted within counter-terrorism, given their moral authority as spokespeople for counter-narratives and de-escalation. Our research explores how Spanish terrorism victims’ associations have evolved across eras of political violence and how they mediate the translation of international War on Terror discourses into Spanish counter-terrorism. We offer a topography of how the War on Terror has opened a ‘social front’ in Spanish counter-terrorism, with Spanish political elites prominently employing the victims’ associations to this end. Contemporary terrorism discourses are read back onto the memory of ETA, with victims’ associations assisting the equation of ETA with al-Qaeda and ISIS. Collective memory of the defeat of ETA has also contributed the veneer of ‘lessons learned’ to contemporary counter-terrorism measures. Our research explores the fluidity of terrorism-memory and the importation of global terrorism discourses into Spanish politics, relying upon interviews with key stakeholders in victims’ associations, local politics, and the research director of the new Victims of Terrorism Memorial Centre in Vitoria.

Critical Approaches to the Study of Terrorism

2019 ◽  
pp. 223-237
Author(s):  
Charlotte Heath-Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Distinct Form ◽  
Critical Method ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
And Linguistics ◽  
Terrorist Violence

Critical approaches to the study of terrorism do not inquire into the causation of political violence. Rather, the umbrella term “critical” encompasses a large variety of methodologies which reject the positivist philosophy of science. This chapter explores the meaning of “critique” as an epistemological alternative to positivist models of knowledge. It shows how “critical” approaches do not ask “what causes terrorist violence,” but rather how societies have come to a point where they identify “terrorism” as a distinct form of violence, separate from “war” and “crime.” What makes terrorism “sensible”? How do we “know” terrorism as a concept or form? Drawing from long philosophical traditions, critical approaches explore how power, culture, and linguistics have constituted the concept of “terrorism”—creating a reality which is not “obvious” or common-sense, but contingent and arbitrary. The chapter then outlines the critical method of “discourse analysis” and its use in constructivist analyses of the War on Terror.

Iran: The state and terrorism in Iran

2019 ◽  
pp. 363-384
Author(s):  
Ali M. Ansari
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
State Policy ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Global War On Terror ◽  
The Us ◽  
Global War ◽  
The Impact

This paper discusses the role of 'terror' and 'terrorism' as an aspect of state policy in Iran during the twentieth century, looking at its historical context both within Qajar Iran and as an aspect of state policy during there French Revolution. The paper critically assesses Iranian state's relationship with the term, as both a perceived victim and perpetrator, and focusses on the application of political violence against both dissidents and political opponents where the term 'terror' is used in Persian as a synonym for assassination. The paper looks at the various justifications for the use of terror and political violence, the legacy of the Rushdie affair and the impact of the US led Global War on Terror on perceptions within Iran. 

Politicisation weakens counterterrorism in Egypt

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
The State ◽  
Special Forces ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Government ◽  
Security Operations ◽  
Rapid Deployment

Significance Following the removal of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013 the government launched a "war on terror" to tackle the longrunning salafi-jihadist insurgency in the Sinai, and a separate insurgency by disaffected Brotherhood supporters against the new regime in mainland Egypt. More than two years later, the state continues to confront terrorism and political violence that have expanded in geography, ideology, target and method. Impacts The expansion of special forces and Rapid Deployment Forces units will allow the army to conduct effective counterterrorism operations. However, the army and police risk undermining counterterrorism gains with heavy-handed security operations that increase radicalisation. Egypt's inability to 'win' its "war on terror" will eventually dampen public approval of the government and the armed forces.

scholarly journals A War on Terror

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-123
Author(s):  
Ja’far Muhibullah
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Peace Studies ◽  
Regional Conflicts

If you have never read a Paul Rogers’ article or book before, you will probablybe wondering who he is and from what angle he is approaching the“war on terror.” Paul Rogers is a professor of peace studies, as well as aninternational security correspondent who focuses upon trends in internationalconflict. More specifically, he examines western military responsesto regional conflicts and political violence. It is with this intellectual backgroundthat he intends to analyze and understand what is happening in theMiddle East (as events occur vis-à-vis “real time”) and predict future implicationsof Bush’s “war on terror” (p. 2).This book is a compilation of articles that Rogers wrote from October2001 to December 2002 as weekly columns for the Open Democracy webjournal (www.openDemocracy.net). His choice to submit these articles tothe web journal, which is neither media-controlled nor affiliated with anyspecial interest group, is a provocative statement that clarifies his positionon the media’s “war on terror.” That is, in the author’s words, “media manipulationis easy” (p. 10) and comes “with little or no critical analysis” (p. 15).After editing and refining his articles to prepare them for book form,Rogers divides the articles into seven chapters: Chapter 1: “War inAfghanistan – I,” Chapter 2: “War in Afghanistan – II,” Chapter 3: “A NewAmerican Century?,” Chapter 4: “Consequences of War,” Chapter 5: “Israeland Palestine,” Chapter 6: “Winning or Losing?,” and Chapter 7: “EndlessWar.” He opens the book with a very brief “Introduction” and ends it with aslightly longer “Afterword.”With a closer look, it becomes evident from the chapter titles thatunderneath the motif of conflict several interrelated issues are presentedthroughout this book: the Bush administration’s (strike first) political ...

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