Disciplining terror : how experts invented "terrorism" / Lisa Stampnitzky.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stampnitzky, Lisa, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Terrorism.

Terrorism--Study and teaching--History.

Terrorism--Research--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 232 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Since 9/11 we have been told that terrorists are pathological evildoers, beyond our comprehension. Before the 1970s, however, hijackings, assassinations, and other acts we now call 'terrorism' were considered the work of rational strategic actors. Disciplining Terror examines how political violence became 'terrorism', and how this transformation ultimately led to the current 'war on terror'. Drawing upon archival research and interviews with terrorism experts, Lisa Stampnitzky traces the political and academic struggles through which experts made terrorism, and terrorism made experts. She argues that the expert discourse on terrorism operates at the boundary - itself increasingly contested - between science and politics, and between academic expertise and the state. Despite terrorism now being central to contemporary political discourse, there have been few empirical studies of terrorism experts. This book investigates how the concept of terrorism has been developed and used over recent decades.

Contents:

Contents; Figures; Tables; Acknowledgments; 1 Introduction; Previous work on terrorism and terrorism expertise; Terrorism expertise as a liminal field; Studying terrorism experts; Chapter outline; 2 The invention of terrorism and the rise of the terrorism expert; The rise of the terrorism expert; The rise of the ""terrorism Mafia""; A new discipline?; 3 From insurgents to terrorists: experts, rational knowledge, and irrational subjects; Terrorism versus insurgency; The ""counterinsurgency era""; Breaks, continuities, and ambiguities on the road from counterinsurgency to counterterrorism

Explaining the shiftEffects upon expertise; 4 Disasters, diplomats, and databases: rationalization and its discontents; Terrorism as a legal/diplomatic problem; Simulating disaster, routinizing unpredictability; Making terrorism count(able): quantification and risk management; Rationalization and its discontents; 5 ""Terrorism fever"": the first war on terror and the politicization of expertise; The 1979 Jerusalem conference; The Sterling affair: ""in ́81, another expert appears, like a super nova""12; The Senate Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism; Politicization: claims and counterclaims

Depoliticizing terrorism studies?6 Loose can(n)ons: from ""small wars"" to the ""new terrorism""; ""The Muslims are coming The Muslims are coming"" (Pipes 1990); ""Right-wing terrorism""; ""Low-intensity conflict""; Fears of ""weapons of mass destruction""; The ""new terrorism"" synthesis; Reimagining terrorism and terrorism expertise; Critics and skeptics; The new logic of risk; 7 The road to pre-emption; ""We don ́t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud""8; The ""cabal""; ""We are dealing here with evil people who dwell in the shadows, planning unimaginable violence and destruction""17

Exceeding rationalization8 The politics of (anti-)knowledge: disciplining terrorism after 9/11; 9 Conclusion: the trouble with experts; References; Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-23661-4

1-107-35768-3

1-107-34431-X

1-107-34911-7

1-107-34806-4

1-107-34556-1

1-139-20816-0

1-107-34181-7

OCLC:

841911062