The Study of Terrorism after 11 September 2001: Problems, Challenges and Future Developments

Terrorism studies is one of the fastest-growing areas of social scientific research in the English-speaking world. This article examines some of the main challenges, problems and future developments facing the wider terrorism studies field through a review of seven recently published books. It argues that while a great deal of the current research is characterised by a persistent set of weaknesses, an increasing number of theoretically rigorous and critically oriented studies that challenge established views suggest genuine reasons for optimism about the future of terrorism research.     

Utilitarian Multilateralism: The Implications of 11 September 2001 for US Foreign Policy

The 11 September terrorist attacks have led the United States to reassess its foreign policy. The overwhelming priority is the defeat of terrorism and to further this end the United States is prepared to engage with states, regardless of their democratic credentials, willing and able to help the United States on the terrorist front. There is little sign, however, that the new-found interest in promoting multilateral co-operation to deal with terrorism is spilling over into other policy areas. The United States shows no sign of modifying its opposition to a number of international treaties and agreements – such as Kyoto, CTBT or the ICC – all of which its closest allies support. The US approach may be described as 'utilitarian multilateralism'.     

USA,the West and the Rest after September 11/October 7, 2001+: A Midterm Report

This article argues that if the proponents of immigration reform have it their way, the proposed guest worker program will transform American citizenship from an institution based on civic membership to one based on residence rights and socio-economic status. American citizenship, now a relatively accessible option, will become a closed-off status, unattainable for the majority of temporary workers. With this policy, the United States will create a permanently disadvantaged category of guest workers and further reduce the competitiveness of low-skilled minimum wage American workers. The concept of immigration has begun to change from an inclusive notion granting equal rights to immigrants and citizens to a more ambivalent model emphasizing obligations and responsibilities of newcomers while withholding social, political, and legal rights. Guest worker programs with limited residence will accentuate for immigrants that they must pay taxes and benefit the American economy, obey US laws and otherwise contribute to the host society which, in turn, has no reciprocal obligations toward them. This will exacerbate the already existing two-tiered system of human and social rights, creating a new feudalism in America.     

Ethics and Intelligence after September 2001

Anthony Glees, The Secrets of the Service: British Intelligence and Communist Subversion 1939–51 (London: Jonathan Cape, 1987). Pp.447; £18.

Robert A. Pollard, Economic Security and the Origins of the Cold War, 1945–1950 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1985). Pp.378; $32.50 and $14.50.

Peter Taylor, Stalker: the Search for the Truth (London: Faber and Faber, 1987). Pp.231, £9.95, paperback £4.95.

Frank Doherty, The Stalker Affair: Including an Account of British Secret Service Operations in Ireland (Cork and Dublin: Mercier Press, 1986). Pp.90, IR£3.95.

K.G. Robertson (ed.), Intelligence and National Security (London: Macmillan, 1987). Pp.281.

William Blum, The CIA: A Forgotten History. U.S. Global Interventions Since World War 2 (London: Zed Books Ltd., 1986). Pp.428. $19.95.

Joan Miller, One Girl's War: Personal Exploits in MIS's Most Secret Station (Dublin: Brandon Book Publishers, 1986). Pp.155. £5.95.     

Terrorism,anti-terrorism and the normative boundaries of the US polity: The spatiality of politics after 11 September 2001

Both terrorism and governmental anti-terrorist actions affect spatial structures and their boundaries, such as the state and the distinction between public and private spaces. Those spatial structures also articulate the normative dimensions of human life, which include the ethical principles and constitutional rights that orient behaviour and thought. By affecting the spaces, places and scales of life, (anti-)terrorism potentially can generate a new normativity. A new normativity would be manifested in changes to spatial structures and thereby would indicate that the content of political rights like personal freedom had been changed in practice. This paper addresses the possible emergence of a new normativity via an examination of how spatial structures are affected—specifically, their permeability and plasticity—by terrorist and anti-terrorist activities within a US context.