Abstract
Struggling with words and definitions has tradition in terrorism research. If people know anything about the field of Terrorism Studies it is most probably that it has failed to find a definition of its own subject. All interested in the issue of terrorism are fully aware of the age old definitional problems and the debate about what terrorism ‘really’ is and whether or not a definition is something worth worrying about. So, ‘terrorism’ is a one of the many essentially contested concepts (Gallie 1956) and some may ask: So what? We are all pretty much aware of what constituted terrorism, even if we are unable to phrase a suitable three-line dictionary style definition. In general most would agree on many of the central aspects of what terrorism is. Similar to pornography, you know it when you see it (Der Derian 2005: 25; Richardson 2006: 19). So, some may argue that it does not really matter what we call it. They are only words. This book would disagree. Although striving for exact definitions may be overrated, language and words do matter as they are the only way of making sense of the world and assigning meaning to it. Words do not only describe reality, but they actively take part in the construction of the world as we see, talk, hear, imagine and ultimately react to it. It is the phenomenon of reality construction and it is our reaction to such constructions this book is interested in.
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‘[W]hat one calls things matters. There are few neutral terms in politics, because political language affects the perceptions of protagonists and audiences, and such effect acquires a greater urgency in the drama of terrorism’ (Crenshaw 1995)
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© 2010 Alexander Spencer
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Spencer, A. (2010). Introduction The ‘Terrorist’: Words, Labels and Definitions. In: The Tabloid Terrorist. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230281301_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230281301_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-36569-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-28130-1
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)