Critical Methods in Terrorism Studies

This book shows how to use a range of critical approaches to do research on terrorism.

It includes a diverse range of critical methodological approaches – including discourse analysis, feminist, postcolonial, ethnographic, critical theory, and visual analysis of terrorism. The main objectives of the book are to assist researchers in adopting and applying various critical approaches to the study of terrorism. This goal is achieved by bringing together a number of different scholars working on the topic of terrorism from a range of non-variable-based approaches. Their individual chapters discuss explicitly the research methods used and methodological commitments made by the authors, while also illustrating the application of their particular critical perspective to the topic of terrorism.

The authors of each chapter will discuss (1) why they chose their specific critical method; (2) how they justified their methodological stance; (3) how they do their research; (4) and, finally, an example of the research. This edited volume includes the works of researchers who have already utilized these methods to critically study terrorism and who continue to do so.

This book will be essential reading for students of terrorism studies and critical terrorism studies, and highly recommended for students of political violence, security studies and IR.

Priya Dixit is assistant professor at the Department of Political Science, Virginia Tech, Washington DC.

Jacob L. Stump is assistant professor of Political Science at Shepherd University, USA.