Pub Date : 2023-09-23DOI: 10.1080/17539153.2023.2250142
Muhammad Dan Suleiman
ABSTRACTCoastal West African countries are in a threat anticipatory anxiety mode: over the fear that subaltern violent “jihadist” groups (SVJGs) are breaching their borders and heading south from across the Sahel. In Ghana, this fear has led to a build-up of commentaries, political statements, and counter-extremism/counterterrorism programs. This article interrogates the terrorism discourse in this West African country at the intersection of critical security studies and the politics of space, by applying securitisation theory and critical discourse analysis. In what is the most comprehensive academic review of news articles on the terrorism discourse in Ghana yet, I contend that the discourse evokes what Boaventura de Sousa Santos calls ‘abyssal thinking’ and creates cognitive and physical spatial abyssal lines. On the invisible side, insecurity within Ghana gets “normalised” by the discourse. On the visible side, however, SVJGs are securitised as abnormal, foreign, and uniquely threatening. This nature of the discourse effectively places events and conditions in the country that are either terroristic or constitutive of terrorism on the invisible side of Ghana’s security priorities. The discourse, therefore, hides much about the reality of insecurity and political violence within the country. These arguments advance the frontiers of security/terrorism knowledge and practice in West Africa by demonstrating the pervasiveness of “global war on terror” systems of representation, two decades after their inception and despite its flaws and adverse implications for human and national security.KEYWORDS: Ghanaterrorismabyssal thinkingspatial politicssecuritisation theorySahel region AcknowledgmentsThe author expresses his gratitude to three anonymous reviewers for their useful suggestions and comments on an earlier version of this article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. It remains essential to keep stressing that the usage of terms such as “jihadism” and “Islamism” (and others like “Salafism” “Salafi-jihadism”, and “Wahhabism”) remains speculative and prejudiced or, worse, cloaked in calculated ignorance. I use subaltern violent “jihadist” groups (SVJGs) instead, to bring some nuance and to avoid some of the problems associated with practices of un/naming. “jihadist” have been used, they must always be read as being in inverted commas.2. Some of these policies and frameworks are the Ghana National Security Strategy (Government of Ghana Citation2020), the National Framework for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and Terrorism in Ghana (NAFPCVET) (Government of Ghana Citation2019), and a Practitioners’ Guide on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (The Commonwealth and National Peace Council Citation2022). In 2017, Ghana hosted several West African countries leading to the Accra Initiative (AI), a West African sub-regional security mechanism to address common concerns. The AI has
西非沿海国家正处于一种威胁预期焦虑模式:担心下层暴力“圣战”组织(SVJGs)正在突破他们的边界，从萨赫勒地区向南挺进。在加纳，这种恐惧导致了评论、政治声明和反极端主义/反恐计划的积累。本文运用证券化理论和批判话语分析，在批判安全研究和空间政治的交叉点上，对这个西非国家的恐怖主义话语进行了质疑。在对加纳恐怖主义话语的新闻文章进行的最全面的学术回顾中，我认为这种话语唤起了Boaventura de Sousa Santos所说的“深渊思维”，并创造了认知和物理空间的深渊线。在看不见的一面，加纳国内的不安全感被话语“正常化”了。然而，从可见的方面来看，svfg被视为异常的、外来的和独特的威胁。这种话语的性质有效地将该国的恐怖主义或构成恐怖主义的事件和情况置于加纳安全优先事项的无形一面。因此，这些言论在很大程度上掩盖了国内不安全和政治暴力的现实。这些论点通过展示“全球反恐战争”代表体系的普遍性，推进了西非安全/恐怖主义知识和实践的前沿，尽管其存在缺陷，并对人类和国家安全产生不利影响。关键词:加纳主义、深度思维、空间政治、证券化理论、萨赫勒地区致谢感谢三位匿名审稿人对本文早期版本提出的有益建议和评论。披露声明作者未报告潜在的利益冲突。有必要继续强调，诸如“圣战主义”和“伊斯兰主义”(以及其他诸如“萨拉菲主义”、“萨拉菲圣战主义”和“瓦哈比主义”)等术语的使用仍然是推测性的和带有偏见的，或者更糟的是，被蓄意的无知所掩盖。我使用下层暴力“圣战”组织(SVJGs)来代替，以带来一些细微差别，并避免与un/naming实践相关的一些问题。如果使用了“圣战分子”一词，则必须将其理解为“反逗号”。其中一些政策和框架是加纳国家安全战略(加纳政府Citation2020)，加纳预防和打击暴力极端主义和恐怖主义国家框架(NAFPCVET)(加纳政府Citation2019)，以及预防和打击暴力极端主义从业人员指南(英联邦和国家和平委员会Citation2022)。2017年，加纳主办了几个西非国家，促成了“阿克拉倡议”，这是一个西非次区域安全机制，旨在解决共同关切。人工智能成立了一个多边工作组，打击暴力极端主义、恐怖主义和跨国犯罪。另一个是在美国的援助下，在2020年建立反恐和融合中心，以帮助该国和其他国家改善边境安全。要访问这些新闻文章，将URL复制并粘贴到浏览器的地址栏中，或者按标题搜索。本文作者穆罕默德·丹·苏莱曼是澳大利亚珀斯科廷大学媒体、创意艺术和社会调查学院的助理研究员和IR讲师。穆罕默德的研究兴趣包括政治和冲突的主流解释和实践如何减损非洲的人类安全。
{"title":"The jihadists are coming! Abyssal thinking and the spatial politics of un/knowing in Ghana’s terrorism discourse","authors":"Muhammad Dan Suleiman","doi":"10.1080/17539153.2023.2250142","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2023.2250142","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTCoastal West African countries are in a threat anticipatory anxiety mode: over the fear that subaltern violent “jihadist” groups (SVJGs) are breaching their borders and heading south from across the Sahel. In Ghana, this fear has led to a build-up of commentaries, political statements, and counter-extremism/counterterrorism programs. This article interrogates the terrorism discourse in this West African country at the intersection of critical security studies and the politics of space, by applying securitisation theory and critical discourse analysis. In what is the most comprehensive academic review of news articles on the terrorism discourse in Ghana yet, I contend that the discourse evokes what Boaventura de Sousa Santos calls ‘abyssal thinking’ and creates cognitive and physical spatial abyssal lines. On the invisible side, insecurity within Ghana gets “normalised” by the discourse. On the visible side, however, SVJGs are securitised as abnormal, foreign, and uniquely threatening. This nature of the discourse effectively places events and conditions in the country that are either terroristic or constitutive of terrorism on the invisible side of Ghana’s security priorities. The discourse, therefore, hides much about the reality of insecurity and political violence within the country. These arguments advance the frontiers of security/terrorism knowledge and practice in West Africa by demonstrating the pervasiveness of “global war on terror” systems of representation, two decades after their inception and despite its flaws and adverse implications for human and national security.KEYWORDS: Ghanaterrorismabyssal thinkingspatial politicssecuritisation theorySahel region AcknowledgmentsThe author expresses his gratitude to three anonymous reviewers for their useful suggestions and comments on an earlier version of this article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. It remains essential to keep stressing that the usage of terms such as “jihadism” and “Islamism” (and others like “Salafism” “Salafi-jihadism”, and “Wahhabism”) remains speculative and prejudiced or, worse, cloaked in calculated ignorance. I use subaltern violent “jihadist” groups (SVJGs) instead, to bring some nuance and to avoid some of the problems associated with practices of un/naming. “jihadist” have been used, they must always be read as being in inverted commas.2. Some of these policies and frameworks are the Ghana National Security Strategy (Government of Ghana Citation2020), the National Framework for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and Terrorism in Ghana (NAFPCVET) (Government of Ghana Citation2019), and a Practitioners’ Guide on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (The Commonwealth and National Peace Council Citation2022). In 2017, Ghana hosted several West African countries leading to the Accra Initiative (AI), a West African sub-regional security mechanism to address common concerns. The AI has ","PeriodicalId":46483,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies on Terrorism","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135959909","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-05DOI: 10.1080/17539153.2023.2254608
Simon Schwesig
{"title":"Foreign Fighters and International Peace: Joining Global Jihad and Marching Back Home","authors":"Simon Schwesig","doi":"10.1080/17539153.2023.2254608","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2023.2254608","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46483,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies on Terrorism","volume":"148 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73707521","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-31DOI: 10.1080/17539153.2023.2251226
Kathryn Loosemore
{"title":"Counter-terror by proxy: the Spanish State’s illicit war with ETA","authors":"Kathryn Loosemore","doi":"10.1080/17539153.2023.2251226","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2023.2251226","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46483,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies on Terrorism","volume":"140 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83422557","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-20DOI: 10.1080/17539153.2023.2243663
M. Maarouf
ABSTRACT This study explores the main building blocks of participatory activism utilised by sympathisers of the Islamic State within their online media networks. The organisation has named this militant practice “media jihad” or militancy (munasara), which is built on the cultural patterns of traditional ground-based jihad. The practice involves transferring cultural values and war manoeuvres into the virtual ecosystem. The virtual tactics used by sympathisers are linked to the cultural norms of jihad, resulting in a combination of battlefield jihad values and digital resistance practices. The term “Jihacktivism” is introduced to describe this complex combinative Jihadist contention model promoted by the Islamic State. It is a digital resistance paradigm that decentralises the production and dissemination of the Islamic State’s propaganda and empowers sympathisers to contribute to the organisation’s communication of jihad. By doing so, sympathisers may foster a sense of solidarity and become more identified with the group’s cultural schemas and ideological beliefs.
{"title":"Jihacktivism: the Islamic State’s model of digital resistance","authors":"M. Maarouf","doi":"10.1080/17539153.2023.2243663","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2023.2243663","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study explores the main building blocks of participatory activism utilised by sympathisers of the Islamic State within their online media networks. The organisation has named this militant practice “media jihad” or militancy (munasara), which is built on the cultural patterns of traditional ground-based jihad. The practice involves transferring cultural values and war manoeuvres into the virtual ecosystem. The virtual tactics used by sympathisers are linked to the cultural norms of jihad, resulting in a combination of battlefield jihad values and digital resistance practices. The term “Jihacktivism” is introduced to describe this complex combinative Jihadist contention model promoted by the Islamic State. It is a digital resistance paradigm that decentralises the production and dissemination of the Islamic State’s propaganda and empowers sympathisers to contribute to the organisation’s communication of jihad. By doing so, sympathisers may foster a sense of solidarity and become more identified with the group’s cultural schemas and ideological beliefs.","PeriodicalId":46483,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies on Terrorism","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80126402","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-02DOI: 10.1080/17539153.2023.2243665
Jonathan Arlow
Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Notes1. The RUC were the police force of Northern Ireland.
点击增大图片尺寸点击减小图片尺寸披露声明作者未发现潜在的利益冲突。RUC是北爱尔兰的警察部队。
{"title":"Book review of UDR Declassified","authors":"Jonathan Arlow","doi":"10.1080/17539153.2023.2243665","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2023.2243665","url":null,"abstract":"Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Notes1. The RUC were the police force of Northern Ireland.","PeriodicalId":46483,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies on Terrorism","volume":"65 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135016122","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-02DOI: 10.1080/17539153.2023.2243664
Meredith Loken
{"title":"Book review of Women and the Lebanese civil war: Female fighters in Lebanese and Palestinian Militias,","authors":"Meredith Loken","doi":"10.1080/17539153.2023.2243664","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2023.2243664","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46483,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies on Terrorism","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86114960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-20DOI: 10.1080/17539153.2023.2239006
Chi Zhang
{"title":"”Violence, Discourse, and Politics in China’s Uyghur Region: The Terroristization of Xinjiang”","authors":"Chi Zhang","doi":"10.1080/17539153.2023.2239006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2023.2239006","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46483,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies on Terrorism","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76957646","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-20DOI: 10.1080/17539153.2023.2239005
Johannes Müller
{"title":"”The European Union as Global Counter-Terrorism Actor”","authors":"Johannes Müller","doi":"10.1080/17539153.2023.2239005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2023.2239005","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46483,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies on Terrorism","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88212362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-03DOI: 10.1080/17539153.2023.2229617
Isaac Mensah
ABSTRACT Terrorism is pervasive in Mali. The efforts by Mali to counter terrorism, however, have been inadequate. The lack of institutional capacity and the lack of a workable counterterrorism policy characterised by bad governance are identified as key inadequacies in the fight against terrorism in Mali. In view of these inadequacies, the article demonstrates the need for a continental approach to fight the threat of terrorism in Mali. But for the African Union (AU) to be effective in resolving the Malian impasse, its diplomatic, political, and military approaches have been discussed and critiqued. The article suggests the need to retool the security architecture of the AU – the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) – and particularly, to ensure the full operationalisation of the Common African Defence and Security Policy (CADSP) and the African Standby Force (ASF). Importantly, the AU must also have a counterterrorism fund dedicated to support the fight against terrorism in Mali and Africa as a whole.
{"title":"A review of Mali’s counterterrorism approach in the light of African Union interventions","authors":"Isaac Mensah","doi":"10.1080/17539153.2023.2229617","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2023.2229617","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Terrorism is pervasive in Mali. The efforts by Mali to counter terrorism, however, have been inadequate. The lack of institutional capacity and the lack of a workable counterterrorism policy characterised by bad governance are identified as key inadequacies in the fight against terrorism in Mali. In view of these inadequacies, the article demonstrates the need for a continental approach to fight the threat of terrorism in Mali. But for the African Union (AU) to be effective in resolving the Malian impasse, its diplomatic, political, and military approaches have been discussed and critiqued. The article suggests the need to retool the security architecture of the AU – the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) – and particularly, to ensure the full operationalisation of the Common African Defence and Security Policy (CADSP) and the African Standby Force (ASF). Importantly, the AU must also have a counterterrorism fund dedicated to support the fight against terrorism in Mali and Africa as a whole.","PeriodicalId":46483,"journal":{"name":"Critical Studies on Terrorism","volume":"140 3 1","pages":"523 - 536"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90010712","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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