Critical Approaches to Terrorism Studies

Abstract

This chapter introduces the reader to some of the main critical approaches to terrorism research, outlining their unique characteristics and primary commitments, and drawing out their points of difference from the orthodox terrorism studies field. It begins with a brief discussion of what is meant by the term ‘critical’, the broad characteristics of critical approaches to terrorism and a few key differences between critical and orthodox approaches. This is followed by a description and explanation of two long-standing critical approaches to terrorism, namely political-economy approaches and anthropology, sociology and area studies approaches. Scholars from these perspectives have long contested the orthodox approach to terrorism research, but have always done so from outside the main confines and activities of the field. Next, we describe the ‘critical turn’ which has taken place within terrorism studies in recent years, before briefly outlining some of the core characteristics and commitments of the CTS approach. The final section outlines a critical research agenda, arguing for a widening and deepening of research on terrorism, as well as the inclusion of some long-ignored subjects. In the conclusion, we reflect on the current successes of critical approaches, the obstacles that will need to be overcome for their wider acceptance, and how a broadly critical approach helps to frame the rest of this textbook.KeywordsCritical ApproachKnowledge ClaimCritical ScholarPolitical ViolenceHuman SecurityThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.