Counter-terrorism Discourse Research Articles

(Un) Learning and Re (Learning) Counterterrorism in Kenya: A Pilgrimage Towards Indigeneity

Abstract To a great extent, Kenya’s counterterrorism approach is criticised for being a copycat of the Western state-centric approach. This raises questions on whether the country’s approach is indeed based on African heritage or embedded in Eurocentric dispositions. Despite being framed largely by discourses of Islamophobia Kenya’s counterterrorism approach is also a product of the dominant universalistic knowledge that is not entirely suitable for the country’s counterterrorism situation. Debates have emerged on whether this scenario is attributed to the failure to place terrorism in the wider historical context or whether coloniality and Western modernity are contributing to this threat. To address these issues, this paper employs the Afrocentric decolonial approach anchored on the Ubuntu philosophy to investigate what a decolonised counterterrorism approach that reflects indigenous perspectives should entail in Kenya. Consequently, this paper attempts to shed light on history through the eyes of the subaltern by deconstructing some of the mainstream assumptions that have dominated Kenya’s counterterrorism discourse. Consequently, this paper aims to provide the platform for epistemic reconstitution by debunking the myth that Indigenous Knowledge about counterterrorism is insubstantial.

Bad mothers vs good mothers of the nation: The dual faces of Tunisian women in terrorism and in preventing extremism

ABSTRACT This article seeks to critically examine how gender influences the interpretation and representation of women’s violence within the Tunisian public discourse. Far from being gender-neutral, the counterterrorism discourse perpetuates entrenched patriarchal hierarchies, amplifying imbalanced power dynamics within society. The study, utilizing tools from feminist critical discourse analysis, aims to shed light on how female involvement is depicted in public discussions on terrorism in Tunisia, and how this affects counterterrorism strategies and preventive measures in the post-revolutionary setting. This is achieved primarily by scrutinizing the discourse of jihād al-nikāḥ, and by exploring women’s roles in programmes aimed at preventing violent extremism (PVE). Emphasis is given to the depiction of women as mothers – viewed negatively when embracing political violence and positively when engaging in extremism prevention initiatives. While one narrative often paints women merely as victims or brainwashed entities, the PVE policies acknowledge women’s agency but instrumentalize it for security-oriented objectives.

Securitisation and spaces of terrorism in Kenya’s National Police Service counterterrorism discourse

ABSTRACT The northeastern and coastal counties of Kenya are characterised by a high prevalence of terrorism and counterterrorism conducted by the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab terror group and the country’s National Police Service, respectively. The National Police Service (NPS) is Kenya’s principal counterterrorism state agency. This article examines how the National Police Service online counterterrorism discourse constructs these two regions as spaces of terrorism. The article adopts the securitisation theory and a critical discourse analysis perspective to analyse the National Police Service discourse as speech acts hence securitising moves, The speech acts discursively construct the two regions as spaces of terrorism hence threats to physical and human security. The construction enables to the National Police Service to legitimise and implement urgent repressive counterterrorism measures. The conditions that facilitate the discursive construction of threats and acceptance of the speech acts are the marginalisation of the inhabitants and terrorism in the regions. The conclusion offers ways of mitigating the adverse effects of the NPS counterterrorism discourse.

Diachrony of the new political terrorism. Neologisms as discursive framing in Swedish parliamentary data 1971–2018


 
 
 This paper begins to unpack the framing of terrorism in the Swedish Parliament through distant reading and by chronologically extracting neologisms in a comprehensive corpus of transcripts of parliamentary debates. Combining language technology and historical contextualization, we find support for the argument that the term ‘terrorism’ gained much of its modern meaning around 1970. Specifically, our study points to a legislative framing of the issue of terrorism in Swedish parliamentary debate from the early 1970s and onwards. We also find a proliferation in the production of neologisms and compounds after 9/11 2001, reflecting, among other things, the rise of a more distinct counter-terrorism discourse and more ‘specialized’ roles and functions related to terrorism and counter-terrorism activities. The paper concludes by emphasizing the analytical benefits of tracing parliamentary discourse through neologisms as an explorative approach to identify significant patterns for further investigation.
 
 

“Islamic terrorism” in New Zealand? The John Key Government, Counterterrorism, and the “Islamic terrorism” Narrative

ABSTRACT The presence of the “Islamic terrorism” narrative in New Zealand (NZ) counterterrorism, including its impact on NZ’s response to terrorism, has not been accorded the concern it merits. In the aftermath of the Christchurch Mosque attacks on 15 March 2019, the NZ government, the Royal Commission of Inquiry, and the media unreservedly agreed that NZ’s counterterrorism approach was misguided and erroneous. Central to this erroneous approach was the narrative of “Islamic terrorism” – the subject of this study – which sought to focus NZ’s counterterrorism efforts almost exclusively upon Islamic groups and individuals. The research employs a methodology of discourse analysis to examine how John Key’s National Party government drew on the “Islamic terrorism” narrative in its counterterrorism discourse. It then illustrates how this discourse manifested in NZ’s response to terrorism, both domestically and internationally, including in the introduction of new legislation. The primary purpose of this article is to demonstrate, and subsequently critique, the “Islamic terrorism” narrative as adopted in the Key government’s counterterrorism discourse and response. A major finding of the research is the Key government’s conflation, and at times virtual equalisation, of terrorism with “Islamic terrorism”. The concept of emancipation is proposed as an alternative to NZ’s erroneous counterterrorism approach.

Critical terrorism studies and postcolonialism: constructing ungoverned spaces in counter-terrorism discourse in Nigeria

ABSTRACT This article explores a neglected question in ongoing debates about counter-terrorism efforts in Nigeria: How is Nigeria’s counter-terrorism strategy discursively framed? The article argues, in part, that Nigeria’s counter-terrorism strategy is essentially a political activity which contributes to the production of a specific Nigerian identity by designating north-eastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin as “ungoverned” spaces. This construction of identity through geography, though, has important implications for policy, identity and security in Nigeria, and beyond. This study of Nigeria, I also argue, presents an opportunity for a much-needed conversation between CTS and postcolonialism for broadening knowledge on discourses around (counter-)terrorism. Drawing upon the concept of space in postcolonial scholarship, this article demonstrates how the relationship between geography, identity and subjectivity offers a broader framework for articulating continuing, and recent, discourses of counter-terrorism. It demonstrates how Nigerian counter-terrorism discourse reproduces, and transforms, well-known Euro-centric and state-centred discourses which intersect with colonial and imperialistic ideas (and practices). In doing so, the article makes two notable contributions: first, it provides a sustained focus on official articulations of counter-terrorism in Nigeria by examining important primary data. Second, in mobilizing the concept of space in postcolonialism, it facilitates crucial theoretical reflections within (critical) terrorism studies.

‘Moderate’ Islam in Western Counterterrorism Praxes: Countering Extremism or Coercing Negligence?

Moderate Islam has been emphasised in Western counterterrorism praxes. In what ways are the Islamic perspective on moderation incorporated into these praxes? To explore this question, the paper adopts decoloniality as its analytical framework and uses an interdisciplinary approach combining Critical Security Studies and Islamic Studies. Relying on critical analyses of secondary counterterrorism discourses and practices as well as key primary Islamic sources, the paper explores the Islamic concept of wasaṭiyyah (moderation), which forms the foundation for promulgating ‘moderate Islam.’ In essence, moderation in Islam is positioned as the middle path between the two opposite margins of ghulūw (extremism) and ghaflah (negligence). Although moderation as understood through the Islamic perspective requires the maintenance of an impeccable balance between both margins, Western counterterrorism praxes place more weight on extremism (ghulūw). Such fragmental conceptualisation and application of moderation in Islam substantially diminishes its efficacy in mitigating terrorism and violent extremism.

Securitization across borders – commonalities and contradictions in European and Arab counterterrorism discourses

ABSTRACT As securitization often involves transnational issues, we need a better understanding of how such securitization processes mutually reinforce or contradict each other. Differences in political systems and political cultures increase the risk that audience reactions as well as routinizations run counter the interests informing the initial securitizing move. In the case of relations between European and Arab countries, the overlap and tensions associated with different political calculi behind such transnational processes are particularly relevant in terms of the fallout, which the securitization of the so-called Islamic State’s terrorism produces for political reform in the Arab world as well as for political discourses on Islam and Islamism in Europe.

Gender at the crossroads: the role of gender in the UN’s global counterterrorism reform at the humanitarian-development-peace nexus

ABSTRACT Since the early 2000s, the United Nations (UN) global counterterrorism architecture has seen significant changes towards increased multilateralism, a focus on prevention, and inter-institutional coordination across the UN’s three pillars of work. Throughout this reform process, gender aspects have increasingly become presented as a “cross-cutting” theme. In this article, I investigate the role of gender in the UN’s counterterrorism reform process at the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, or “triple nexus”, from a feminist institutionalist perspective. I conduct a feminist discourse analysis of the counterterrorism discourses of three UN entities, which represent the different UN pillars of peace and security (DPO), development (UNDP), and humanitarianism and human rights (OHCHR). The article examines the role of gender in the inter-institutional reform process by focusing on the changes, overlaps and differences in the discursive production of gender in the entities’ counterterrorism agendas over time and in two recent UN counterterrorism conferences. I find that gendered dynamics of nested newness and institutional layering have played an essential role both as a justification for the involvement of individual entities in counterterrorism and as a vehicle for inter-institutional cooperation and struggle for discursive power.

An indigenous African framework for counterterrorism: decolonising Kenya’s approach to countering “Al-Shabaab-ism”

ABSTRACT The terrorism discourse in the Kenyan context dates back to the colonial and post-colonial years with the country having suffered its most devastating terrorist attacks in the period since 1998. Despite a series of dreadful experiences, it was not until 9/11 that the country’s counterterrorism discourse took a serious upward trajectory. This was after Kenya’s elevation by her Western allies as an “anchor” state in the Global War on Terror (GWOT). This development illustrates how Kenya’s security architecture is hugely dependent on Western counterterrorism frameworks, strategies, and at times, security priorities. In this regard, the existing counterterrorism frameworks not only perpetuate colonial continuities but also neglect the national contextual peculiarities. This article, thus, explores how Western constructions of terrorism permeate Kenya’s counterterrorism, and deny subaltern actors the opportunity to participate in developing intervention priorities and owning the strategies. Our analysis of the explicit knowledge predispositions between Western and the local constructions of counterterrorism, consequently, suggest some parallels between colonial continuities and the state-owned interventions. We, therefore, seek to deconstruct the universality of knowledge on counterterrorism, and argue for increased recognition and inclusion of indigenous African counterterrorism approaches which have been obscured from mainstream knowledge systems.

The use of the PATH and FORCE image schemas in Barack Obama’s counterterrorism discourse against ISIL

ABSTRACT The paper focuses on metaphorical representation of military activities of the US-led international coalition and of ISIL which are construed on the basis of systematic metaphors drawn from the combination of the PATH and FORCE image schemas. The corpus for the analysis consists of 30 political speeches delivered by American president Barack Obama in the period from 2014 to 2016 in which the speaker outlined the actions and military strategies against ISIL. Methodological procedure for the identification of systematic metaphors in the President’s discourse followed the steps specified within Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) proposed by Pragglejaz Group [2007. MIP: A method for identifying metaphorically used words in discourse. Metaphor and Symbol, 22(1), 1–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926480709336752]. The results from the analysis indicate that systematic metaphors drawn from the combination of the PATH and FORCE schemas were employed as a means for the manifestation of progress in the campaign against the organization and they presented power and intentions of both sides involved in the conflict in the area of the Middle East.

Researching race, racialisation, and racism in critical terrorism studies: clarifying conceptual ambiguities

ABSTRACT This article seeks to ameliorate the conceptual ambiguities surrounding the concepts of race, racialisation, and racism within Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS), as well as encourage the use of these concepts. Race is a key signifier in counter-terrorism discourse, yet its meaning is often taken for granted or left unexplored in CTS. Hence, this article proposes definitions of race, racialisation, and racism that make the concepts into an analytical lens. In developing these definitions, it employs a marginally adapted version of Gerring’s criterial framework for concept formation. The article argues that the core attributes of the concepts race, racialisation, and racism are: (A) their socially constructed nature; (B) categorisation of a group as the “other”; (C) naturalisation; and (D) being concerned with community-like groups. The proposed definitions build on similarities and navigate differences in how the concepts are currently given meaning in CTS research. Considering that CTS is embedded in the context of 9/11, the concepts of race, racialisation, and racism may help to place counter-terrorism discourses and practices in a broader historical and political context and analyse the justifications supporting these discourses.

The weaponization of narratives and the rhetoric of violence in the Counterterrorism discourse against Boko Haram

The weaponization of narratives and the rhetoric of violence in the Counterterrorism discourse against Boko Haram

Medico-political metaphors of counter-terrorism: The case of Turkey

ABSTRACT Medico-political metaphors can be defined as the organic imagining of a society (re)creating a normative distinction between identity and difference and mobilising specific types of political answers in which threats are constructed through organic language. Accordingly, society is made to resemble a body, thus creating a sense of unity, integrity and finitude, while terrorism is made to resemble a “pathology” that “infects”, weakens and ultimately destroys the healthy social body. In this narrative, “terrorists” are rendered as abnormal and external, and thus terrorism is depoliticised. It is fictionalised as a “technical” issue necessitating expert intervention, in a manner resembling the doctor-patient relationship. To date, there has been little research on the interaction between this organic understanding of society and the Turkish experience of counter-terrorism practices. Therefore, taking as its context the Syrian civil war, this article aims to analyse how medico-political metaphors in the counter-terrorism discourse of the Turkish government function as boundary-producing practices. The article critically assesses how medico-political metaphors in terrorism discourse (re)constitute a power relationship through abnormalisation, externalisation and depoliticisation, and thus contribute to Critical Terrorism Studies by highlighting how policy makers use medico-political metaphors to constitute a reality about terrorism in order to mobilise certain political responses.

Enter 9/11: Latin America and the Global War on Terror

AbstractThis article offers an analysis of the transnational discursive construction processes informing Latin American security governance in the aftermath of 9/11. It demonstrates that the Global War on Terror provided an opportunity for external and aligned local knowledge producers in the security establishments throughout the Americas to reframe Latin America's security problems through the promotion of a militarised security epistemology, and derived policies, centred on the region's ‘convergent threats’. In tracing the discursive repercussions of this epistemic reframing, the article shows that, by tapping into these discourses, military bureaucracies throughout the Americas were able to overcome their previous institutional marginalisation vis-à-vis civilian agencies. This development contributed to the renaissance of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism discourses and policies in the region, allowing countries such as Colombia and Brazil to reposition themselves globally by exporting their military expertise for confronting post-9/11 threats beyond the region.

Counterterrorism strategy and human rights in Egypt after the Arab uprising: A critical appraisal

Since 2013, the Egyptian regime proclaims that it is involving in ruthless fight against terrorism; its strategy suffers from multiple flaws. It violates basic human rights, restricting freedoms and prohibits opposition against the government by labelling it with terrorist offences. This study investigates the way human rights and counterterrorism is portrait in Egypt's counterterrorism law no. 94 of 2015 in order to illustrate the correlation between counterterrorism discourse and human rights abuse in the post-revolutionary Egypt. By using the Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) approach and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) method to analyse the counterterrorism discourse in Egypt since the outbreak of the Arab Uprising of 2011, the study argues that the real purpose of counterterrorism discourse of the Egyptian regime after 2013 is to (1) construct an atmosphere where the state's violations of human rights are not only normalised or legitimise but also justifiable, uncritically and unaccountable; (2) establish a new legal and political legitimacy for the post 30 of June 2013 regime; (3) silencing all critics and corrective attempts that pursue to constrain authoritarianism and terrorism temptations to risk vulnerable individuals; (4) prevent the efforts of find a solution to terrorism away from military and coercive intervention. The study finds that the more Egyptian authorities violate human rights and rely on excessive use of force under the name of fighting terrorism, the faster terrorism grows. The counterterrorism law of 2015 adopted a broad, ambiguous and politicalised definition of terrorism in order to prevents any claims of reform or democratization. By associated political opposition with terrorists activities, Egypt demonises requests for political reform and de-legitimatise ‘ peaceful ’ opposition against the rules of the country, their families, public servants, and any public institutions.

The Lure of Novelty: “Targeted Killing” and Its Older Terminological Siblings

AbstractThe concept “targeted killing” has been increasingly adopted in scholarship, policy, and media discourses, particularly in the context of US armed drone attacks. While “targeted killing” is often understood as something new, there are strong historical continuities with more traditional concepts such as “assassination” and “extra-judicial execution,” as well as with the colonial concept “police bombing.” This paper builds on an analysis of over nine hundred Security Council debates, Human Rights Council reports, legal papers, and policy documents. Tracing the conceptual continuities, I argue that the peculiar novelty of “targeted killing” does not mainly stem from the novelty of the practices and claims it describes but from the contradictory modes in which the term has been used, which has problematic repercussions for recent counterterrorism discourses. Posed as a new category that reacts to a new situation, the adoption of the concept “targeted killing” has, I argue, played an important role in the promotion of claims that were long considered unlawful and illegitimate. Demonstrating the importance of language in setting political struggles up in a particular way, the paper contributes to a growing body of critical work on counterterrorism use of force.

The “Somalinisation” of terrorism and counterterrorism in Kenya: the case of refoulement

ABSTRACT Kenya’s state discourse on terrorism and counterterrorism securitises Somali refugees and refugee camps. Using the securitisation theory, a perspective of social constructivism as a theoretical framework, the article attempts to establish the relationship between the securitisation of Somali refugees and refugee camps and refoulement as a measure to counter the securitisation. The arguments raised are the speech acts of Kenya’s securitising actors expressed in the terrorism discourse present Somali refugees and refugee camps as existential threats to peace and security in the country. Consequently, their speech acts expressed in the counterterrorism discourse present non-refoulement of the refugees as an existential threat to national security so as to justify, to the targeted audience, the adoption of refoulement, a norm-violating measure, to counter the fear of the threat of terrorism from Somali refugees and refugee camps. Terrorism and counterterrorism in Kenya have, therefore, been “Somalinised”. The conclusion offers ways of preventing the “Somalinisation” of terrorism and counterterrorism in Kenya.

Born radicals? Prevent, positivism, and \u2018race-thinking\u2019

In the contemporary Western climate, counter-terrorism discourse dealing with so-called Islamic extremism appears to be obsessed with trying to understand the motives behind what prompts somebody to turn to terrorism. This paper will argue that attempts to locate extremist motives in such a way can be seen to reinforce earlier iterations of positivist criminology and race-thinking. Through a critical examination of the works of criminologist Cesare Lombroso, this paper will tease out the interconnections between his ‘criminal types’ thesis, and the British government’s current Prevent policy that seeks to identify ‘extremist types.’ By developing a rich critique of these positivist approaches, the paper will go on to question how we might think beyond the essentialism, reductivism, and racism/Islamophobia inherent within such frameworks. In this way, the paper raises a series of conceptual implications for criminology and terrorism studies, while at the same time, develops a contribution to critical race and ethnicity studies.

Avrupa Birliği Terörle Mücadele Söyleminin Dış Boyutu: İyi Yönetişim, Arap “Baharı” ve “Yabancı Savaşçılar”

The central objective of this article is to contribute to studies on EU counter-terrorism discourse by bringing the “external dimension” in. To that end, it borrows concepts of the Discourse-Historical Approach and provides an in-depth linguistic examination of the international aspect of the EU’s counter-terrorism discourse. The article identifies good governance and the Arab “Spring” as two central themes of this discourse and illustrates the linguistic means in which the two topics are made “natural” and “normal” by reference to counter-terrorism. The analysis also discusses the political and normative effects of EU discursive construction of counter-terrorism.