A consequence of this is CSS do not see the state as most important referent object. In contrast to realism and liberalism it is the approach of CSS to look for alternative referent objects beside the state. But CSS are not just one approach. It is divided into different schools or drifts. This essay wants to research, how these schools and drifts analyse the WoT.

These two are most important drifts inside CSS. The other drifts will be discussed in paragraph 4. Afterwards in paragraph 5 it will be pointed out where the failures and critic points of CSS in general as well as in its drifts are. This means on the one hand that CSS does not take the state as the most important referent object, but thinks more broadly about the reasons for in- security.

And on the other hand CSS researchers according to Critical Theory claim reality to be socially constructed and want to look behind the empiricist world. In context of WoT we will see later that this means a critic on official or governmental standpoints. The debates between CSS and governmental or traditional approaches start at the definition of terrorism.

Definitions of terrorism are broadly discussed in practical politics and in International Relations IR. Because this is such a high-class topic, an own definition will be used in this essay. Of course this definition will be discussed in contrast to the definition CSS researches made. From the debates in the public and the media one has of course a general understanding of WoT. This situation will be important for the further analysis but also a more abstract definition of WoT is necessary here.

How can Critical Security Studies approaches be applied to the `the war on terrorism´?

In context of the WoT realists would argue there is an empirical reality one could recognize [2]. Connected to the definitions made above scholars would ask, if the threat from global Islamist movement really exists or if this threat is created by political elites for some reason. In another case, accepting an existing terrorist threat, these scholars would question the collective accepted and by traditional scholars argued reasons for terrorist attacks and the WoT.

In addition to his Booth declares it to be easy for US governments create threats socially because of the US society. Furthermore the US government had done so many times in the WoT [6]. To argue like this Booth of course uses another definition of terrorism as used in this essay. But Booths definition does not fit and the definition used here is more exact.

At first a terrorist act has not to be a political act. Secondly targets of terrorism do not need be civilian nature. It can be no doubt that if one claim the attacks on the World Trade Center to be terrorist acts the attack on the Pentagon was also a terrorist act.

Thirdly states cannot commit terrorist attacks. There may be political or juridical illegitimated acts of state violence similar to terrorist activities, but this has to be differed from actions of non-state actors. For example a non-state actor has no political opposition or parliamentary control, which could force it to apologize for such an act. The inner nature of states and terrorist organizations is too different to declare they would act equal by using force.

This left political approach combined with the aim to show the social construction of security in connection to collective identities can be found in Simon Philpotts and David Mutimers analyses about US foreign policy and the countries identity. The dominance of the belief in freedom in the US foreign policy is considered to be constructed by the ongoing amnesia of US own crimes and this amnesia has the effect that US crimes always happen in a similar way again [15]. Applied on WoT this approach would mean the WoT in its hole is an illegitimated or even criminal act.

In their whole analyses the authors never seriously mention the point that there could be a specific earnest reason why US politicians decided to act in specific way, including the decision to use violence in several ways. Barry Buzan and Lene Hansen London: SAGE, , Palgrave Macmillan, , 2. What America calls preventative war, the Middle East calls state terrorism. Throughout American history, military strength has been at the heart of identity; it is embedded in politics and culture.

War as a solution is rooted in American culture, as The War of Independence and World War II are referred to as successes and justifications for future war. And the shared hate for the enemy contributes to a unified patriotism within America that deflects attention from the deeply entrenched inequalities within the nation. The culture of war is created through the imagery and language used in politics and popular entertainment in order to frame a narrative of the enemy. Islam and Muslims have been constructed as a dangerous other in Western culture.


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The hyperbolic, dramatic language used in the media casts the Western world as heroes who fight the villains. CTS reflects on who this narrative of the enemy benefits. This perception that reinforces patriotism and justifications for war, profits the Western world and furthers the dominance and oppression that divides the two regions. When the motives and ideology of terrorists are largely unknown — let alone the number and whereabouts — the greater the possibility is to rely on stereotype and myth-based discourse.

When reality falls short, the narrative of foreign peoples is shaped by "shortcuts provided by stylized imagery compounded of stories, films and our own imaginations". This enemy is merciless, believes in extreme religious values and will do anything to destroy the West. Such imagery and language degrades common humanity, and prevents us from understanding that the enemy is a human who is victimized.


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  • John Urry was a pioneer in discussing the paradigms of mobilities within the age of terror. Per his viewpoint, terrorism operates in a world of contrasting complexities where the power, far from being static, flows. The power is mobile in the same way, its gravity-effects on the world of consumption. Terrorism divides the world in two safe and unsafe zones. Since tourists are ambassadors of first World, not surprisingly they were targets of terrorist cells in zones dotted with lower levels of security.

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Critical Studies on Terrorism , 1 1 , A case for critical terrorism studies? Government and opposition, 42 3 , pp. A new research agenda.


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    • Language, politics and counter-terrorism. Manchester University Press, p. Emancipation and critical terrorism studies. European Political Science, 6 3 , — European Political Science , 6 3 , — The past, present and future of critical theory in international relations". Review of International Studies , 33, 3— The core commitments of critical terrorism studies. The rise and rise of terrorism studies. The Guardian, 3 July. Polarization between occupier and occupied in post-Saddam Iraq: Terrorism and Political Violence, 18, — Embedded expertise and the new terrorism.

      Journal for Crime, Conflict and the Media, 1 4 , State terror and anthropology" in J. The anthropology of state terror.

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      University of Pennsylvania Press. In the name of terrorism: Old myths, new fantasies and the enduring realities of terrorism, Critical Studies on Terrorism, 1: Oxford Referencing Dictionary, 2nd ed. Social forces, states and world orders: Beyond international relations theory. Journal of International Studies, 10 2 , State Terrorism and Neoliberalism: The north in the south. The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. Are counter-terrorism strategies effective? Magic, Propaganda and the hidden functions of counter-terror.

      Critical terrorism studies - Wikipedia

      Journal of International Development, 18 1 , p. First thoughts on the 'war on terrorism'. The Global War on Terror: A Narrative in Need of a Rewrite. The global complexities of September 11th. The complexities of the global. Managing the effects of terrorism. Journal of Travel Research, 38 1 , A quantitative analysis of major terrorist acts and their impact on tourism destinations. Tourism Economics, 6 2 , Tourism, security and safety. An econometric analysis of the impact of terrorism on tourism.

      Kyklos, 45 4 , War, terror, and the tourism market in Israel. Applied Economics, 34 11 , Space and Culture, 17 4 , Thanatourism and Cinematic Representations of Risk. Tourists in the memoryscapes of September 11 Vol. Simulation, emotional contagion and topographic comparison". Annals of tourism Research. Critical vocabulary Binary opposition Dominant privilege Phallogocentrism Reconstructivism. Archetypal literary criticism New Historicism Technocriticism.

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