Talking about terror: Counterterrorist campaigns and the logic of representation

counterterrorism discourse representation rhetoric, terrorism

Since the attacks of 11 September, 2001, there has been a vigorous debate in the West about how to classify the struggle against Islamist adversaries who employ violence against civilians for political ends. While the Bush administration long insisted that it was a ‘war,’ many critics, in the United States and abroad, contended that it would best be characterized as a law-enforcement campaign.