Making sense of terrorism : a narrative approach to the study of violent events

How does violence become understood as terrorism? In this article, we show how a narrative approach to the study of violent events offers a conceptually productive way to understand the process of “seeing” an event as a terrorist act, one that explicitly integrates the phenomenology of violence. While the collective practice of defining terrorism in academia and the policy arena has struggled to produce a universal definition, we identify a set of “common sense” characteristics. We argue that if the framing of violent events prominently features these characteristics as discursive anchors, this primes processes of sensemaking toward interpreting violence as terrorism. While terrorism markers are often articulated as being pragmatic and apolitical indicators of terrorist acts, we show that they are indeed at the core of political contests over historical and physical facts about violent events. The narrative approach we develop in this article underscores that intuitive leanings toward interpreting violence as terrorism are a sign of political agency precisely because they are produced through the stories political agents tell

Imaginaries of trauma and victimhood: The role of the ‘China threat’ in Trump’s populism of the privileged

This article speaks to an established interest of International Relations scholars in the construction of the ‘China threat’ in US political discourse. We advance recent works which have argued that the rise of China has contributed to the success of populism in the United States and Western liberal democracies more widely. Specifically, we transpose the concept of the ‘populism of the privileged’ to the international realm to understand how narratives of status loss nurture perceptions of collective trauma and victimhood. We argue that the concept helps explain why Trump’s anti-China populism is centred on the counterintuitive articulation of an American underdog identity at the domestic and international levels. It sheds light on why populist narratives of unjust suffering have grip even if supporters stem from comparatively privileged groups. Victimhood-centric narratives are always relational and, as we show, the imaginary of lost status is a powerful device in the populist toolbox

How to last alone at the top : US strategic planning for the unipolar era

This article investigates how key actors within the US defence policy community realigned their interests to forge a new consensus on the redirection of US defence strategy following the 'peace shock' they faced with the collapse of bipolarity. This consensus centred on the idea that achieving US security in the 'age of uncertainty' demanded overwhelming US military power, which was widely interpreted as necessitating military capabilities to fight multiple major theatre wars simultaneously against regional 'Third World' adversaries. This helped to preserve many of the principal pillars of US Cold War defence policy through deflecting calls for more radical organisational changes and deeper cuts to defence budgets

Enemy addiction: Archival documents from 13 United States presidential libraries, 1919-2008

The project 'Enemy Addiction' has created approximately 30.000 photos and photocopies of archival document pages. These consist primarily of security speech drafts, such as the security sections of State of the Union and Inaugural addresses as well as other key security speeches. In addition, the collection contains related communication such as memoranda from the President to speechwriters of the input of different departments, exchanges between speechwriters, and the input of the National Security Council on the speech writing process. Perceptions of insecurity are a key source of violent conflict and international instability. Through the lens of policy language, this project examines how perceptions of insecurity are created and maintained, and how depictions of enmity foster public acceptance of threat scenarios and security policy agendas. Specifically, the project investigates the US preoccupation with security threats after the Cold War and how the redefinition of the post-Cold War landscape as dangerous and uncertain has locked the US into perpetuating high-cost security practices - even in times of severe economic crisis. The project employs a novel multidisciplinary mixed-methods research design that helps to link security discourse to policy formulation, political strategy, and security policy consequences. The project casts new light on persistent and timely concerns in international security, such as the extent to which security policy is a reaction to 'objective' changes in the international structure, the role played by policy language in marginalizing political resistance, and how 'speaking' international security differently changes security policy practices.</p

Enemy addiction: Archival documents from 13 United States presidential libraries, 1919-2008

The project 'Enemy Addiction' has created approximately 30.000 photos and photocopies of archival document pages. These consist primarily of security speech drafts, such as the security sections of State of the Union and Inaugural addresses as well as other key security speeches. In addition, the collection contains related communication such as memoranda from the President to speechwriters of the input of different departments, exchanges between speechwriters, and the input of the National Security Council on the speech writing process. Perceptions of insecurity are a key source of violent conflict and international instability. Through the lens of policy language, this project examines how perceptions of insecurity are created and maintained, and how depictions of enmity foster public acceptance of threat scenarios and security policy agendas. Specifically, the project investigates the US preoccupation with security threats after the Cold War and how the redefinition of the post-Cold War landscape as dangerous and uncertain has locked the US into perpetuating high-cost security practices - even in times of severe economic crisis. The project employs a novel multidisciplinary mixed-methods research design that helps to link security discourse to policy formulation, political strategy, and security policy consequences. The project casts new light on persistent and timely concerns in international security, such as the extent to which security policy is a reaction to 'objective' changes in the international structure, the role played by policy language in marginalizing political resistance, and how 'speaking' international security differently changes security policy practices.</p