Editor's Introduction: A decade on from 11 September 2001: what has critical terrorism studies learned?

Abstract

The articles in this special issue are drawn from papers presented at a conference held to mark the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The conference, entitled A Decade of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism since 9/11: Taking Stock and New Directions in Research and Policy, was organised by the Critical Studies on Terrorism Working Group of the British International Studies Association and was held at the University of Strathclyde with support from the British Academy from 8 to 11 September 2011. The conference aimed to play a significant role in the reorientation of terrorism studies towards a more empirically informed and theoretically sophisticated practice of studies of political violence through the engagement of scholars in a multidisciplinary dialogue. The articles in this issue reflect those aims.

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to the authors and anonymous reviewers for turning round these articles so quickly. We also gratefully acknowledge the British Academy for their support for the conference; Glasgow City Council for hosting a reception for the conference and Baillie Catherine McMaster for her address – particularly her tales from Palestine; Jan Bisset for her Stakhanovite efforts in administering the conference; and the organising committee for all their efforts. Lastly, we gratefully acknowledge the social and cultural forces that combined to encourage Richard Jackson to dance at the ceilidh!

Notes

1. Available at: Mancha Productions, http://vimeo.com/user5073253.

2. Available in the Internet Archive: Is it Time for a Critical Terrorism Studies? Politics, Manchester University. http://web.archive.org/web/20061006065742/http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/politics/events/cst/default.htm [Page archived on 6 October 2006, accessed 5 January 2012].