Critical terrorism studies: a political economic approach grounded in critical realism

Abstract

This article outlines a political economic (PE) approach to critical terrorism studies, one that, derived from Marx, reflects a critical realist philosophy of science. The approach to be delineated is therefore philosophically realist and non-reductively materialist in its attention to non-discursive as well as discursive elements of social context. The article goes on to show that the PE approach offers more than the discursive approaches, which the PE approach actually encompasses, and is better than the discursive approaches in grounding the objectives of critical terrorism studies. The final section of this article presents the kind of research agenda that the PE approach suggests.

Keywords:

• critical realism
• terrorism
• political economy
• Marx