Richard English
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780197265901
- eISBN:
- 9780191772047
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265901.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Within debates on how terrorism ends, political historians will want academic analysis to reflect the frequently unpredictable messiness of such processes. When terrorist groups desist, they often do ...
More
Within debates on how terrorism ends, political historians will want academic analysis to reflect the frequently unpredictable messiness of such processes. When terrorist groups desist, they often do so in ways that involve violent spillage across the historical line which broadly divides conflict from peace. This chapter focuses on one significant case study in terrorist persistence: dissident Irish republican violence in the wake of the decision by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) to end its own armed struggle. I will offer a brief account of dissident republican activity, and then explain such activity by situating it within a wider hermeneutical framework of nationalism as such. The central argument will be that we can only properly understand and appropriately respond to dissident Irish republican terrorism if we interpret it as a recognisable species of nationalist zealotry, with family resemblances to many other nationalisms throughout politics and history in Ireland and elsewhere. Such an account normalises dissident republicanism and explains its (to some observers, surprising) durability; it does not ignore the non-ideological motivations and dynamics of Irish dissidents; nor does it offer any legitimising framework for such ongoing violent republicanism.Less
Within debates on how terrorism ends, political historians will want academic analysis to reflect the frequently unpredictable messiness of such processes. When terrorist groups desist, they often do so in ways that involve violent spillage across the historical line which broadly divides conflict from peace. This chapter focuses on one significant case study in terrorist persistence: dissident Irish republican violence in the wake of the decision by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) to end its own armed struggle. I will offer a brief account of dissident republican activity, and then explain such activity by situating it within a wider hermeneutical framework of nationalism as such. The central argument will be that we can only properly understand and appropriately respond to dissident Irish republican terrorism if we interpret it as a recognisable species of nationalist zealotry, with family resemblances to many other nationalisms throughout politics and history in Ireland and elsewhere. Such an account normalises dissident republicanism and explains its (to some observers, surprising) durability; it does not ignore the non-ideological motivations and dynamics of Irish dissidents; nor does it offer any legitimising framework for such ongoing violent republicanism.
Richard English (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780197265901
- eISBN:
- 9780191772047
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265901.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Terrorism and counter-terrorism represent enduringly and globally important phenomena, and the mutually shaping relationship between non-state terrorism and state counter-terrorism continues to shape ...
More
Terrorism and counter-terrorism represent enduringly and globally important phenomena, and the mutually shaping relationship between non-state terrorism and state counter-terrorism continues to shape world politics. Illusions of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism brings together leading scholars in the field to analyse this relationship, and to do so in a distinctive manner. The book sustainedly assesses the interaction of terrorism and counter-terrorism through drawing simultaneously on a range of academic disciplines in dialogue with one another; it addresses the dynamics of counter-terrorism more interrogatively and concentratedly than is common in much of the scholarly literature; and it highlights a theme that is all too rarely considered in the field: namely, the shared and mutually echoing failings and illusions involved in the politics of terrorism and counter-terrorism alike. Chapters analyse post-9/11 counter-terrorism, the ongoing evolution of al-Qaida, the imperatives and challenges and global context of western counter-terrorist efforts, and the reasons behind terrorist campaigns sometimes enduring and sometimes coming to an end. Candid and wide-ranging, Illusions of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism offers rigorous and original argument on a subject of the highest significance.Less
Terrorism and counter-terrorism represent enduringly and globally important phenomena, and the mutually shaping relationship between non-state terrorism and state counter-terrorism continues to shape world politics. Illusions of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism brings together leading scholars in the field to analyse this relationship, and to do so in a distinctive manner. The book sustainedly assesses the interaction of terrorism and counter-terrorism through drawing simultaneously on a range of academic disciplines in dialogue with one another; it addresses the dynamics of counter-terrorism more interrogatively and concentratedly than is common in much of the scholarly literature; and it highlights a theme that is all too rarely considered in the field: namely, the shared and mutually echoing failings and illusions involved in the politics of terrorism and counter-terrorism alike. Chapters analyse post-9/11 counter-terrorism, the ongoing evolution of al-Qaida, the imperatives and challenges and global context of western counter-terrorist efforts, and the reasons behind terrorist campaigns sometimes enduring and sometimes coming to an end. Candid and wide-ranging, Illusions of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism offers rigorous and original argument on a subject of the highest significance.
