On terrorism and its (re)sources: a review essay.

• Jurisdiction: Australia
• Author: Lentini, Pete
• Date: 01 December 2003

Pamela L. Griset and Sue Mahan (Eds.) (2003). Terrorism in Perspective. Thousand Oaks, CA and London: Sage. xvi + 391 pp. ISBN 0761924043.

Harvey W. Kushner (2003). Encyclopaedia of Terrorism. Thousand Oaks, CA and London: Sage, xxvii + 253 pp. (hardback) ISBN 0761924086.

Terrorism is a contentious issue that transcends definitional, disciplinary, institutional and national boundaries. Neither academics nor policy-makers agree on how to define terrorism (Schmid, 1993). Alex P. Schmid "elicited the aid of more than 50 scholars" and compiled a definition of terrorism that "is the product of 109 definitions ... [that] incorporates 16 of 22 identifiable characteristics" (Badey 1998, p. 91). (1) The United States Government, for instance, presently employs several separate definitions, each reflecting bureaucratic or operational specialisation (Whittaker 2001, p. 3). There is, however, general consensus that terrorism involves using, or threatening to use, violence against innocent people or noncombatants in order to effect political change and achieve political goals. Hence, most terrorist activities, broadly defined, are illegal under both domestic and international legal regimes.

Therefore, terrorism shares many similarities with crime. Its tactics include murders, kidnappings, shootings, and bombings. Criminal activities, such as robberies, drug trafficking, and prostitution, finance individual terrorists and terrorist organisations. On the other hand, criminals have employed what are normally considered terrorist tactics. During the 1990s members of the Sicilian mafia assassinated several judges trying leading capi. There have been several occasions when terrorists and criminals have collaborated in operations or had business transactions (Laqueur, 1999/2001, pp. 41, 210-25; Dishman, 2001/2003). Terrorists and terrorist organisations benefit from the globalisation of economics, transportation and technologies. Their personnel and finances quickly transcend state boundaries. They use information and communication technologies as mobilisational and operational tools, and often organise in fairly similar network patterns (Arquilla & Ronfeldt, 2001). Nevertheless, criminals' violence for personal gain and terrorists' atrocities in the name of political causes may impede their future cooperation (Dishman, 2001/2003).

Terrorism, like crime, cannot be comprehensively defeated and eliminated, but it can be effectively managed (Pillar 2001, pp. 217-20). Politicians developing counterterrorist policies and practices must incorporate law enforcement strategies, tactics and operations into their planning. Police forces have transformed, developing paramilitary organisations and adopting paramilitary tactics to confront domestic terrorist organisations and threats. Finally, police forces are often among the "first responders" to terrorist incidents: all acts which states eventually declare as "terrorist" activities are treated initially as criminal matters (Wright, 1999, p. 59; White, 2003, pp. 267-291; White 2004).

This article critically examines recent books within the field of terrorism and Islamic studies, surveying recently published textbooks, readers and reference works. Terrorism's diversity--its perpetrators, ideologies, causes, global inter-connectivity, tactics and operations--requires critical scholarship, textbooks and reference works that expose counterterrorist scholars, analysts, practitioners, and students to interdisciplinary perspectives and methodologies. Additionally, contemporary terrorism's global reach necessitates studies that can fuse "global" trends and relate them to "local" conditions. As terrorism is fundamentally a political crime, political scientists and criminologists need to develop mutual understanding and dialogue in order to interpret more precisely terrorism's origins and impact, educate their students, and assist policy-makers and counterterrorism practitioners. Hence, academic disciplines that may have operated relatively autonomously in the past must establish more cooperative working relationships to address the threats that contemporary global terrorism poses to international civil society, and to comprehend the existential angst that acts as an accelerant for terrorist activities and terrorism's political and legal consequences. Indeed, this cooperation must also include various federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and domestic and international intelligence gathering services, as White suggests (White, 2003, 2004). Muslims have been implicated in many recent terrorist attacks and Islam is now the most rapidly growing religion in the world, becoming further established in non-traditional areas like Australia, the United States (US) and Western Europe. This means that scholars and law enforcement practitioners need to develop a much deeper understanding of a faith that nearly one quarter of the planet's inhabitants embrace, and that is often greatly misinterpreted in popular media.

Islam, Islamism and Muslim Communities

In his history of terrorism in the US, Christopher Hewitt suggests that it is necessary to develop a more thorough understanding of Islam, Islamism and Muslim communities because many recent international terrorist activities have been perpetrated by activists acting in the name of Islam, most notably the 1993 attempt to blow up the World Trade Center and September 11 (Hewitt, 2003, pp. 129-130). It is important to distinguish between Islam and Islamism. Islam is the set of beliefs revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in the Seventh Century CE and the religion that subsequently developed. Michael Whine (2001, p. 57) argues that Islamism is "a political ideology ... influenced by [sic] anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism and anti-Westernism fused in symbolic fashion with Western leftist ideologies and grafted onto a radicalised and politicised religious world outlook." He suggests (2001, p. 57) that it does not entirely "reject [sic] the ideas and symbols of modernity, [but] adapts [sic] and uses [sic] them to help achieve their purposes of fusing religion (din), state (dawlah) and law (shariah) within particular states or as a broader pan-Islamic community". Nevertheless, it is important to note that not all political manifestations of Islam seek to fuse what western political traditions consider the secular and the spiritual. Indeed, there are politicians and movements throughout the Islamic world seeking to establish either separate spheres for religion and polity and to respect the rights of minority religions within Muslim majority states (Esposito & Voll, 2001).

Islam and Islamism are the topics of several key works. Karen Armstrong's Islam: A Short History (2003) is perhaps the best brief introduction to the religion. Armstrong, a former Catholic nun, who lectures at London's Leo Baeck College for the Study of Judaism, has distinguished herself as one of the world's leading popular and academic sources on comparative religion. In this history, she approaches Islam in much the same vein as she does in her critically acclaimed Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet (2001). Writing for a non-Muslim audience, she presents Islam with respect. Where she is critical of the religion and its practices, Armstrong grounds her comments on specific historical and social contexts. In so doing, she helps to debunk the myths of Islam's alleged inherent violence, disrespect to...