Rethinking terrorism and countering terrorism from a critical perspective.CTS and normativity

Abstract

Acknowledging and drawing from previous literature uncomfortable with mainstream and state-centric approaches to counter-terrorism (Horgan and Boyle 2008; Herman and O’Sullivan 1989; Chomsky 1988; Zulaika and Douglass 1996), the founders of Critical Terrorism Studies put forward the label with the intention to institutionalise a critical stream of thought within Terrorism Studies (Jackson, Breen-Smyth, and Gunning 2009, 1). Their purpose was to create an “umbrella-term” to gather scholars from different backgrounds in an attempt to challenge but also complete and reformulate mainstream approaches to terrorism and counterterrorism. Among critical scholars’ efforts there has always been an attempt to be heard and influence academics but also policy-makers – although CTS scholars have not always agreed on practical aspects (see, among others, Fitzgerald, Ali, and Armstrong 2016; Jackson 2016b; Toros 2016; McGowan 2016). Therefore, it is not an overstatement to argue that the issue of normativity has always been central to Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS).

Acknowledging and drawing from previous literature uncomfortable with mainstream and state-centric approaches to counter-terrorism (Horgan and Boyle 2008; Herman and O’Sullivan 1989; Chomsky 1988; Zulaika and Douglass 1996), the founders of Critical Terrorism Studies put forward the label with the intention to institutionalise a critical stream of thought within Terrorism Studies (Jackson, Breen-Smyth, and Gunning 2009, 1). Their purpose was to create an “umbrella-term” to gather scholars from different backgrounds in an attempt to challenge but also complete and reformulate mainstream approaches to terrorism and counterterrorism. Among critical scholars’ efforts there has always been an attempt to be heard and influence academics but also policy-makers – although CTS scholars have not always agreed on practical aspects (see, among others, Fitzgerald, Ali, and Armstrong 2016; Jackson 2016b; Toros 2016; McGowan 2016). Therefore, it is not an overstatement to argue that the issue of normativity has always been central to Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS).