Difference between revisions of "Terrorism Expertise Portal"
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| − | As | + | As the Campaign Against Criminalising Communities puts it: |
:Academic terrorism 'experts' - or terrorologists - are deeply embedded in the elite power structure. They conveniently blur distinctions between political dissent, resistance to oppressive regimes, and violent threats to populations. These experts advise governments on counter-terrorism, thus sanitising Western state terror as legitimate techniques for self-defence. Where did these terrorologists come from? How do they gain influence and credibility? How can they be countered?'<ref>Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC), [http://www.campacc.org.uk/embedded.htm Embedded Experts in the 'War on Terror'] (Accessed: 18 January 2008)</ref> | :Academic terrorism 'experts' - or terrorologists - are deeply embedded in the elite power structure. They conveniently blur distinctions between political dissent, resistance to oppressive regimes, and violent threats to populations. These experts advise governments on counter-terrorism, thus sanitising Western state terror as legitimate techniques for self-defence. Where did these terrorologists come from? How do they gain influence and credibility? How can they be countered?'<ref>Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC), [http://www.campacc.org.uk/embedded.htm Embedded Experts in the 'War on Terror'] (Accessed: 18 January 2008)</ref> | ||
| − | + | The Jewish American historian Joel Beinin comments that: | |
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:A new field of "terrorology" emerged, with its own journals, conferences, and research institutes. This popular and scholarly literature informed the discourse of the first American "war on terrorism" during the mid-1980s.Middle East Studies Association members, to our everlasting shame according to some pundits, did not participate much in the scholarly field of terrorology. In my view, there was great wisdom in this abstention. The terrorologists have not accomplished a great deal of practical or intellectual significance. Their studies have not noticeably decreased the incidence of acts of violence against civilians throughout the world. Nor have they enhanced our understanding of the causes of such acts. What they have done is to focus attention on tactics and symptoms, thereby impeding investigation into historical and social causes. This is an ostensibly pragmatic, but fundamentally misguided, approach to understanding terrorism. If the term is to be understood in any useful rather than propagandistic way, terrorism must be regarded as a social and historical phenomenon, not a moral or political epithet.<ref>Joel Beinin (MESA President), [http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Bulletin/Pres%20Addresses/Beinin.htm Middle East Studies After September 11], 2002 MESA Presidential Address, 2002 Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Summer 2003)</ref>. | :A new field of "terrorology" emerged, with its own journals, conferences, and research institutes. This popular and scholarly literature informed the discourse of the first American "war on terrorism" during the mid-1980s.Middle East Studies Association members, to our everlasting shame according to some pundits, did not participate much in the scholarly field of terrorology. In my view, there was great wisdom in this abstention. The terrorologists have not accomplished a great deal of practical or intellectual significance. Their studies have not noticeably decreased the incidence of acts of violence against civilians throughout the world. Nor have they enhanced our understanding of the causes of such acts. What they have done is to focus attention on tactics and symptoms, thereby impeding investigation into historical and social causes. This is an ostensibly pragmatic, but fundamentally misguided, approach to understanding terrorism. If the term is to be understood in any useful rather than propagandistic way, terrorism must be regarded as a social and historical phenomenon, not a moral or political epithet.<ref>Joel Beinin (MESA President), [http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Bulletin/Pres%20Addresses/Beinin.htm Middle East Studies After September 11], 2002 MESA Presidential Address, 2002 Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Summer 2003)</ref>. | ||
Revision as of 08:43, 23 February 2009
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