The Ghosts of State Terror: Knowledge, Politics and Terrorism Studies.

Employing a discourse analytic approach, this paper examines the silence on state terrorism within the mainstream terrorism studies literature. An analysis of more than a hundred academic texts on terrorism, many by established 'terrorism experts', reveals that state terrorism is noticeable mainly for its absence. In some cases, state terrorism is simply defined out of the analysis by the employment of an actor-based definition: terrorism, it is argued, is a kind of violence performed solely by non-state actors. In other cases, the possibility of state terrorism is acknowledged but is then given a cursory treatment or simply ignored as a serious subject of research. Following this textual analysis, the main finding - the silence on state terrorism within terrorism studies - is subjected to both a first and second order critique. A first order or immanent critique uses a discourse's internal contradictions, mistakes and misconceptions to criticise it on its own terms and expose the events and perspectives that the discourse fails to acknowledge or address. In this case, the absence of state terrorism is criticized for its illogical actor-based definition of terrorism, its politically biased research focus and its failure to acknowledge the empirical evidence of the extent and nature of state terrorism, particularly that practiced by Western liberal states and their allies. A second order critique entails reflecting on the broader political and ethical consequences - the ideological effects - of the representations enabled by the discourse, and the ways in which the discourse functions as a political technology. It is argued that the absence of state terrorism from academic discourse functions to promote particular kinds of state hegemonic projects, construct a legitimizing public discourse for foreign and domestic policy, and deflect attention from the terroristic practices by Western states and their allies. Importantly, the exposure and destabilisation of this dominant terrorism knowledge opens up critical space for the articulation of alternative and potentially emancipatory forms of knowledge and practice. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]