Terrorism Expertise Portal

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This is the portal for pages on terrorism expertse and terrorology. It links to a wide range of organisations, think tanks, academic research institutes and front groups which help to shape the views of the public, policy makers and elites on 'terrorism' and political violence. This section is closely linked to Middle East Watch, which focuses on Israel/Palestine and Iraq.

What is 'terrorology'?

As CAMPACC 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?'[1]

According to journalist Kevin Toolis

'Throughout academia, the study of terrorism is booming. But in reality... these "experts" represent an ideology that has its roots in the cold war and in Israeli conservatism'[2]
'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.[3].

As part of the process of sanitising Western state terror as a legitimate technique for self-defence, senior officials and analysts have attempted to legitimise the use of torture among detainees in the "War on Terror". Listed below are a number of documents that relate to these efforts to legitimise torture, as well as documents which critique this.

Alphabetical list of Terrorology groups

Key terrorologist authors and their books

References and Resources

Resources

External links on Terrorology


There are a list of categories associated with this page:

And a number of lists of terror experts including:

References

  1. ↑ Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC), 'Embedded Experts in the 'War on Terror' http://www.campacc.org.uk/embedded.htm
  2. ↑ Kevin Toolis, Rise of the terrorist professors, New Statesman, 14 June 2004. (Accessed: 9 October 2007)
  3. ↑ Joel Beinin (MESA President), Middle East Studies After September 11, 2002 MESA Presidential Address, 2002 Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Summer 2003)
  4. ↑ About Many Rivers Films (Accessed: 9 October 2007)
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