Britain and Terrorism

Challenging the standard paradigm of terrorism research through the use of Norbert Elias's figurational sociology, Michael Dunning explores the development of terrorism in Britain over the past two centuries, focusing on long-term processes and shifting power dynamics. In so doing, he demonstrates that terrorism as a concept and designation is entwined with its antithesis, civilization. A range of process sociological concepts are deployed to tease out the sociogenesis of terrorism as part of Britain's relationships with France, Ireland, Germany, the Soviet Union, the industrial working classes, its colonies, and, most recently, jihadism. In keeping with the figurational tradition, Dunning examines the relationships between broad, macro-level processes and processes at the level of individual psyches, showing that terrorism is not merely a 'thing' done to a group, but part of a complex web of interdependent relations.

Offers a major challenge to our understanding of terrorism and the processes by which terrorism comes about, thereby avoiding the definitional issues of 'mainstream' other research on the topic. A valuable contribution to figurational sociology, broadening the scope of process sociological research on terrorism. Provides a case study of the figurational approach as well as a theoretical examination of terrorism suitable for graduate course study on Elias, violence, criminology, terrorism and international relations

Auteur

Michael Dunning is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Leicester, UK. His primary research interests include the processes and relationships that contribute to the development of terrorism, 'radicalisation' and extremism.

Contenu
Introduction: Research on Terrorism as Part of the Terrorism Problem.-Section 1: The Sociogenesis of Terrorism in Nineteenth Century Britain.- Chapter 1: The Development of the Concept of Terrorism in Antithesis to the Concept of Civilisation.- Chapter 2: The Sociogenesis of Terrorism in Nineteenth Century Britain in Relation to Ireland.- Chapter 3: Trades Unions, Political Reformers, Revolutionary Europe and Terrorism.- Section 2: The Sociogenesis of Terrorism in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Britain.- Chapter 4: The World Wars and the Cold War Terrorism and Inter-State Violence.- Chapter 5: The Sociogenesis of Terrorism, the End of the British Empire, the Middle East and International Terrorism.- Chapter 6: The Fault-Lines in the British Monopoly of Violence and 'Domestic' Terrorism.- Section 3: Micro-Level Processes and Jihadist Terrorism in Britain..- Chapter 7: Case Study: the 7/7 Bombers..- Chapter 8: Case Study: British Jihadis in Syria and Iraq.- Conclusion.