Modern Terrorism: political and legal contexts 

John Lea (March 2008)

This session introduces the current debate concerning terrorism. The session will deal with three questions: (a) what do we understand by terrorism. Should it be dealt with primarily as crime, politics or warfare? (b) how has terrorism changed in recent decades in terms of goals and forms of organisation? (c) what impact has the 'war on terrorism' had on human rights and criminal law in the UK?

Key Reading

Lutz, B. and Lutz, J. (2006) 'Terrorism' in Allan Collins ed. Contemporary Security Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (this chapter has its own powerpoint presentation here)

Lia, B. and Skolberg, B. (2004) Causes of Terrorism: An Expanded and Updated Review of the Literature. Norwegian Defence Research Establishment

Further Reading

1. The Nature of terrorism in general and the 'new terrorism' in particular

U.S. Government (2004) The 9/11 Commission Report. Washington DC: US Goverment Printing Office. Executive Summary, full report

Hobsbawm, E. (1994). Barbarism: A Users Guide. New Left Review (206), 44-54.

Hoffman, B. (2003). 'Terrorism: Trends and Prospects'. In I. Lesser & B. Hoffman (Eds), Countering the New Terrorism. Washington DC: Rand Corporation. 

Arquilla, J., Ronfeldt, D., & Zanini, M. (2003). Networks, Netwar and Information-Age Terrorism. In I. Lesser & B. Hoffman (Eds.), Countering the New Terrorism. Washington DC: Rand Corporation.

Marc Sageman (2008) Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-first Century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press

Bruce Hoffman (2008) The Myth of Grass-Roots Terrorism: Why Osama bin Laden Still Matters. Foreign Affairs, May/June 2008

Lea, J. (2007) Crime, War and Security. on my website

British Journal of Criminology (special issue on terrorism) Volume 50, Number 4, July 2010

Laqueur, W. (1997) 'Postmodern Terrorism' Global Issues 2(1)

Laqueur, W, (2003) The History of Terrorism. New Jersey: Transaction

MI5 (UK Security Service) webpages on international terrorism

Mann, M. (2001). Globalization and September 11. New Left Review (new series), 12, 51-72.

Mythen, G., & Walklate, S. (2006). Criminology and Terrorism: Which Thesis? Risk Society or Governmentality? British Journal of Criminology, 46, 379-398.

Mohamedou, M.-M. (2007). Understanding Al Qaeda: The Transformation of War. London: Pluto.

Burke, J. Allan, P. (2009) 'The Five Ages of Al-Qaida' The Guardian, 11 September

Pisani, F. (2002) 'How to Fight the Terror Networks'. Le Monde Diplomatique (citique of Arquilla et al.)

Zanini, M., & Edwards, S. (2001). The Networking of Terror in the Information Age. In J. Arquilla & D. Ronfeldt (Eds), Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy. Washington DC: Rand Corporation.

Wikipedia web site on terrorism


2. Terrorism, law and human rights

Lord Carlisle Q.C. (2010) Review of the Operation of the Terrorism legislation. London: Home Office (a large and detailed annual review of the working of anti-terrorist legislation over the previous year)

C. Pantazis and S. Pemberton (2009) From the ‘Old’ to the ‘New’ Suspect Community: Examining the Impacts of Recent UK Counter-Terrorist Legislation. British Journal of Criminology 49: 646-666

Phillips, Lord Chief Justice (2006) Terrorism and Human Rights.  Speech to 68th Plenary Session of the European Commission For Democracy Through Law. Strasbourg.

Policing Journal (2007) special issue on Policing Terrorism

Chakrabati, Shami (2006) Terrorism and the Rule of Law. Speech to the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Dublin

Biglino, Irene (2002) Anti-terrorism Legislation in Britain. London: Liberty

E. Manningham-Buller (2005) 'The International Terrorist Threat and the Dilemmas in Countering It' London: MI5

Blick, A., & Weir, S. (2005). The Rules of the Game: The government’s counter terrorism laws and strategy. London: Democratic Audit Joseph Rowntree Trust.

Blick, A., Choudhury, T., & Weir, S. (2006). The Rules of the Game: Terrorism, Community and Human Rights. York: Joseph Rowntree Trust

Chalk, P., & Rosenau, W. (2004). Confronting "the Enemy Within": Security Intelligence, the Police, and Counterterrorism in Four Democracies. Washington DC: Rand Corporation. (especially chapter 2 on the UK) online at the RAND website

Fitzpatrick, J. (2003). Speaking Law to Power: The War Against Terrorism and Human Rights. European Journal of International Law, 14(2), 241

Hornqvist, M. (2004). The birth of public order policy. Race and Class, 46(1), 30–52

Lea, J. (2005) Terrorism, Crime and the Collapse of Civil Liberties on my website

Vaughan, B., & Kilcommins, S. (2007). The Europeanization of Human Rights: An Obstacle to Authoritarian Policing in Ireland. European Journal of Criminology, 4(4), 437-460.

Moran, J. (2005). State power in the war on terror: A comparative analysis of the UK and USA. Crime, Law and Social Change, 44(4), 335-359.

Steinert, H. (2003) The indispensible Metaphor of War. Theoretical Criminology, 7(3), 265-291.

Walker, C. (2005). Intelligence and anti-terrorism legislation in the United Kingdom. Crime, Law and Social Change, 44(4), 387-422.

P. Wilkinson (2000) Terrorism versus Democracy: The Liberal State Response. London: Frank Cass

Zedner, L. (2005). Securing Liberty in the Face of Terror: Reflections from Criminal Justice. Journal of Law And Society 32(4), 507-33.

Wikipedia sites on UK terrorism legislation (NB: wikipedia pages are written by lay contributers): 2001 Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act; 2005 Prevention of Terrorism Act; Terrorism Act 2006

Should we talk to Al Quaeda? Guardian 15th March 2008