critical terrorism studies research

the core commitments of critical terrorism studies

• Published: 02 August 2007
• Volume 6 , pages 244–251, ( 2007 )

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• Richard Jackson 1  

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Critical terrorism studies (CTS) is founded firstly on a series of powerful critiques of the current state of orthodox terrorism studies, including: its poor methods and theories, its state centricity, its problem-solving orientation and its institutional and intellectual links to state security projects. Defined broadly by a sceptical attitude towards accepted terrorism ‘knowledge’, CTS is also characterised by a set of core epistemological, ontological and ethical commitments, including: an appreciation of the politically constructed nature of terrorism knowledge; an awareness of the inherent ontological instability of the ‘terrorism’ category; a commitment to critical reflexivity regarding the uses to which research findings are put; a set of well-defined research ethics and a normative commitment to an emancipatory political praxis.

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Beyond Disciplinary Dogma: An Ontological Security Approach to Terrorism and Its Study

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Department of International Politics, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Penglais, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales, SY23 3FE, UK

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Jackson, R. the core commitments of critical terrorism studies. Eur Polit Sci 6 , 244–251 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.eps.2210141

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Published : 02 August 2007

Issue Date : 01 September 2007

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.eps.2210141

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Critical scholarship on terrorism.

• Priya Dixit Priya Dixit Department of Political Science, Virginia Tech
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.667
• Published online: 22 December 2021

Understandings of “critical” in critical scholarship on terrorism range from a Frankfurt School–influenced definition to a broader definition that aims to interrogate commonsense understandings of terrorism and counterterrorism. Overall, critical scholarship on terrorism draws on multiple disciplines and methodological traditions to analyze terrorism and counterterrorism. Within these, there have been ongoing debates and discussions about whether the state should be included in research on terrorism and, if so, what the inclusion of the state would do for the understanding of terrorism. Critical scholarship has also outlined the need for further attention to research ethics, as well as urged researchers to acknowledge their standpoints when conducting and communicating research. Some, but not all, critical scholarship has a normative orientation with the goal of emancipation, though the meaning of emancipation remains debated. Methodologically, the majority of critical scholarship on terrorism utilizes an interpretive lens to analyze terrorism and related issues. A central goal of critical terrorism research is to rework power relations such that Global South subjectivities are centered on research. This means including research conducted by Global South scholars and also centering Global South peoples and concerns in analyses of terrorism and counterterrorism. The role of gender, analytically and in practice, in relation to terrorism is also a key part of critical scholarship. Critical scholars of terrorism have observed that race is absent from much of terrorism scholarship, and there needs to be ongoing work toward addressing this imbalance. Media and popular culture, and their depiction of terrorism and counterterrorism, form another key strand in critical scholarship on terrorism. Overall, critical scholarship on terrorism is about scrutinizing and dismantling power structures that sustain commonsense knowledge regarding terrorism.

• orthodox terrorism
• critical terrorism
• Global South
• emancipation

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Critical Terrorism Studies: An Explanation, a Defence and a Way Forward

Related Papers

European Political Science

Richard Jackson

Critical Studies on Terrorism

John Horgan

This paper presents a case against the current formulation of ‘Critical Terrorism Studies’ (CTS). We will examine some of the core features of CTS, and in doing so identify what we suggest are mistaken assumptions about the nature and extent of contemporary research on terrorism. Our case against the current formulation of CTS is predicated on the view that aspects of its research programme are based on a superficial reading of the current literature that creates an image of the field of study unrecognizable to scholars working within it. As a result, the characterization of terrorism studies implicit in much of the current CTS work is not representative of the existing breadth of research activity in this field. The concluding assertions are that while the concerns that might have initially given rise to CTS are to be lauded (though these concerns are not exclusive to it), what has emerged as explicitly ‘critical’ terrorism studies in fact shares the concerns of many ‘tradi- tional’ terrorism scholars, and that in particular the claims to novelty or to a distinctively critical focus are exaggerated or misplaced.

Jeroen Gunning

Security Dialogue

This article explores the burgeoning academic interest in establishing a critical terrorism studies research programme. It begins by reviewing the debates over definition, causation and response that still dominate mainstream discussions of terrorism. The analytical and normative limitations of these debates, it argues, open considerable space for the emergence of a critically oriented body of literature. A second section then explores two distinct efforts at overcoming these limitations: the broadening and interpretivist faces of critical terrorism studies. The broadening face refers to attempts to expand our understanding of terrorism beyond non-state violence alone, while the interpretivist face comprises critical explorations of terror in image and narrative. Although each of these approaches offers scholars a more engaged role than the problem-solving orientation of the mainstream debates, the article argues that only the interpretivist face is capable of addressing their analytical limitations. The article concludes by calling for further attention to the notion of critique within the relevant critical literature.

Raquel da Silva

Alice Martini

Locus: Revista de História

The attacks of 11 September 2001 have profoundly impacted the field of terrorism studies. In this article we aim to trace, in particular, the impact of this date on the establishment of critical terrorism studies (CTS) as a school of thought. Such an endeavour aims to create an ‘umbrella-term’ to gather scholars from diverse backgrounds, in an attempt to provide a counter-narrative to the dominant, mainstream understanding of terrorism and counter-terrorism. CTS scholarship offers alternative approaches to state-centred, ahistorical, and ‘problem-solving’ standpoints, which have been at the origin of numerous atrocities committed, for example, under the Global War on Terror banner. This article explores the key debates stirred by CTS scholarship over the years, its recent advancements, and existing gaps.

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Critical terrorism studies : a new research agenda

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