Terrorism Discourse Research Articles

Does US Foreign Aid Undermine Human Rights? The 'Thaksinification' of the War on Terror Discourses and the Human Rights Crisis in Thailand, 2001 to 2006

What is the relationship between Thailand’s human rights crisis during Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s leadership (2001-2006) and the US-led post-9/11 war on terror? Why did the human rights situation dramatically deteriorate after the Thaksin regime publicly supported the Bush administration’s war on terror and consequently received US counter-terror assistance? This article offers two conceptual arguments that jointly demonstrate a constitutive theoretical explanation, which shows that counterterror and militaristic transnational and national discursive structures enabled the strategy of state repression in Thailand under Thaksin. The first concept refers to strategic localization, which refers to how the Bush administration’s global war on terror — and its consequent overarching emphasis on military security — provided an opportunity for the Thaksin administration to strategically localize the global threat of terrorism in ways that could seem relevant to the local Thai context. The second concept pertains to resource mobilization, which shows how converging US and Thai discourses on military security facilitated Thaksin’s strategy of increased state repression that led to the proliferation of state-led human rights abuses. This research article contributes to the human rights literature in two ways: (1) by highlighting how foreign aid programs and its constitutive political discourses shape recipient countries’ domestic human rights situation, (2) and by tracing the macro-political factors that lead to the eventual democratic decay of contemporary Thailand.

The U.S. War on Terror Discourse: Mapping De-politicization and the Politics of Confinement in Afghanistan

The U.S. War on Terror Discourse: Mapping De-politicization and the Politics of Confinement in Afghanistan

Does US Foreign Aid Undermine Human Rights? The \u201cThaksinification\u201d of the War on Terror Discourses and the Human Rights Crisis in Thailand, 2001 to 2006

What is the relationship between Thailand’s human rights crisis during Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s leadership (2001–2006) and the USA-led post-9/11 war on terror? Why did the human rights situation dramatically deteriorate after the Thaksin regime publicly supported the Bush administration’s war on terror and consequently received US counterterror assistance? This article offers two conceptual arguments that jointly demonstrate a constitutive theoretical explanation, which shows that counterterror and militaristic transnational and national discursive structures enabled the strategy of state repression in Thailand under Thaksin. The first concept refers to strategic localization, which refers to how the Bush administration’s global war on terror—and its consequent overarching emphasis on military security—provided an opportunity for the Thaksin administration to strategically localize the global threat of terrorism in ways that could seem relevant to the local Thai context. The second concept pertains to resource mobilization, which shows how converging US and Thai discourses on military security facilitated Thaksin’s strategy of increased state repression that led to the proliferation of state-led human rights abuses. This research article contributes to the human rights literature in two ways: (1) by highlighting how foreign aid programs and its constitutive political discourses shape recipient countries’ domestic human rights situation (2) and by tracing the macro-political factors that lead to the eventual democratic decay of contemporary Thailand.

Challenging the Models of Terrorism Discourse in the News: European and Islamic Values in the French and Italian Press

The aim of this paper is to reflect on the social role of European journalists as they cover the issue of terrorism, which is a potential threat to European society itself. For this purpose, the paper presents the results of a qualitative media content analysis related to the news coverage of the aftermath of three major terrorist attacks. Specifically, the research focuses on the values involved in the coverage of the event rather than on the strict report of what happened. The authors observe that both liberal/‘trustee’ and polarized pluralist/‘advocacy’ models engender a double paradox concerning the interest of citizens in being informed or being protected by news media. Nonetheless, the liberal value of responsibility emerges as fundamental, in order to face and resolve this paradox.

Terrorism discourses, public and secret

ABSTRACTThis article provides a historical account of the American-supported ‘counterinsurgency’ campaign in Guatemala in the 1960s. The analysis of a selection of now-declassified secret documents and of a number of public testimonies given by representatives of the executive branch before the US Congress reveals the existence of two very different discourses on ‘counterinsurgency’ and ‘terrorism’. A focus on the profound differences between these public and secret discourses, it is argued, allows for a powerful critique of government-sponsored projects that, from Camelot in 1965 to the Human Terrain System programme launched in the mid-2000s, have attempted to harness the expertise of social scientists in the service of often extraordinarily brutal US ‘counterinsurgency’ campaigns.

Affecting Terrorism: Laughter, Lamentation, and Detestation as Drives to Terrorism Knowledge

The contemporary fascination with terrorism in Anglo-American popular culture, political discourse, news reportage and beyond is boundless and well-documented. In this article we explore contemporary productions of terrorism as the outcome of three drives to knowledge: laugher, lamentation and detestation. Drawing on a range of social and cultural practices – including jokes, street art, film, memorial projects, elite rhetoric and abuse scandals – we make two arguments. First, that humour, grief and hatred underpin and saturate the contemporary desire to know terrorism. And, second, that – although these drives function in multiple and ambiguous ways – they serve to institute a distance between the subject and object of terrorism knowledge, not least by encouraging us to laugh at those punished for terrorism, mourn for those lost in attacks, and direct our hatred toward those responsible. This analysis not only opens fresh insight on the workings of terrorism discourse in the post-9/11 period, it also points to connections between contemporary ‘critical’ work on terrorism and debate on the role of emotions and affect in international politics more broadly.

In the name of national security: articulating ethno-political struggles as terrorism

ABSTRACTThe discourse of terrorism is one of the most powerful political discourses of our times. More often than not, its labels and assumptions – including the division of the world into sharp dichotomies of ‘free’ and ‘civilized’ states vs. ‘evil’ and ‘barbarian terrorists’ – go unquestioned in related political speeches, media reports, and public deliberation. These unquestioned assumptions, however, become problematic when the signifier ‘terrorism’ is used to depict an armed struggle of ethno-nationalistic groups for independent self-governance. This is because struggle against ‘terrorism’ justifies a completely different arsenal of response strategies, which might lack legitimacy when countering separatism. This problem becomes apparent when states respond to separatism by manipulating the fear of terrorism to justify undemocratic actions in the name of national security. Using as a case study the post-Maidan confrontation in the East of Ukraine and analyzing related coverage by three political websites, this paper discusses how the discourse of terrorism has been formed within the public sphere of Ukraine.

Revitalizing The Ideological Values Of Pancasila As Antithesis Of Religious Radicalism Community Service In Karangduren Village Kebonarum Of Klaten

The ideology of radical-terrorism is an interesting remark to be understood by the Karangduren Klaten village community as an effort in preventing the entry value that is against the ideology of Pancasila. The supreme divinity value of Pancasila ideology one in the reform era has been challenged by the wave of globalization on information. Socialization on the divinity values aims to stimulate public awareness on the threat of radical ideology of terrorism that potentially grow and develop in the village of Karangduren, Kebonarum, Klaten. This study covers the fields of nationalism and identity with the preaching method and focus of discussion. The Ideology of divinity axiologically and epistemologically comprising of divinity, humanity, unity, democratic and justice values which need to be delivered through specific form of communication which can be adjusted to community’s life in the village of Karangduren. Language as a tool in which various information can be accessed by people living in both rural and urban transition strongly influenced by factors of traditional cultural practices that are still upheld in dealing with modernity. The current actual discourse of terrorism needs to be understood and useful as countering radicalism through familiarization the noble values exemplifications as deeply held by the community leaders and the local youth movement ‘Karangtaruna; through the use of appropriate language on the context of Karangduren citizens.

Islamophobia and the making of Latinos/as into terrorist threats

ABSTRACTResearch on Islamophobia has focused on how Muslims have been subjected to new and old forms of policing and surveillance. Very few studies have focused on the potential of Islamophobia to affect non-Muslim groups. This study addresses the role that Islamophobia has played in introducing changes to the management of US immigration and, in particular, how Latinos/as as a group have been affected and further racialized as a result. This article draws on primary and secondary sources to illustrate how Islamophobia and discourses of terrorism have been used to justify militarized border security and immigration agendas. We find that the implementation of Islamophobia to matters of border security and immigration have affected Latinos/as in a non-traditional way beginning in the 1990s and exacerbated in the 2000s – a manner in which Muslim populations have historically been racialized in the US.

Premediating predisposition: informants, entrapment, and connectivity in counterterrorism

ABSTRACTThe sting operation is a mainstay of FBI counterterrorism strategy. Critics charge that this practice, in which an informant lures vulnerable individuals into a plot by promising money and more, amounts to entrapment. Detailing contemporary terrorism discourse and the mediation of the war on terror, legal and media scholars contend that the racial formations marking Muslims as predisposed to “radicalization” therein effectively preclude a successful entrapment defense. Building on these critiques, this paper addresses the function of mediation in counterterrorism beyond and in relation to representation. Utilizing the trial transcripts and available government surveillance evidence in the Newburgh Four case, this paper reconstructs the sting operation, remapping the medial work of the informant: how he established, cultivated and elicited the links that constituted the “cell” and its tie to global jihad. I argue that the induced linkages are the stuff of premediation; they constitute not actual ties to terrorism, but those that might have materialized had the informant been a real recruiter. Nevertheless, they act as proxies in lieu of conventional markers of predisposition and help secure conviction. Ultimately, this paper illustrates the function of (pre)mediation in counterterrorism and its relation to mediated representations of terror.

Terrorism from a Swedish perspective

Terrorism is a worldwide phenomenon, as the Global terrorism index reveals. The aim of terrorism is to take command over our feelings and our imagination to compel us to change our ways of life and release a clash between civilizations. In my discussion, I will concentrate on identity, an individual’s feeling of being unique, having a coherent self while at the same time being part of a large group. My intention is to link the concept of identity to affects and thinking and the loss of reality-testing when the group is dominated by schizo-paranoid anxiety. Two lines of thought stand out in my discussion of terrorism – the power of identity and the search for meaning – both of which are affected by globalization, the rise of a network society, and disenchantment with the world.

The Terror Speaks: Inside Pakistan's Terrorism Discourse and National Action Plan

ABSTRACTThis article, employing a poststructuralist Critical Discourse Analysis, reveals cracks, discrepancies, and inconsistencies in Pakistan's discourse on terrorism and practice. I argue that Pakistan continuously constructs a “monstrous enemy” and magnifies it in a way that conceals alternative representations of reality that could show that the state, by presenting itself as a victim of terrorism, is using phenomena of political violence to serve its political objectives inside and outside the boundaries of the state. The article argues that after a militant attack on a school in northwest Pakistan, critical, liberal, and dissenting narratives mingled with the dominant state discourse in a fashion that strengthen illiberal practices in the country, thus undermining the ideals of democracy.

Terrorism in the textbook: a comparative analysis of terrorism discourses in Germany, India, Kenya and the United States based on school textbooks

This study traces the (geopolitical) knowledge on terrorism circulating in Germany, India, Kenya, and the United States based on an analysis of school textbooks. It contributes to the existing literature in three ways. First, it transcends the Western-centrism of International Relations by analysing discourses from the Global North and the Global South. Second, it introduces school textbooks as a crucial object of research in constructivist terrorism studies and International Relations. School textbooks indicate the (geopolitical) knowledge deemed essential in a given society, but are also widely distributed among young people. Third, I address the debate about a presumed homogenization and internationalization of terrorism discourses in recent years. Results show that all four discourses depict terrorists as evil, focus on external non-state groups as perpetrators and associate terrorism with Islam. But there are also considerable differences regarding the relative importance of terrorism as a security threat, the referent object affected and the countermeasures deemed appropriate.

Balancing the Act on Anti-Terrorism in South Korea

The Act on Anti-Terrorism+ for the Protection of Citizens and Public Security passed in 2016 despite the longest filibuster in the history of Korean legislation. While counterterrorism legislation can often present dangers of overreaching state authority and risks to citizens’ rights in any country, the South Korean narrative is uniquely layered given the historical context of anti-communist discourse. This article argues that the Act mitigates accusations of human rights violations by assuming dual legal purposes of national security and disaster management as well as employing human rights discourse and safeguards within the law. However, expansive executive and agency discretion, ambiguities in terrorist discourse, and lack of due process undermine human rights compliance, endangering both citizens’ and foreigners’ rights against unwarranted government intrusion.+ "This article follows the Korean government's translation of the law, which uses "Anti-Terrorism" rather than "Counter-Terrorism" in the title of the Act. Korean names in the text begin with the surname and reflect commonly printed designations for public figures or otherwise personal preference. All other romanizations follow the official Korean government's revised romanization system."

Digital Surveillance and Privacy Concerns in the Counter Terrorism Discourse in Kenya: Policy Implications

Digital Surveillance and Privacy Concerns in the Counter Terrorism Discourse in Kenya: Policy Implications

Social representations of peace in terrorism talk: A United Kingdom talk-radio analysis.

This paper employs combined critical discourse analysis/ membership categorization analysis to examine social representations of peace that appear within two UK talk radio debates about terrorism. After an initial overview of how and where social representations of peace feature throughout the data, three extended sequences of talk are subject to detailed discursive analysis. Whilst a range of Muslim and non-Muslim callers participate in these debates, analysis identifies that it is only Muslim speakers who engage social representations of peace. Analysis of three differing elite Muslim speakers reveals that in these debates: (i) peace is positioned as central to Muslim identity but also as a common value that is accessible to non-Muslims and Muslims alike; (ii) upholding and maintaining peace and challenging violent ideologies is constructed as an ongoing moral duty for Muslim communities; (iii) upholding peace as core to Islam does not mandate an absolute rejection of all violence in all contexts. These findings are discussed in the context of mainstream UK terrorism discourse where Muslim category membership and adherence to Islam is routinely linked to concerns regarding the presumed threat of extremist terror attacks in the UK.

Assessing the Breadth of Framing Effects

Issue frames are a central concept in studying public opinion, and are thought to operate by foregrounding related considerations in citizens' minds. But scholarship has yet to consider the breadth of framing effects by testing whether frames influence attitudes beyond the specific issue they highlight. For example, does a discussion of terrorism affect opinions on proximate issues like crime or even more remote issues like poverty? By measuring the breadth of framing effects, we can assess the extent to which citizens' political considerations are cognitively organized by issues. We undertake a population-based survey experiment with 3,318 respondents which includes frames related to terrorism, crime, health care, and government spending. The results demonstrate that framing effects are narrow, with limited but discernible spillover on proximate, structurally similar issues. Discrete issues not only organize elite politics but also exist in voters' minds, a finding with implications for studying ideology as well as framing.

Youth ‘at risk’: A critical discourse analysis of the European Commission’s Radicalisation Awareness Network Collection of approaches and practices used in education

The present article focuses on how the so-called War on terror discourse has merged into the educational system and brought about a securitization of education. As a part of efforts to prevent young people from becoming radicalized into terrorism, the educational system is expected to be able to detect individuals ‘at risk’ and deploy methods to prevent radicalization from happening. Through the critical discourse analysis of a collection of educational practices, sampled by the European Union working group Radicalisation Awareness Network, we have been able to generate knowledge about how the War on terror discourse tends to individualize and decontextualize tensions in society that may ultimately cause terrorism. With this individualized and decontextualized approach to preventing radicalization, it appears more important to control students rather than to develop their ability to analyse complex conflicts in society.

Narrating 9/11: Fantasies of State, Security, and Terrorism. Edited by John N. Duvall and Robert P. Marzec. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015. Pp. vi+322. Transatlantic Fictions of 9/11 and the War on Terror: Images of Insecurity, Narratives of Captivity. Susan Araújo. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015. Pp. ix+217.

<i>Narrating 9/11: Fantasies of State, Security, and Terrorism</i>. Edited by John N. Duvall and Robert P. Marzec. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015. Pp. vi+322. <i>Transatlantic Fictions of 9/11 and the War on Terror: Images of Insecurity, Narratives of Captivity</i>. Susan Araújo. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015. Pp. ix+217.

Marwan Barghouti in Tel Aviv

On 15 April 2002, Marwan Barghouti, a high profile Member of the Palestinian Parliament and a close aide of the late Palestinian leader, Yasir Arafat, was arrested and transferred to Israel for trial. On 14 August 2002, he was charged with multiple counts of crimes including acts of terrorism, murder and conspiracy to murder. In the Courtroom in Tel-Aviv, Barghouti was being tried for acts of terrorism, but in the court of public opinion, Israel was using the trial to slander and discredit the Palestinian leadership as a bunch of ‘murderous gangs,’ and ‘enemies of all mankind.’ On his part, Barghouti uses the judicial space to go beyond the surface problem of law and legality to the deeper question of occupation – a problem that is at the depth but also all across the normative structure of Israel’s legal order. Through re-signification, the accused becomes the accuser, putting the state of Israel and the occupation on trial. In this article, I consider the ways in which the accused and the accuser repurpose the legal material to produce and disseminate ideas, concepts, and images productive to their respective politics. Attending to the ways in which discourses of occupation, resistance, and terrorism were synchronized with the legal form, the article reflects on how the narratives move from the legal to the political, from the personal to the social, from the local to the global, and from the theological to the political, creating the conditions of possibility for meaning and understanding.