Terrorism Discourse Research Articles

Framing Terror

The study identifies seven rhetorical strategies newspapers use to frame the acts of violence as terrorism or crime by comparatively analyzing the news coverage of the Ft. Hood and the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard shootings in three major newspapers. It examines the framing of the incidents, the strategies used to constitute the frames, the functions these strategies serve, and the media’s contribution to the discourse of terror.

Weaponizing speech

ABSTRACTAs the notion of “information warfare” has gained public currency, some forms of communication have been redefined as acts of violence, war, and terrorism. This essay tracks the metaphor of the “information bomb” in theoretical understandings as well as public discourses of terrorism, journalism, and information leaks. The essay then analyzes the 2010 Supreme Court case of Holder vs. Humanitarian Law Project, which redefined speech as having the ability to constitute “material support” for terrorism. The essay argues that trends in the “weaponization of speech” pose important challenges to the status of the First Amendment.

Terrorism Discourse and the Militarization of U.S. Counterterrorism: The Reagan Years

This article analyzes the emergence of the militarization of U.S. counterterrorism policy, showing that militarization as well as preemption as a doctrine of fighting terrorism originate in the mid-1980s – counter to the prevailing assumption that the current militaristic counterterrorist approach is both without precedent and largely the result of the 9/11 attacks. Following a radical shift in terrorism discourse in early 1987, the Reagan administration suddenly reverted to a law enforcement approach towards terrorism, which was retained by the George H.W. Bush and the first Clinton administration. The article further demonstrates that counterterrorism measures were strongly contingent to preceding and legitimizing discursive practices that produced knowledge, popular images and mythical narratives of terrorism, and were exploited as a power strategy by the U.S. government. I therefore suggest that the discursive practices that construct terrorism, and thereby structure the potential field of action for both policy makers and security services, and the non-discursive counterterrorism practices should be regarded as an analytical entity connected by a Foucauldian dispositif. ** N.d T. Se mantiene el término dispositif en francés porque así lo hace el autor.

The discourse and study of terrorism in decolonised states: the case of Pakistan

ABSTRACTThe existing literature in the terrorism field does not address the absence of terrorism scholarship in developing countries. This article focuses on this intellectual gap using the case of Pakistan. It argues that most decolonised states, including Pakistan, are yet to grasp the complexities of traditional approaches to the study of terrorism, let alone its critical dimensions. The article explores some of the prevailing conditions in developing countries, specifically decolonised states such as Pakistan, which prevent the development of a robust academic discourse on terrorism and the development of a strong field of study. It suggests that the main barriers that account for this shortfall include the state’s legitimacy deficit, a flawed education system that nurtures fictions as truth and inhibits knowledge production, the institutionalised role of conspiracy theories in national politics and the multiplicity of terrorism discourses among government and sociopolitical entities. The conclusion highlights a number of reasons that might help to explain this persistent condition and offers a few policy recommendations.

Ordinary Cosmopolitans: Sydney Muslims’ attitudes to diversity

ABSTRACTA significant body of research as well as political advocacy outline the difficulties of Muslims living within Western countries. For virtuous reasons this scholarship assumes that Muslims are being prevented from belonging through mechanisms of social exclusion, and, it would follow, are at risk of losing faith in the prospects of harmony and social compact around religious diversity. Yet there is very little evidence that such exclusion generates disaffection and despondency. The emerging scholarship on ‘ordinary cosmopolitanism’ eschews an a priori assumption of exclusion. A survey of 585 Muslims living in Sydney (Australia) derived their attitudes to diversity, racism and national belonging. We critically assessed whether perceived disaffection and incompatibility (non-belonging, radicalisation) were as widespread as public commentaries and some research infers. The results show a very strong level of everyday support for cultural diversity and a rejection of assimilationist impulses, exceeding the average for the general population. This is despite the global Islamophobia attached to terror discourses and to the violent extremism of a minority of Muslims.

The So-Called “Islamic Terrorism”: A Tale of the Ambiguous Terminology

"What does the term "terrorism" mean." Why does the term “terrorism” often identified as Islam? "If terrorism is an ism that affects "terror" that it generates, while Islam which literally means "peace", then the two terms certainly mismatch! Such question and statement show Muslims’ concern over frequent phenomena of "terrorism" using Islamic religious symbols. The research undertaken proved that there are three explanations. First, a close tripartite network connection between “terrorism experts” and the circles of power policy holders who are also supported by senior journalists in the international media influence. Second, a long tradition of Orientalist studies in the study of the Middle East region and the study of religion in the Arab culture. Figures such as Bernard Lewis, Noah Feldman, Raphael Patai and other Middle East experts often sit with other experts in the field of terrorism (the first factor) and become main advisors and expert staff for the US government in the formulation of action to counter terror. It was the catalyst for the transmission of viewpoint which then decorated orientalist discourse of Islamic terrorism in the process of political policies. Third, a lot of Islamic terrorism discourse refers to the long tradition of cultural stereotypes and biased representations of the media that often portray Islam and Muslims as ‘the enemy’. The reason is that it reflects the perspective of socio-Western culture that fears and worries the other oriental parties which has been stereotyped since the imperial era. Many also argue that the dichotomy of the orientalist views are deliberately preserved as a form of new style imperialism

Constructing ‘Arab Terrorism’—The Slow Emergence of Terrorism Discourse in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s

This article traces the beginnings of the discourse on “Arab terrorism” in the U.S. after World War II. I argue that the discourse emerged slowly in the early 1970s, growing out of political concerns in the aftermath of the 1972 “Munich Massacre” as well as previous work by scholars on political violence. Prominent cultural products like Leon Uris’ Exodus and Thomas Harris’ Black Sunday contributed to the vilification of Arab populations in the Middle East and merged with these political and academic discourses to construct Arab aggression in terms of terrorism.

Talking about terrorism: A study of vernacular discourse

This article examines a neglected dimension of the dominant discourse of terrorism, namely, the vernacular, ‘everyday narratives’ of lay members of the public. While there are many studies of elite- and public-level discourses of terrorism, large numbers of public opinion and attitude studies, and a growing number of focus group studies on vernacular understandings of security and citizenship, there are few studies which specifically focus on lay discourses of terrorism. Importantly, there are even fewer studies which employ discursive psychology and conversation analysis as their primary methodological approach. Consequently, we do not know much about how ordinary people speak about in daily conversation – and therefore, how they understand or ‘know’ – what terrorism is, how it manifests, what its causes are, and how it is best dealt with. This article reports on some of the key findings of an empirical study of vernacular discourse about terrorism carried out in Aberystwyth, Wales. It reflects on what these findings tell us about how important political discourses are expressed in different arenas by different actors, how they are consumed and circulate, how they are resisted, how hegemonic they are in practice, and how they reflect cultural dispositions and the politics of legitimacy.

New Media and Terrorism: Role of the Social Media to Countering Cyber Terrorism and Cyber Extremism for Effective Response

Discourse of terrorism and social media are often discussed the last few years, discussions related to the issue of terrorism is often associated with social media is considered to be one of the tools used to spread the ideology of terrorist networks even recruiting members. Terrorist networks utilizing social media to conduct ideological campaign covertly or overtly and massive. The definition of terrorism employed here is the selective use of fear, subjugation, and Intimidation to disrupt the normal operations of a society. All social system seek ethical and legal norms that satisfy the conditions for continued human survival without giving offence to the major ideological premises on which these respective societies have come to rest. Consequently, while different social systems react differently to terror in accordance with their vision of self interest, no surviving society can be indifferent to the problems raised by terrorism. Terrorist activities have been aiming for and take advantage of ideology and religion for the world community in favor of the claim that their struggle. Genealogy religious radicalism emerged for several reasons. As the pressure of the political regime in power and the failures of the secular ideology of the regime, so the presence of radicalism considered as an alternative ideological only in the fight against oppression and adversity caused by the secular regime so that a group of radicalism assumed that it had no other option but to commit acts of terrorism to counter secular regime. The polarization of political behavior and the fragmentation of political belief are well illustrated in the current rhetoric concerning. Attitudes toward the uses of terror and the functions of terrorist range from a gratuitous belief in terror as the only possible means to bring about social changes to a view of terror and terrorist. The range of views extends from terrorists as the only authentic heroes in notably unheroic age to their demotion as petty criminals who coat their venal act with an ideological gloss.

Issues of terrorism on the internet in the wave of democratization of post-reform Indonesia: A semiotic analysis

The discourse of terrorism is a global issue but tends to be interpreted as controversial. This study sought to dismantle the controversy of meanings through the analysis of signs and meanings, with a view to explore and demonstrate the wave of democratization that took place in post-reform era in Indonesia. This study was a case study using readers’ responses to terrorism issues provided by cyber media on the Internet. It also rests primarily on the semiotic theory of Peirce and the concept of democratization of Huntington. The results showed that participation, freedom of expression, and equal power relations occurred in the interactive discourse in the cyber news media in the form of a dialogue between the responders, the media, and the debate among the responders. Responders tended to argue that signs and meanings are constructed by the media and to interpret information about terrorism as "political engineering" which was expressed by means of emotive tone. Meanwhile, the media tended to construct a "political imagery" which was expressed in a confrontational way, and the resources tended to understand it as "noise level of political elite ", which was expressed in a persuasive manner. Such differences occurred due to the factors of media context that tended to be "convivial" and the context of the communication situation on the Internet that tends to show "discretion". Based on these findings, this study concluded that interactive discourse in the Internet can be formulated as a democratic forum as the meaning making of the text is no longer dominated by media and the sources of information, but tend to be shared with the public. However, in terms of discourse process, interactive discourse in cyber media tends to be anarchic because the tone of interaction tends to be little, the relationship patterns tend to center on and be dominated by responders, the identities of responders tend to be anonymous, and linguistic expressions of the responders tend to be emotive.

Ask the audience: television, security and Homeland

ABSTRACTThis article puts forward a synthesis of work from Security Studies and Cultural Studies in order to trace the link between popular culture and security. This analysis contributes to the growing research in Critical Security Studies on the role of popular culture in the representation and reproduction of terrorism, security, and identity. It brings in approaches from Television Studies to Critical Terrorism Studies to theorise the process of meaning creation for audiences of terrorism shows on television. This synthesis enables an original contribution to the conceptualisation, theorisation, and methodology of the study of terrorism discourse, which allows me to draw together and operationalise the growing concerns with identity, emotions, and the everyday in Security Studies. It brings in examples from an analysis that applied this approach to an analysis of the television series Homeland, which considers both the meaning within Homeland and the process of meaning making by members of the show’s British audience. Using data gathered in focus groups, it shows how viewers read, reproduce, and resist the dominant narratives within the text demonstrating the utility of audience studies.

Terror from behind the keyboard: conceptualising faceless detractors and guarantors of security in cyberspace

ABSTRACTBy reflecting on active public-domain government documents and statements, this article seeks to develop securitisation theory’s articulation of the dichotomy between legitimate and illegitimate violence as it is reflected in British government policy. This dichotomy has (re)developed through a process wherein GCHQ and MI5 are portrayed as “faceless guarantors” of security, in Manichean juxtaposition to the discursively created phantom cyberterrorists, who are presented as “faceless detractors” of security. It has previously been stated that the terrorism discourse associated with the present “War on Terror” is attributed, in part, to mechanics of fantasy. I argue that, within the securitised discourse of cyberterrorism, the limits of fantasy possesses a murky nuance, which in turn, allows for a deeper – or at least more entrenched – securitisation. The official discourse surrounding the intelligence services’ online surveillance apparatus operates with a similar opaque quality, but this is upheld by securitising actors as a strength to be maintained.

Narratives of Exclusion in the Discourse of the Stalinist Great Terror

The Great Terror in USSR of mid-1930s was an implementation of a social engineering policy aiming at exclusion (extermination or isolation) of certain social, political, and ethnic groups. This policy was embodied in Manichean Stalinist discourse, which was based on imagery of ideal, absolutely good Soviet polity enclosed within multiple real and symbolic boundaries that various evil were constantly trying to trespass. Identification/invention of the enemies was realized by means of narratives of exclusion. The author of offering article analyzes mechanisms of generation, structural peculiarities, and cultural background of narratives of exclusion, which plaid exceptionally important role in Stalinist repressive practice .

International terrorism? Indian popular cinema and the politics of terror

The first decade of the twenty-first century has been marked by the decisive entry into our media landscape of the so-called global war on terror, with countless films and TV series from all over the world addressing the issue of international terrorism. Even Indian popular cinema, which has been addressing the issue of domestic terrorism since the late 1980s with films such as Roja (Ratnam, 1992), Drohkaal (Nihalani, 1994), Maachis (Gulzar, 1996), has, since the new millennium, begun to tackle the topic of international terrorism. In this article, I will analyse the shift in the construction of the terrorist discourse in Indian popular cinema from a domestic to an international perspective in order to highlight the close proximity between the two, as in fact, the “global war on terror” narrative seems to offer Indian filmmakers the possibility to simultaneously address international and domestic terrorism. In particular, I will refer to Karan Johar’s film My Name Is Khan as a text which, while discussing the consequences of the American war on terror on its minorities, problematises the official discourse on terrorism and its neo-Orientalist character. It also draws a parallel between the situation of minorities in the United States and India. In so doing, the film triggers a reflection on the state of the Indian nation and questions the state of the secularist values of newly independent India after decades of communal violence.

Defending Islamic education: War on Terror discourse and religious education in twenty-first-century Morocco

How does War on Terror discourse impact religious education curricula in Muslim societies? How do supporters of Islamic education defend the subject in light of intense local and international scrutiny? What do initial reforms to public school curricula suggest about the long-term impact of the War on Terror on the state's role in the transmission of Islamic knowledge? This article examines these questions in the case of Morocco, where in 2003, members of Salafia Jihadia bombed multiple sites in Casablanca. Following the violence, the Moroccan monarchy called for the reform of the religious field, singling out the country's Islamic education curricula as in need of renewal. Several constituencies resisted the call for reform, including Islamic education teachers and associations. Though they showed deference to the monarchy, they also argued that the curriculum did not cause violence, but rather ‘vaccinates’ youth against terrorism. Through interviews and archival research, this article reconstructs the defence of Islamic education marshalled by its supporters and assesses its impact on resulting curricula. I find that the Ministry of Education acted with deference to the Islamic education teachers' demands, accelerating reforms already underway, rather than rewriting curricula. Unexpectedly, the Ministry made more substantial changes to ‘secular’ school subjects. The Moroccan case suggests that War on Terror discourse influences educational policy in Muslim societies, though these processes are shaped by pre-existing reforms and the activities of local activists.

“It's More Than Just a Name”: A Theoretical Approach to Eradicating Terrorism Through Propositions of Organizational Naming

The following article is divided into two parts, each offering a series of propositions highlighting the effects and implications of organizational naming and labeling practices and their subsequent effects on the framing of terrorist organizations and activity. In the first half, the author will highlight the importance of organizational naming and labeling in terms of how it shapes terrorism discourse. Then, the author will discuss the importance of recognizing the implications of how the events of 11 September 2001 were framed by then president George W. Bush. Important to both discussions is the relevance of organizational communication theory, particularly in terms of individual sensemaking and the communicative constitution of organizations.

From terrorism to ‘radicalization’ to ‘extremism’: counterterrorism imperative or loss of focus?

This article argues that there has been an increasing convergence of the discourses of terrorism, radicalization and, more lately, extremism in the UK and that this has caused counterterrorism to lose its focus. This is particularly evident in the counterterrorism emphasis on non-violent but extremist ideology that is said to be ‘conducive’ to terrorism. Yet, terrorism is ineluctably about violence or the threat of violence; hence, if a non-violent ideology is in and of itself culpable for terrorism in some way then it ceases to be non-violent. The article argues that there should be a clearer distinction made between (non-violent) extremism of thought and extremism of method because it is surely violence and the threat of violence (integral to terrorism) that should be the focus of counterterrorism. The concern is that counterterrorism has gone beyond its remit of countering terrorism and has ventured into the broader realm of tackling ideological threats to the state.

Errata: Communications - Scientific Letters of the Zilina, No. 3, 2014, "The System of Transitivity in the War on Terror Discourse", pp. 46-51.

Errata: Communications - Scientific Letters of the Zilina, No. 3, 2014, "The System of Transitivity in the War on Terror Discourse", pp. 46-51. The proper wording of paragraph 7 on p. 49 should be formulated as follows: In the clauses within which enemies are presented, the speaker employs "a number of words" which "have affective connotations" and most of these words have "negative evaluations of the activity to which they refer. Therefore, the negative evaluation" [16] can be observed in clauses with Material processes such as "kill", "violate", as they are usually negatively perceived in "most contexts. Thus the actors" in the clauses are "evaluated negatively in the processes that they perform" [16].

Evolving Cinematic Perspectives of Terrorism

This article describes the attributes of transnational cinema in general and of transnational terrorism cinema in particular and then presents a survey of representative films since the 1970s about terrorism from the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, as well as films from South America and India. The survey shows that, due to the forces of globalization and international terrorism, a transnational, albeit U.S.-European-dominated, cinematic discourse of terrorism is evolving. The discourse is due to the willingness of filmmakers, especially European filmmakers, to challenge their own nations’ public perceptions and cultural discourses of terrorism and the willingness of audiences to consider those challenges.

Framing the threat of catastrophic terrorism: Genealogy, discourse and President Clinton’s counterterrorism approach

A frequent argument in the literature on the US-led war on terror is that the war and its public discourse originated with the George W. Bush administration. This article seeks to explore the political discourse of terrorism and counterterrorism practices during the Clinton administration in order to challenge this perspective. By examining US administration discourses of terrorism, this article demonstrates deep continuities in counterterrorism approaches from Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton, through to George W. Bush. The research suggests that, based on Reagan’s initial ‘war on terrorism’ discourse, Clinton articulated the notion of ‘catastrophic terrorism’ or ‘new terrorism’, which became a formative conception for the United States and its allies in the post-Cold War era. Clinton’s counterterrorism discourse then provided an important rhetorical foundation for President Bush to respond to the 2001 terrorist attacks. In other words, far from being a radical break, Bush’s ‘war on terror’ represents a continuation of established counter-terrorist understanding and practice.