‘Ceci n’est pas du terrorisme: this is not terrorism’: representation of far-right and jihadi terrorism in the terrorism studies literature
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Date
2021
Authors
Ahmed, Yasmine
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Publisher
University College Cork
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Abstract
This thesis examines how terrorism is imagined, constructed, and researched by examining the output of scholars in key research journals. The aim of this work is to understand exactly what it is we are talking about when we research about terrorism, not to examine how we define terrorism, but how we define the problem of terrorism. This representation becomes manifest in the research areas we prioritise, the different ways we talk about different ideological motivations, the methods we use to gather data and to analyse terrorism in two of its major manifestations: jihadi terrorism, and far-right terrorism. By examining how we define the problem of terrorism it becomes clear that as an area of study, Terrorism Studies as a manifestation of its time and place (western and post 9/11), is imbued with conservative notions of securitised state centred narratives and is influenced in its analysis by the ideological claims of the perpetrators. This thesis will demonstrate that the way we talk about jihadism as opposed to how we talk about the far-right is a manifestation of the field of terrorism studies. It will also demonstrate that in order to further the academic endeavour of research into terrorism we need new ways of thinking about the field, moving away from the influence of Western, state-centric dominant definitions and towards a framework that prioritises on an empirically based and grounded approach to understanding what the problem appears to be.
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Keywords
Far-right terrorism , Right-wing terrorism , Jihadi terrorism , Representation of terrorism , Critique of terrorism literature , Terrorism studies literature , Meaning making terrorism research
Citation
Ahmed, Y. 2021. ‘Ceci n’est pas du terrorisme: this is not terrorism’: representation of far-right and jihadi terrorism in the terrorism studies literature. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.