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Introduction: a Different Perspective on Terrorism 1 the Problems With Notes Introduction: A Different Perspective on Terrorism 1. Critical Terrorism Studies, in the aims of the journal Critical Studies on Terrorism, seeks to take a more distinct self-reflective approach to terror- ism than does “Orthodox Terrorism Studies.” According, among others, to Anthony Burke Critical Terrorism Studies marks the end of “tradition- ally state-focused and directed ‘problem-solving’ terrorism studies.” For Richard Jackson (2009: 3) it translates into “a critical orientation, a scepti- cal attitude, and a willingness to challenge received wisdom and knowl- edge about terrorism.” This book shares with Critical Terrorism Studies the critique toward existing approaches to terrorism, particularly the acknowledgement that the phenomenon is socially constructed. As Jackson (2009: 4) puts it: “[Terrorism’s] nature is not inherent to the violent act itself, but is dependent upon context, circumstance, intention, and cru- cially, social, cultural, legal, and political processes of interpretation, cat- egorisation and labelling.” Overall, however, the arguments presented in this book transcend the division between “Critical Terrorism Studies” and “Orthodox Terrorism Studies.” The root problem, as the following chapters will show, is not the political agenda behind the research or the method, but the very conceptualisation of social reality – an issue that can apply to both academic camps. On the case for Critical Terrorism Studies, see: Gunning (2007); Breen Smyth, Gunning, Jackson, and Kassimeris (2008a,b); and Jackson (2009); on the case against it see Horgan and Boyle (2008). 2. For a chronology of the events see Spiegel Online (2011). 1 The Problems with Terrorism Research 1. According to an FBI chronology (n.d.: 288) the desk clerk who checked Hamza Aghamdi out of the Hotel Days at 5.52am of 11 September 2001 noticed he was “wearing cologne.” 2. Crenshaw’s articles have inspired further work about the end of Al Qaeda by Cronin (2006; 2009). 3. A consultation of the syllabi collected on the website “Teaching Terror” (http://www.teachingterror.net/syllabi.htm) shows that Hoffman’s text appears in virtually every terrorism course’s reading list. 4. “Transition Network,” http://www.transitionnetwork.org/ 5. British National Party website, http://www.bnp.org.uk/policies/immigration 6. Global Terrorism Database (GTD) website: http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/ 7. For Bennett and George theory testing should involve, besides control- led comparison, also another method of causal inference such as process- tracing (Bennett and George 1997: 2). Process-tracing is a method to 180 Notes 181 “generate and analyze data on the causal mechanisms, or processes, events actions, expectations, and other intervening variables, that link putative causes to observed effects” (ibid.: 5.) 8. It could be argued that also this law has conditions of validity, as water always boils at 100°C at sea level. 2 Terrorism, Communication, and the Media 1. It could be argued that the hostage taking was not at all an act of terrorism and should not have been used by Schmid to illustrate his argument. 2. For more information about this event see BBC News (2007). 3. Adam Dolnik, in an interview with the author, stresses the greater opera- tional capability of recruits who have received training against the ‘self- starters’: “we have seen a definite difference in the capabilities of the home-grown groups that had contact and training with groups in Pakistan or Afghanistan and the groups that try to do it all on their own. There is a huge capability difference” (Dolnik 2011b). 4. On this point see also Stevens (2009). 5. For a range of critical views on the extent to which communication tech- nologies sustain different kinds of online communities, from diasporic groups to migrants, less-abled people, and transnational movements, see Silverstone (2005). For more on online activism and advocacy, see: Hick and McNutt (2002); McCaughey and Ayers (2003). 6. An example of the belief that online communities of Muslim extremists uncontroversially exist is offered by Gendron (2006). Drawing on Sageman (2004) she writes that: “Internet connections create a bond between indi- viduals and a ‘virtual’ Muslim community which is an approximation of an ideal Islamic society: one that is all that is just, egalitarian, and universal in its simplicity and purity” (Gendron 2006: 16). 7. Kohlmann is not alone in believing that images are more powerful than text: see also HSPI/CIAG (2007: 18). 8. The very distinction between agents and structures that characterises all Sociology, according to Margaret Somers and Gloria Gibson (1994: 12), is part of the constructed “metanarrative of modernity.” This point will be further developed in Chapter 3. 9. I will more fully develop this metaphor in the conclusions (Chapter 7). 3 A Communication Approach 1. According to Charles Lave and James March (1993: 3) a model is “a simpli- fied picture of a part of the real world. It has some characteristics of the real world, but not all of them. It is a set of interrelated guesses about the world.” Because these “guesses” reflect the researcher’s interpretation of a set of causal mechanisms that explain reality, I use the term “model” inter- changeably with “theoretical framework.” 2. Harrison White is notoriously obscure in his writing. The reader might want to become familiar with his thought through Azarian’s (2005) analysis of the author’s work. 182 Notes 3. There are further ways in which objects participate in social action (Latour 1999: 183-190). They fall beyond the focus of the analysis here. 4. For Tilly (2002: 88) a social movement is “a kind of campaign ... [that] demands righting of a wrong, more often a wrong suffered by a well- specified population. The population in question can range from a single individual to all humans.” 5. Tilly (2002: 118) describes repertoire as the “limited number of previously created performances within which the people involved [in political con- tention] can make claims.” 6. Snow at al. (1986: 476-478) acknowledge, themselves, the limitations of their “frame alignment” approach. 7. See Seib (2012, forthcoming) for an excellent discussion of the role of social media in the uprising in North Africa and the Middle East in 2011. 8. Emirbayer and Mische (1998: 971) point out that, in Relational Sociology, it is possible to identify three constitutive aspects of agency: iteration or “the selective reactivation by actors of past patterns of thought and action, as routinely incorporated in practical activity”; “projectivity,” that is the imagination of “possible future trajectories of action”; and “evaluation,” or the ability of actors to assess situations and responding to “demands, dilemmas, and ambiguities” of developing circumstances. I agree with the authors in recognising the existence of these interrelated components, and also share with them the understanding of agency as “temporally embed- ded process of social engagement.” I prefer, however, to talk about “indi- vidual narrative” rather than “agency” to emphasise the fact that, although there is a relationship between consciousness (our interpretation of reality) and action (what we actually do), they do not coincide. 9. Anderson (1983: 15) used this term to explain the rise of national- ism: “nations are imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion.” 10. This argument fits with the relationship between consciousness and action advocated by symbolic interactionism: social action is not shaped by “quasi- objectively existing forces,” but by the meaning that is attributed to them by actors (Joas and Knöbl 2009: 132). The meaning changes depending on the context. Hans Joas and Wolfgang Knöbl (ibid.) present the example of a tree which, they explain, is never only a material object: it can be the subject of scientific research for a biologist, but can also have a romantic significance for somebody who, for instance, had a first rendezvous by an oak at the edge of the woods. Meaning can also change over time and across situations: I might look at my computer as a simple typewriter until a technical problem occurs. At that point, by being forced to deal with the malfunction, I start learning how it works and begin to see it in a different light. 11. “ABC News 1972 Munich massacre coverage,” 6 September, http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=lTqZPKZ4_wk 12. “Che cosa è ‘Settembre Nero’? [What is ‘Black September?],” and “La dichia- razione dei terroristi [The terrorists’ declaration],” L’ Unit à , 6 September, p. 6; “Settembre Nero [Black September],” La Stampa, 6 September, p. 3 (Ascari 2009b). Notes 183 13. “E così lo sport è finito in trincea [How sport ended up in the trench],” Gazzetta dello Sport, 6 September, p. 1 and 13 (Ascari 2009a). 14. “Il dramma e il mito [The drama and the myth],” L’ Unit à, 6 September, p. 10; “Violata l’ultima isola di pace [Violated the last island of peace],” Corriere della Sera, 6 September, p. 3 (Ascari 2009a). 15. The US Department of Defence (2002: 1) stated that, as of May 2002, there were “68 nations supporting the global war on terrorism ... 20 nations have deployed more than 16,000 troops to the U.S. Central Command’s region of responsibility.” 16. I am not arguing that individuals should be criminalised only for what they say or think rather than for what they do. In fact, radical statements could well be made for merely rhetorical or attention-seeking purposes. They could be empty declarations that never get translated into deeds, let alone violence. The point here is that mapping what people say/think – imagined relationships and broader vision of the world – through their personal and/ or group narrative over time can provide support and early warning signals to understanding their actions.
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