Books in the New Approaches to Conflict Analysis series

Starting with the astonishing lone-wolf terrorist attacks in Oslo and Utøyain July 2011 and the extraordinary mutation in security thinking that happened in its aftermath, this book develops an innovative theory of terrorism as the enchantment of danger.

Analysing primary textual, audio and video data, this book argues that Islamist organisations in Germany and the UK perform collective emotions in and through narrative when turning to political violence. The book offers a provocative account departing from conventional interpretations of radicalisation and reminds us of the power of emotions.

This book develops a novel framework for studying relational peace and applies it to several empirical cases. It contributes to a more nuanced understanding of peace, beyond the absence of war, by recognising peace as a web of multiple interactions across time, space and levels of analysis.

Life after war is intrinsically political for former combatants. As wars end, societies and former combatants face a period of transition. This book explores the experience of coming home for former combatants, capturing the challenges and opportunities for political mobilization among former combatants as they return from three very different wars: South West Africa People's Organization combatants who participated in the Namibian War of Independence (1966-90); guerrillas from Movimiento 19 de Abril who joined the ongoing guerilla warfare conducted against the Colombian state (1974-90), and combatants from the United States who participated in the Vietnam War (1955-75). Offering an insightful perspective on peace as a process through the long-term study of the lives of fifty former combatants, Sderstrm demonstrates how the process of coming home shapes their political commitment and identity. Combining detailed scholarship with interviews with former combatants, this volume serves as a powerful reminder of the legacies of war in the lives of former combatants.

Counter-terror by proxy exposes the motives, form and rationale of extrajudicial military force that was violently deployed by the Spanish government against Basque separatists during the 1980s. It offers a comprehensive understanding of a dark side of recent Spanish history and analyses the wider consequences of the resort to illegal counterterrorist practices in liberal regimes. -- .

This book examines the language of the war on terrorism. It is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand how the Bush administration's approach to counter-terrorism became the dominant policy paradigm in American politics today. -- .

This book is a timely analysis of the securitisation of Islam in the US and an original contribution to securitisation theory by introducing the notion of 'indirect securitising speech acts' and the role of emotions and affect in securitisation studies. It is an innovative approach to Islamophobia, everyday racism and security. -- .

Conspiracy theory and American foreign policy examines the relationship between secrecy, power and interpretation around international political controversy, where foreign policy orthodoxy comes up hard against alternative interpretations. It does so in the context of American foreign policy during the War on Terror, a conflict that was quintessentially covert and conspiratorial. -- .

Focusing on the Syria crisis, this book challenges the arguments in favour of the chemical weapons taboo, demonstrating how it can exacerbate a conflict. -- .

A comparative study of memorialisation and reconstruction in post-terrorist bomb sites, which argues that security practices are fundamentally connected to death anxiety. -- .

Critically examines the range of policies and programmes that attempt to manage economic activity that contributes to political violence -- .

Provides readers with an engaging introduction to cartoon analysis and a novel insight into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. -- .

Offers a deep engagement with developments at the intersection of Habermasian communicative ethics and international relations. -- .

Developed through a series of encounters with a Bosnian Serb soldier, Looking for Bosnia is a meditation on the possibilities and limitations of responding to extreme political violence in the context of the Bosnian war.

A fascinating and comprehensive analysis of the official security discourse in Colombia, this book investigates discursive and material practices that write the identities of state, self and others.

This study, available for the first time in paperback, explores the normative dimension of the evolving role of the United Nations in peace and security and, ultimately, in governance. What is dealt with here is both the UN's changing raison d'etre and the wider normative context within which the organisation is located. The study looks at the UN through the window of one of its most contentious, yet least understood, practices: active involvement in intra-state conflicts as epitomised by UN peacekeeping. Drawing on the conceptual tools provided by the 'historical structural' approach, this study seeks to understand how and why the international community continuously reinterprets or redefines the UN's role with regard to intra-state conflicts. The study concentrates on intra-states 'peacekeeping environments', and examines what changes, if any, have occurred to the normative basis of UN peacekeeping in intra-state conflicts from the early 1960s to the early 1990s. One of the original aspects of the study is its analytical framework, where the conceptualisation of 'normative basis' revolves around objectives, functions and authority, and is closely connected with the institutionalised values in the UN Charter such as state sovereignty, human rights and socio-economic development. This book is essential reading for postgraduate students of IR and international peacekeeping organisations.

Since the end of the Cold War and the 'War on Terror', neutrality is considered to be obsolete. This book traces the conceptualisation of neutrality, with a specific focus on Swedish neutrality, examining the link between identity and neutrality.

A highly original, multi-contributed interdisciplinary investigation into organised violence across a wide range of geographical and academic areas, which argues that violence cannot be completely divorced from 'traditional' political objectives. -- .

An inter-disciplinary volume that connects critical security studies and political geography to offer new perspectives on the politics of movement in a globalised world. -- .

A highly original, multi-contributed interdisciplinary investigation into organised violence across a wide range of geographical and academic areas, which argues that violence cannot be completely divorced from 'traditional' political objectives. -- .

This book offers an accessible account of often-neglected realities of marginalisation and vulnerability in the region, and a powerful argument for the empowerment and security of the most vulnerable. It Considers issues such as tension on the Korean peninsula, environmental change, Indonesian conflict, the war on terror and the plight of refugees. -- .

Based on the voices of Mayan women, this book re-considers the connections between security and political identity and critically challenges stereotypical views of what might constitute 'security' in modern global politics. -- .

The question of how the international community should engage in a legitimate way in state-building in war- torn, weak or failing states is a priority question for international relations. This book draws on a group of specialists to examine this question in relation to a new model of state-building intervention in the Pacific 'arc of crisis'. -- .