Author: Ken Booth and Tim Dunne
ISBN No: 978-0-415-6783
Review date: 07/12/2025
No of pages: 230
Publisher: Routledge
Publisher URL:
http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415678315/
Year of publication: 11/09/2012
Brief:
The tenth anniversary of the Twin Towers attacks prompted much questioning of counter-terrorism. Two academics have brought out an overview of the global political consequences of 9-11. This review was in the February 2012 print issue of Professional Security magazine.
The death toll on September 11, 2001 was nearly 3,000; the total dead as a result of terror has risen to hundreds of thousands, say Ken Booth and Tim Dunne in their study Terror in Our Time. As they say, given that the US homeland was attacked ‘in a novel and terrifying fashion’, it’s not surprised the then President George W Bush declared a ‘war on terror’. As the dust settles on the aftermath of 9-11 – the paperback’s cover shows a fireman at the shrouded, shattered Twin Towers base – the authors take stock. They define terrorism as ‘a strategy deployed by different actors as a brutal form of communication’. They argue terrorism is ‘inherently human, and as such is open to rational analysis’. As they say, people not affected by terror acts may be more affected by counter-terrorism, whether surveillance or border or other security checks. Under the Government’s Contest strategy (’pursue, prevent, protect, prepare’), Booth and Dunne reckon that a ‘culture of counter-terrorism’ has become normal. This raises the old question of balancing liberty, and security. The book is up to date enough to include the death of Osama bin Laden. On the tenth anniversary, they suggest that leading countries have a second chance to decide what the decade of anti-terrorism has been all about. Jihad may be failing, but the authors don’t offer a happy, or any ending. They point to Northern Ireland; the ‘troubles’ did not end despite political agreement. People choose to keep terror alive, wrecking trust, ‘and doing their best to stop normality breaking out’. The risk remains of ‘future spectaculars’ and something the authors call ‘micro-terrorism’. In a crowded field, this book is a useful one-stop source for students. The War on Terror has defined the first decade of this century. It has been marked by the deaths of thousands of people, political turmoil, massive destruction, and intense fear. Regardless of the name it goes under, the long war on terror will continue to affect lives across the world. Its catalyst, 9/11, did not have to happen, nor did the character of the responses. This book offers a set of novel interpretations of how we got here, where we are, and where we should be heading. It is organised around twelve penetrating and readable essays, full of novel interpretations and succinct summaries of complex ideas and events. In their examination of those aspects of global order touched by terror, the authors argue that the dangers of international terrorism are not overblown. Future 9/11s are possible: so is a more just and law-governed world. Terrorism cannot be disinvented, but with more intelligent policies than have been on show these past ten years, it can be overcome and made politically anachronistic.Terror and Danger 1. 9/11 +10 2. Terror 3. Danger 4. Base 5. Evil 6. Wars Part 2: Security and World Order 7. America 8. Islam 9. Governance 10. Democracy 11. Security 12. Endings Epilogue
