Showing papers in "Critical Studies on Terrorism in 2015"
TL;DR: The epistemological crisis of counterterrorism is an identifiable epistemic posture towards knowledge about, as well as a way of acting towards, the terrorist threat as discussed by the authors, which manifests itself discursively in the manner in which officials, scholars, pundits and others speak about the threat of terrorism, and the way counterterrorism and security practitioners then act in pursuit of security against that threat.
Abstract: This article describes the nature, origins and consequences of the epistemological crisis at the heart of contemporary counterterrorism. The epistemological crisis of counterterrorism is an identifiable epistemic posture towards knowledge about, as well as a way of acting towards, the terrorist threat. It manifests itself discursively in the manner in which officials, scholars, pundits and others speak about the threat of terrorism, and the way counterterrorism and security practitioners then act in pursuit of security against that threat. The article argues that many of the bizarre counterterrorist practices regularly observed in many Western countries, as well as costly and counterproductive counterterrorist practices such as preemptive war, targeted killings, mass surveillance, torture, control orders and de-radicalisation programmes, among others, are neither anomalous nor irrational in the context of the new paradigm. Rather, they flow logically and directly from the particular paranoid logic, which ...
95 citations
TL;DR: The judge in the case of Umm Ahmed clarified to the court that she had not been involved in illegality or had any intention to pose a threat to the UK. Despite this recognition, he sentenced Begum to a 12-month prison term for possessing the magazine Inspire which she had been reading to understand her charged brother's case as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: “She is of good behaviour and a good Muslim. Against this background, I accept on the evidence before me that this defendant gathered together the contents of the SD card in order to explore and understand the charges which her brothers faced. There is no evidence that she was motivated by their ideology or was preparing to follow them.” The judge in the case of Umm Ahmed clarified to the court that she had not been involved in illegality or had any intention to pose a threat to the UK. Despite this recognition, he sentenced Begum to a 12-month prison term for possessing the magazine Inspire which she had been reading to understand her charged brother’s case. What is unknown is the story of how Umm Ahmed was subjected to a deradicalisation programme, under the auspices of PREVENT and CHANNEL, without any indication of actual involvement in terrorism. The use of deradicalisation narratives in schools, universities and hospitals has led to the criminalisation of large sections of the various Muslim communit...
39 citations
TL;DR: De-radicalization has become increasingly prevalent in the UK as a strategy for tackling the threat of religiously inspired violence/extremism as discussed by the authors, and the work of the Prevent strategy in UK counterterrorism post-2011 has primarily been recalibrated towards a greater focus on de-radicalisation interventions.
Abstract: De-radicalisation has become increasingly prevalent in the UK as a strategy for tackling the threat of religiously inspired violence/extremism. Recent events, such as the tragic murder of Lee Rigby in May 2013, British citizens fighting in Middle Eastern conflicts, and the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham, have rekindled the preoccupation of policymakers with the radicalisation of British Muslims. Indeed, the work of the Prevent strategy in UK counterterrorism post-2011 has primarily been recalibrated towards a greater focus on de-radicalisation interventions, which is perceived by policy-makers to be a more streamlined and effective way of dealing with radicalised/extremist individuals. And, yet, despite the greater attention paid to de-radicalisation, the discourse on de-radicalisation is characterised by the absence of detailed research, little or no empirical evidence for policy development, and confusion surrounding its conceptual framework. This article therefore offers an alternative...
36 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that the definitional debate has served to obscure the substantial scholarly consensus that actually exists on what terrorism is, and that this consensus is, however, largely unnecessary and irrelevant to the effective use of the term in the heterogeneous contexts within which it is employed.
Abstract: This article seeks to turn the debate about the definition of terrorism on its head by arguing: (1) that the definitional debate has served to obscure the substantial scholarly consensus that actually exists on what terrorism is; (2) that this consensus is, however, largely unnecessary and irrelevant to the effective use of the term in the heterogeneous contexts within which it is employed; and (3) that by focusing on the quest for a definition of terrorism, terrorism scholars have largely missed the really interesting question about the word, namely, why it is that, given the heterogeneous purposes and contexts for which the word is used, we nonetheless continue to use a single word for all. In other words, how is it that we continue to know terrorism when we see it?
29 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the securitisation of Islam post-9/11 in the US is a remote Securitization whereby the Securitisers, the security practitioners, are placed at a distance from the Muslim community.
Abstract: This article critically analyses the securitisation of Islam post-9/11 in the US and argues that this securitisation is a remote securitisation whereby the securitisers – the security practitioners – are placed at a distance from the securitisees – the Muslim community. This is achieved through two processes of security practice: linguistically by euphemising language and using metaphors, and analytically by understanding radicalisation through a rationalist perspective, which follows the “logic of expected consequences”. This article further problematises the rationalist view of radicalisation in the counterterrorism sector in the US and concludes by introducing a Bourdieusan concept of relationality to critical counter-radicalisation studies.
28 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a definition of terrorism as the apprehension of (more) violence to come because every terrorist act is perceived to be part of a potential series, and terrorism is oriented towards the future and involves the imaginary anticipation of prospective events.
Abstract: Although terrorism is widely understood to be the politically motivated creation of fear by means of violence in a target group, the nature of that fear is seldom explained or even considered The present article attempts to close that gap by proposing a definition of terror as the apprehension of (more) violence to come Because every terrorist act is perceived to be part of a potential series, terror is oriented towards the future and involves the imaginary anticipation of prospective events On the basis of this definition, I will examine the problematical role of counterterrorist discourse As the statements of public officials and security experts in the run-up to, and during, the “War on Terror” demonstrate, the peculiar dynamic of terror is, seemingly paradoxically, reinforced by counterterrorist rhetoric With its insistence on the escalatory nature of terrorist violence and its repeated prediction of even worse attacks, counterterrorism contributes to the evocation of terror in the sense proposed
24 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the aesthetics and visual and oral imagery appropriated, re-constructed, transformed and mediated by right-wing women are examined, based on ethnographic and visual research conducted in 2013-2014 with women in the cultural nationalist Hindu rightwing project in India.
Abstract: “Right-wing” movements see significant participation by women who espouse their exclusionary and violent politics while at the same time often contest their patriarchal spaces. Women also serve as discursive and symbolic markers that regularly form the basis of the rhetoric, ideology, actions and policies of the right-wing. However, even as women’s roles and politics within the right-wing remain diverse and important, dominant feminist scholarship has had uneasy encounters with right-wing women, labelling them as monolithic pawns/victims/subjects of patriarchy with limited or no agency. This article aims to question this notion by examining the aesthetics and visual and oral imagery appropriated, (re)constructed, transformed and mediated by right-wing women. Based on ethnographic and visual research conducted in 2013–2014 with women in the cultural nationalist Hindu right-wing project in India, I argue that right-wing women use a variety of visual and oral narratives (from images to storytelling) to negot...
22 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the intensifying international interest in sexual violence, and an accompanying hyper-visual imagery, is implicated in the cauterisation of critical thought about sexual violence.
Abstract: The article begins with a question about the value of revitalising the equation between sexual/intimate violence and terrorism in the current neoliberal/post-feminist political and epistemological landscape. We argue that the intensifying international interest in sexual violence, and an accompanying hyper-visual imagery, is implicated in the cauterisation of critical thought about sexual violence. We offer the more mobile and expansive concept of sexed violence to “unthink” dominant narratives that reproduce heteronormativity and white, Western hegemony. Through an analysis of the film Unwatchable, we consider why non-white raced bodies consistently materialise as less “comprehensible” as violatable than white bodies. We further suggest that a move to sexed violence can help to think more critically about both sexual violence and feminism.
22 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify the dominant frames rendered in news media reporting on terrorism-related episodes, including inevitability and preparedness, with alleged plots serving to underline the risk posed by contemporary terrorism, and a belonging and responsibility frame cast later episodes as belonging to the Muslim communities disrupted by police operations.
Abstract: In the decade after 9/11, the UK terrorist threat was associated with a series of high-profile counterterrorism operations linked to specific plots. These terrorism-related episodes received significant media attention and, as a consequence, were a visible sign of the contemporary terrorist threat. This article seeks to identify the dominant frames rendered in news media reporting on these episodes. Through a longitudinal study of UK press coverage, the analysis reveals that two prominent frames were present, an inevitability and preparedness frame, with alleged plots serving to underline the risk posed by contemporary terrorism, and a belonging and responsibility frame, which cast later episodes as belonging to the Muslim communities disrupted by police operations.
20 citations
TL;DR: A conceptualisation of CT effectiveness is proposed, which should help to resolve some of the issues outlined and outline some future research directions that should improve the methodological grasp in the field.
Abstract: Efforts to combat terrorism have become a priority in the security agenda of most countries around the world, while the respective policies, tools and instruments have amounted to significant costs. In this article, we review the literature on counterterrorism (CT) effectiveness and draw a series of rather negative conclusions with regard to the reliability of our knowledge in this area. We find that the literature displays case and data selection biases, and the results produced are oftentimes contradictory, mostly due to the use of different indicators. We then propose a conceptualisation of CT effectiveness, which should help to resolve some of the issues outlined. The article concludes by outlining some future research directions that should improve our methodological grasp in the field.
19 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the effects of counterterrorism policy on capital accumulation and its social conditions, and show that for dominant capital, it signifies appropriation of public money and direct participation in political decisions; for everyone else, it means material dispossession and political exclusion.
Abstract: This article discusses US counterterrorism from a class perspective. It sees counterterrorism as a state policy with differential effects on different social classes. In doing so, the article starts to address a lacuna in critical studies of counterterrorism, which tend to be rather structural and formal, thus ignoring the pertinence of counterterrorism to the field of social dynamics. To partly rectify this blind spot by addressing some class implications of counterterrorism, the article examines the effects of counterterrorism policy on capital accumulation and its social conditions. It notes that counterterrorism has different implications along class-lines: for dominant capital, it signifies appropriation of public money and direct participation in political decisions; for everyone else, it means material dispossession and political exclusion. Given that counterterrorism was developed between two crises of neoliberalism, the article distinguishes between economic crises, which tend to benefit capitali...
TL;DR: In this article, a personal experience of being stopped and questioned at Heathrow Airport on 28 March 2012 for possession of "suspect materials" (i.e., academic books on terrorism).
Abstract: The core concern of this article is derived from my personal experience of being stopped and questioned at Heathrow Airport on 28 March 2012 for possession of “suspect materials”: academic books on terrorism. I seek to utilise this experience to reflect on how logics of counterterrorism can become manifested in bizarre and prejudicial ways, and how autoethnography provides a unique means to articulate human experiences of such logics. I further utilise my experience to reflect on the dynamics of academic privilege, which often flourish at the expense of the voices of “ordinary citizens”, and argue that autoethnography can be embraced as an empowering form of self-expression through which “ordinary citizens” might de-subjugate themselves from the margins of academia towards an emancipatory ideal wherein the lived experiences of such citizens occupy a substantial space in academic and popular understandings of (counter)terrorism.
TL;DR: Since the inception of feminist work in International Relations (IR), feminist scholars have been urging IR scholars to pay attention to the margins of global politics (Brown 1988; Tickner 1992).
Abstract: Since the inception of feminist work in International Relations (IR), feminist scholars have been urging IR scholars to pay attention to the margins of global politics (Brown 1988; Tickner 1992). T...
TL;DR: This paper used an agenda-setting theory and news framing theory lens to compare news coverage of the January 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, France, and Borno, Nigeria revealed significant variances in the overall coverage, headline style and discourse usage based on the event.
Abstract: Written news coverage of an event influences public perception and understanding of that event. Through agenda setting and news framing, journalists control the importance and substance of readers’ beliefs about the event. While existing research has been conducted on the relationship between media coverage and the geographic location of the country an event took place in, there is limited understanding of this relationship in terms of terrorist events. Utilising an agenda-setting theory and news framing theory lens to compare news coverage of the January 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, France, and Borno, Nigeria revealed significant variances in the overall coverage, headline style and discourse usage based on the event. In particular, the American news coverage positively framed France through detailed, sympathetic coverage and negatively framed Nigeria by overgeneralising and placing blame. Determining the origin and impacts of these variances is integral to forming a more comprehensive understanding ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that violence against women in the developing world is seen as a security concern to the West, and yet violence in the West is minimised or ignored.
Abstract: This article attempts to problematise the disparate levels of attention paid to similar violences globally, whereby violence against women in the developing world is seen as a security concern to the West, and yet violence against women in the West is minimised or ignored. It will do this, first, by demonstrating that everyday violences, better known as everyday terrorism, in the West are subjugated knowledges within Terrorism Studies. To demonstrate this, Half the Sky, Sex and World Peace and The Better Angels of Our Nature serve as exemplar texts that reflect Western exceptionalism and non-Western savagery, particularly within Muslim societies, and deflect from everyday terrorism within the West. This reifies the West as an exceptional saviour and the non-West as a problematic savage. This article looks to flip that reification on its head by recognising that everyday terrorism happens everywhere and is not bound to non-Western identities.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the normalisation of war/terror discourse in intimate/everyday violence brings with it intimate counterterror and suggest that any benefits of naming everyday violence as terror are erased, subsumed or outweighed by the disadvantages of importing counterterrorism to the sphere of the intimate.
Abstract: This article looks at the implications of the “domestic/everyday violence” = “war/terrorism” homology for thinking about “domestic/everyday” violence. Particularly, it contends that the normalisation of war/terror discourse in intimate/everyday violence brings with it intimate/everyday counterterror. It suggests that any benefits of naming everyday violence as terror are erased, subsumed or outweighed by the disadvantages of importing counterterrorism to the sphere of the intimate. Beyond the securitisation of the bedroom and the terror of intimate counterterror, this article contends that feminist and queer theorising provide insights about the nature of terror that show intimate terrorism in counterterrorism and make intimate/everyday counterterrorism doubly dangerous. As such, the equation of “everyday/intimate violence” = “war/terrorism” is counterproductive because of its bidirectional co-constitution. While the intimate plays a role in the constitution of war/terrorism, the re-direction of war/terro...
TL;DR: The Critical Terrorism Studies BISA Working Group (CSTWG) workshop on "Neoliberalism and/as Terror" as mentioned in this paper was held at Nottingham Conference Centre at Nottingham Trent University.
Abstract: The articles in this special issue are drawn from papers presented at a conference entitled “Neoliberalism and/as Terror”, held at the Nottingham Conference Centre at Nottingham Trent University by the Critical Terrorism Studies BISA Working Group (CSTWG) on 15–16 September 2014. The conference was supported by both a BISA workshop grant and supplementary funds from Nottingham Trent University’s Politics and International Relations Department and the Critical Studies on Terrorism journal. Papers presented at the conference aimed to extend research into the diverse linkages between neoliberalism and terrorism, including but extending beyond the contextualisation of pre-emptive counterterrorism technologies and privatised securities within relevant economic and ideological contexts. Thus, the conference sought also to stimulate research into the ways that neoliberalism could itself be understood as terrorism, asking – amongst other questions – whether populations are themselves terrorised by neoliberal policy. The articles presented in this special issue reflect the conference aims in bringing together research on the neoliberalisation of counterterrorism and on the terror of neoliberalism.
TL;DR: The authors investigates the historical evolution, values and Islamic reference points of Hamas and reveals that Islam remains intertwined with the movement's political and social activities, and that the interpretation of Islamic values is not immutable, however, but rather part of a dynamic process subject to evolution and change.
Abstract: This article investigates the historical evolution, values and Islamic reference points of Hamas. A product of fieldwork in the Middle East in 2009–2010, it allows Palestinian Islamists and their supporters to explain their views on Islam, whilst analysing the implications of these in regards to Hamas’ wider programme of resistance. Interviews and surveys, as well as Hamas’ ongoing use of Islamic terminology and the Islamisation of the Gaza Strip, reveal that religion remains intertwined with the movement’s political and social activities. Secular analyses clearly demarcating political and religious spheres in such cases are inadequate. The interpretation of Islamic values is not immutable, however, but rather part of a dynamic process subject to evolution and change.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that resistance through memory has already been put forth in the Global South (specifically, Latin America) and elucidate some problems with the critical imperative to resist.
Abstract: Critical theory avows that “where there is power there is always resistance”. However, the practical implications and consequences of particular modes of resistance remain, within World Politics, under-theorised. In critical terrorism studies (CTS), this critical imperative to resist has recently emerged in the proposal to remember state terrorism. With this move, CTS aims to disturb the legitimacy of forms of violence/terror that emerge from the state. In this article, I argue that such an agenda of “resistance through memory” has already been put forth in the Global South (specifically, Latin America). Drawing on this historical experience, I elucidate some problems with the critical imperative to resist. More specifically, I show how in Brazil the Global South counter-memorial narratives of state terror share a common ground with the Global North counterterrorism discourses. I do so by analysing three underlying tropes of Brazilian remembrance that replicate Global North representations of terrorists: ...
TL;DR: In this article, the Universal Adversary is introduced as a new way of thinking about the enemy that is becoming embedded in the logic of security and emergency, and the radical expansiveness of the category offers new possibilities for thinking about a "universality" with which the enemy of bourgeois order has historically been considered and offers new ways of connecting this universality with a particular figure.
Abstract: This article explores a category to have recently emerged out of the national security state: the Universal Adversary. The category appears in emergency planning documents and suggests a new way of thinking about the enemy that is becoming embedded in the logic of security and emergency. However, the radical expansiveness of the category offers new possibilities for thinking about the “universality” with which the enemy of bourgeois order has historically been considered and offers new ways of connecting this universality with a particular figure: the disgruntled worker.
TL;DR: In this article, the spousal visa law in the UK is considered as symbolic of some of the main structural violence in society that cross-cut gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic class, age, education level and profession.
Abstract: Attending to mundane bureaucratic politics can highlight forms of everyday structural violence. This article draws attention to the spousal visa law in the UK. On the surface, this law does violence to family life, forcing indefinite separation. However, this law is also symbolic of some of the main structural violence in society that cross-cut gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic class, age, education level and profession, thus making tangible some of the intangible borders in society. Through the vehicle of this law we will consider how structural violence can operate as an everyday terror, disrupting the boundaries of public and private life.
Abstract: The Nigeria-based violent non-state actor Boko Haram is increasingly reported on in the news media in relation to the Islamic State, another, more prominent, violent non-state actor. In particular, these comparisons have been drawn within the context of reports on Boko Haram’s recent improvement in video propaganda quality. While the associations with the Islamic State are often warranted, there are broader social consequences when colonial power relations are brought into play. Borrowing an approach from critical discourse analysis, 16 online English-language news articles were read through a postcolonial lens in order to analyse the structural relations of dominance that arise when discussing African non-state actors. The analysis revealed that among the corpus of articles, nine developed a discourse of mimicry, which serves to deny Boko Haram full agency, relegate them to a silenced subaltern status, and ultimately to diminish the sense of threat posed to the dominant geopolitical security paradigm.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed the media coverage of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacks and the Northern Irish peace process and found that the format of a newspaper affects the framing of this coverage more than the location.
Abstract: Coverage of Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacks and the Northern Irish peace process is affected by both the country a media organisation is located and their format. The coverage of the IRA in 1996 was studied in five newspapers based in Ireland, Northern Ireland, the UK and the USA to reveal similarities and differences in language use, stories reported and general emphasis. The frequency of keywords was examined to show that the location a newspaper is based in affects the stories run by the newspaper. However, the format of a newspaper affects the framing of this coverage more than the location. These results were analysed through the lens of two leading theories pertaining to media–public relations: agenda-setting theory and framing theory. While both are shown to be partially useful in explaining the results, a more holistic view that accounts for public influence on media coverage would be even more useful. As a result of this narrow focus on only one part of media–public relations, the two theorie...
TL;DR: The authors analyzed the discourse of two spokesmen, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest and British hostage John Cantlie, in framing the issue of hostage negotiations on behalf of their organisations.
Abstract: Since August 2014, there has been a marked increase in the violence perpetrated by the Islamic State against Western hostages. Videos released by the Islamic State depicting the brutal executions of hostages have been circulated widely on social media. This has prompted a dialogue about governments’ policies regarding negotiation with terrorist organisations to secure the release of their citizens held overseas. The United States and Britain, two non-negotiating countries, have faced significant criticism for this policy, which has led to the beheadings of several American and British citizens. This article analyses the discourse of two spokesmen – White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, and British hostage John Cantlie – in framing the issue of hostage negotiations on behalf of their organisations. A grounded theory approach informed by framing analysis is utilised in order to identify dominant discourses employed in White House press briefings and John Cantlie’s videos and articles. This article concl...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue for an expansion of the conceptual space within which terrorism is primarily understood as a form of violent action, by identifying a variety of conceptual uses of terrorism as a government, political philosophy and political identity.
Abstract: Accounts of terrorism, which locate the emergence of the concept in the French Revolution, tend to accept two premises. First, they assume that the concept of terrorism names a particular form of violence. Second, they regard Robespierre as the first practitioner of terrorism, thus suggesting an understanding of the term as state violence. While this article substantiates the second premise by way of a discussion of the first systematic articulation of terrorism by Tallien in 1794, it problematises the first premise through an examination of archival evidence from the period between 1794 and 1797. By identifying a variety of conceptual uses of terrorism as a form of government, political philosophy and political identity, I argue for an expansion of the conceptual space within which terrorism is primarily understood as a form of violent action.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that this is evident within military-themed video games, offering a mimetic analysis of the themes of violence, identity and space in Splinter Cell: Blacklist.
Abstract: Following an aesthetic turn, it has become increasingly permissible to utilise artefacts of popular culture in the study of political phenomena. This practice has been of an increased relevance in the period following the trauma of the September 11th terrorist attacks and the subsequent War on Terror, during which popular culture has played an important role in the provision and reproduction of accessible narratives of warfare and counterterrorism. This article argues that this is evident within military-themed video games, offering a mimetic analysis of the themes of violence, identity and space in Splinter Cell: Blacklist.
TL;DR: The first decade of the twenty-first century has been marked by the decisive entry into our media landscape of the so-called global war on terror, with countless films and TV series from all over the world addressing the issue of international terrorism as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The first decade of the twenty-first century has been marked by the decisive entry into our media landscape of the so-called global war on terror, with countless films and TV series from all over the world addressing the issue of international terrorism. Even Indian popular cinema, which has been addressing the issue of domestic terrorism since the late 1980s with films such as Roja (Ratnam, 1992), Drohkaal (Nihalani, 1994), Maachis (Gulzar, 1996), has, since the new millennium, begun to tackle the topic of international terrorism. In this article, I will analyse the shift in the construction of the terrorist discourse in Indian popular cinema from a domestic to an international perspective in order to highlight the close proximity between the two, as in fact, the “global war on terror” narrative seems to offer Indian filmmakers the possibility to simultaneously address international and domestic terrorism. In particular, I will refer to Karan Johar’s film My Name Is Khan as a text which, while discussing...
TL;DR: The article assesses how, in the context of SECUR-ED, connections and continuities are performed across European differences and across public–private space, and concludes with a critical analysis of the broader European Union project for security research under the Seventh Framework Programme.
Abstract: In April 2011, a large consortium of European rail and security suppliers, transport operators and research organisations launched the Secured Urban Transportation – European Demonstration (SECUR-ED) project with the objective of providing public transport operators with the means to enhance urban transport security. Drawing on a detailed study of the SECUR-ED project, this article examines the way in which the problem of urban transport security has been addressed in Europe. It analyses the SECUR-ED project as a performative space, in which risks and capabilities are identified, enacted and contested, and relations across public and private actors are forged. Combining the literature on the performativity of security with John Law’s work on “the project”, the article proceeds by assessing how, in the context of SECUR-ED, connections and continuities are performed across European differences and across public–private space. Hence, it argues that the main function of the project was precisely this: to enac...
TL;DR: The Making of Terrorism in Pakistan as mentioned in this paper is the most detailed and detailed account of the history of terrorism in Pakistan, and it has been referred to as a terrorist state, a terrorist sponsor, and an exporter of terrorism.
Abstract: Overwhelmingly, Pakistan has been referred to as a “terrorist state,” a “terrorist sponsor” and an “exporter of terrorism.” Eamon Murphy’s The Making of Terrorism in Pakistan is the most detailed c...
TL;DR: This paper explored the role of cultural proximity in informing casualty count reporting in times of conflict and found that significant differences exist in the way casualty figures are addressed across varying degrees of political and cultural involvement.
Abstract: The 2014 Israel–Gaza war was the third of a string of conflicts to erupt between the State of Israel and Hamas in neighbouring Gaza and quickly became the deadliest for both sides. Even with the extensive media attention this crisis received, calls for more objective reporting were widespread, as locating sources that were not clearly influenced or reflective of political biases seemed near impossible. This paper seeks to explore the role “cultural proximity” plays in informing casualty count reporting in times of conflict. Qualitative content analysis is conducted on news coverage of the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict in the American daily newspaper, The New York Times, and the Israeli daily newspaper, Haaretz, to assess whether significant differences exist in the way casualty figures are addressed across varying degrees of political and cultural involvement. This research reveals that variations in casualty count reporting do indeed exist across cultural and national contexts, and deems this subject worthy ...