The Politics of Terrorism Expertise: Knowledge, Power and the Media

This book provides an account of the history, geopolitics, activities and impact of the terror experts. It outlines the emergence and development of a ‘nexus’ of terror experts – a group which collectively promote a particular view of political violence, and who are very well networked with think tanks, the security industry and official agencies. The book shows how the knowledge produced and the expertise provided by the experts are a product of the social and political forces which have sponsored the emergence of the field, and that in particular these experts are responsive to the strategic and ideological requirements of Western states, and the closely associated corporate interests represented by the private think-tanks and security companies which constitute what has been dubbed the ‘terrorism industry’. The main themes of the book are the emergence and influence of the military-industrial-academic-complex, the relationship between knowledge and power, communicative strategies and the public realm, the politics of expertise and the legitimation and de-legitimation of political violence. The objectives are to pioneer a novel way of understanding the genesis and impact of terror expertise and to integrate into the body of critical literature on ‘terrorism’ work on think-tanks, the ‘military-industrial-academic complex’, media and communications and propaganda. This book will be of much interest to students of critical terrorism studies, political violence, media studies, sociology, and IR/politics in general.