Abstract
While both terrorism and the state have ancient antecedents, the emergence of both the concepts in their modern form dates to the French Revolution. Terrorism in its modern articulation has more often than not been a tool of the state, and yet in contemporary usage, it more often than not refers to non-state actors, in particular those who use violence to coerce the state. Not only is state terrorism more common than non-state terrorism, it is more deadly and more difficult to prevent. Yet, it is non-state terrorism that is at the forefront of media discussions of the phenomenon, and thus terrorism in the popular imagination is frequently considered to be solely the preserve of non-state actors. It is the most spectacularly dreadful of these non-state terrorist attacks that comes to mind when we consider terrorism. When we think of terrorism, we are likely to recall images such as the smoking piles of rubble left in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in the United States or the mangled wreckage of buses and panicked commuters of the 7/7 attacks in the United Kingdom, or other such attacks, usually relatively recent, usually committed in the global north.
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Notes
- 1.
See Wilson, T. ‘State Terrorism: An Historical Overview’ in G. Duncan, O. Lynch, G. Ramsay, and A.M.S Watson, (eds.) State Terrorism and Human Rights: International Responses Since the End of the Cold War (Oxford: Routledge, 2013), pp. 14–28, B. Hoffman, Inside Terrorism (revised edn.), (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006), p. 4, and M. Crenshaw, Explaining Terrorism: Causes Processes and Consequences (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 21.
- 2.
P. Wilkinson, ‘Ethical Defences of Terrorism – Defending the Indefensible’, Terrorism and Political Violence, 1/1, (1989), p. 10.
- 3.
While the actions of states which constitute state terrorism have not been under studied as ‘state terrorism’, they frequently are covered by a range of diverse and discrete literatures across the humanities and social sciences.
- 4.
P. Wilkinson, ‘Ethical Defences of Terrorism - Defending the Indefensible’, Terrorism and Political Violence, 1/1, (1989), p.10.
- 5.
It should be noted however that while state terrorism and state-sponsorship of terrorism are under-represented, there is a body of work which seeks to address such issues. See for example, G. Duncan, O. Lynch, G. Ramsay, and A.M.S Watson, State Terrorism and Human Rights: International Responses Since the End of the Cold War (Oxford: Routledge, 2013), D. Byman, Deadly Connections: States That Sponsor Terrorism (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), R. Jackson, E. Murphy, and S. Poynting, (eds.), Contemporary State Terrorism: Theory and Practice (London: Routledge, 2010), R. Blakeley, State Terrorism and Neoliberalism: The North in the South, (Oxford: Routledge, 2009), M, Stohl, and G.A. Lopez, (eds.), The State as Terrorist: The Dynamics of Governmental Repression and Violence (London: Aldwych, 1984), J.A Sluka, (ed.) Death Squad: The Anthropology of State Terrorism (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000).
- 6.
J. Argomaniz and A. Vidal-Diez, ‘Examining Deterrence and Backlash Effects in Counter-Terrorism: The Case of ETA’, Terrorism and Political Violence, 27/1 (2015), p. 162.
- 7.
R. Jackson, ‘The Core Commitments of Critical Terrorism Studies’, European Political Science, 6/3, (2007), p. 245.
- 8.
M. A. Miller, The Foundations of Modern Terrorism: State, Society and the Dynamics of Political Violence, (Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 2012), p. 3.
- 9.
A. Anter, Max Weber’s Theory of the Modern State: Origins, Structure and Significance (Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan: 2014), p. 9.
- 10.
C. Tilly, Coercion, Capital and European States: AD 990–1990, (Oxford; Blackwell, 1990), p. 25.
- 11.
G. Poggi, The State: Its Nature, Development and Prospects, (Stanford, CA; Stanford University Press, 1990), p. 66.
- 12.
C. Pierson, The Modern State, (3rd edn), (London; Routledge, 2011), p. 46
- 13.
C. Tilly, Coercion, Capital and European States, p. 29.
- 14.
G. Poggi, The State: Its Nature, Development and Prospects, p. 66.
- 15.
Ibid, p. 26.
- 16.
R. Jones, People/States/Territories: The Political Geographies of British State Transformation (Oxford; Blackwell Publishing, 2007), p. 45.
- 17.
C. Pierson, The Modern State, p. 4
- 18.
R. Jones, People/States/Territories, p. 44.
- 19.
M. Weber, From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, (trans.), H.H. Gerth, and C.W. Mills, (London: Routledge, 1991), p. 78.
- 20.
Ibid, pp. 79–80.
- 21.
A. Anter, Max Weber’s Theory of the Modern State, p. 17.
- 22.
R. Jones, People/States/Territories, pp. 23–4.
- 23.
Ibid, p. 22.
- 24.
M. Weber, From Max Weber, pp. 80–1.
- 25.
R. Jones, People/States/Territories, p. 45.
- 26.
Ibid.
- 27.
Ibid.
- 28.
P. Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice, (trans. R. Nice), (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977), p. 72.
- 29.
Ibid.
- 30.
Ibid, p. 76.
- 31.
See for example W. Laqueur, The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Mass Destruction (London: Phoenix Press, 2001), P.R. Neumann, Old & New Terrorism (London: Polity Press, 2009), B. Hoffman, Inside Terrorism (revised edn.), (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006).
- 32.
See for example O. Lynch and C. Ryder, ‘Deadliness, Organisational Change and Suicide Attacks: Understanding the Assumptions Inherent in the Use of the Term ‘New Terrorism’, Critical Studies on Terrorism, 5/2, (2012), pp. 257–75.
- 33.
R. Jackson, ‘The Core Commitments of Critical Terrorism Studies’, European Political Science, 6/2, (2007), p. 245.
- 34.
Ibid.
- 35.
L. Stampnitzky, Disciplining Terror: How Experts Invented ‘Terrorism’, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).
- 36.
M. Crenshaw, Explaining Terrorism: Causes, Processes and Consequences (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 51.
- 37.
Andrew Silke highlights the extent of this surge in interest in Al Qaeda in the academic literature post-9/11. Despite their existence since 1988 and significant attacks carried out in Aden in 1992, at the World Trade Centre in 1993, US Embassy bombings in 1998 in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, and the USS Cole attack in 2000, articles focusing on Al Qaeda in the two central Terrorism Studies journals (Terrorism and Political Violence, and Studies in Conflict and Terrorism) accounted for only 0.5 per cent of publications for the 12 years before 9/11, compared to 13.2 per cent in the 5 years immediately after 9/11. See, A. Silke ‘Research on Terrorism: A Review of the Impact of 9/11 and the Global War on Terror’ in H.Chen, E. Reid, J. Sinai, A. Silke, and B. Ganor, Terrorism Informatics: Knowledge Management and Data Mining for Homeland Security (New York; London: Springer, 2008), pp. 27–50.
- 38.
see for example, D.C. Rapoport, ‘The Four Waves of Modern Terrorism’, in A.K. Cronin and J.M. Ludes, (eds.) Attacking Terrorism: Elements of a Grand Strategy (Washington, D.C: Georgetown University Press, 2004).
- 39.
G. Kassimeris, Inside Greek Terrorism (London, Hurst and Co, 2013), p. 115.
- 40.
P. Lehr, ‘Still Blind in the Right Eye?: A Comparison of German Responses to Political Violence from the Extreme Left and the Extreme Right’, in M. Taylor, P.M. Currie, and D. Holbrook, (eds), Extreme Right-Wing Political Violence and Terrorism, (London: Bloomsbury, 2013), p. 187. Indeed, Lehr makes a compelling point in this piece, suggesting that governments are inclined to take terrorism substantially less seriously when it does not represent a direct and existential threat to the state.
- 41.
Contemporary terrorism emanating from the Northern Ireland conflict continues to generate substantial academic interest. See for example, M. rampton, Legion of the Rearguard: Dissident Irish Republicanism (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2011), A. Sanders, Inside the IRA: Dissident Republicans and the War for Legitimacy (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011), P.M. Currie and M. Taylor, (eds.) Dissident Irish Republicanism (New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2011), J. Horgan, Divided We Stand: The Strategy and Psychology of Ireland’s Dissident Terrorists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013) and, J.F. Morrison, The Origins and Rise of Dissident Irish Republicanism: The Role and Impact of Organizational Splits (London: Bloomsbury, 2013).
- 42.
- 43.
J.M. Weinstein, Inside Rebellion: The Politics of Insurgent Violence, (Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 2006).
- 44.
E. Chenoweth and M.J. Stephan, Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011).
- 45.
J. Bew, M. Frampton, and I. Gurruchaga, Talking to Terrorists: Making Peace in Northern Ireland and the Basque Country (London: Hurst and Company, 2009).
- 46.
I. Lustick, State Building Failure in British Ireland and French Algeria (Berkeley: Institute of International Studies, University of California, 1985), and also I. Lustick, Unsettled States, Disrupted Lands: Britain and Ireland, France and Algeria, Israel and the West Bank-Gaza (London: Cornell University Press, 1993).
- 47.
Most notably by Alex Schmid, who compiled and analysed 109 individual definitions from the literature before compiling his own. See A.P. Schmid and A.J. Jongman, Political Terrorism, (New Brunswick, N.J; Transaction Publishers, 2005).
- 48.
R. English, Terrorism: How to Respond (Oxford; Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 24.
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McConaghy, K. (2017). Introduction. In: Terrorism and the State. Rethinking Political Violence. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57267-7_1
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