By using informers to provide intelligence on terrorism, the security and intelligence agencies who handle them gain knowledge of their offences. Charges may then be brought against them, provided evidence supports this course of action. But if imprisoned, an informer no longer has access to the time-sensitive, potentially life-saving intelligence they once had. There is therefore a tension between continuing to use an informer to provide intelligence on terrorism and upholding the law. This tension is at the heart of this book. Terrorist Informers in Northern Ireland analyses prominent terrorist informers such as Agent Stakeknife, and lesser-known examples, who collectively were active throughout Northern Ireland from the 1970s to the present. It looks at both those involved with republican groups and with loyalist groups, and also those working for the police, the armed forces, and MI5. Valuable pieces of the puzzle are unearthed in sources such as court judgments, official reports, and in interviews conducted by the author. The book also analyses the way successive governments, the police, the armed forces, and MI5 have addressed the regulation of terrorist informers' involvement in criminality, as well as allegations of 'collusion' between informers on one hand and the security and intelligence agencies on the other. Accordingly, the book also assesses the varied retrospective investigations into the use of terrorist informers, and therefore the competing needs for secrecy and transparency. As Samantha Newbery's research here shows, although there is a tension between intelligence and the law, this can be successfully navigated.

This title is about states' use of 'terrorism' to label others, especially specific groups within their own political territories and how such usage is legitimated and challenged. By examining how the Nepali state used the label of 'terrorism' to refer to Maoists in the post September 11, 2001 era, and comparing it with previous usage of the term by the British state in relation to the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Priya Dixit provides a comparative and historical analysis of states' use of the rhetoric of terrorism.

The volume critically discusses theoretical discourses and theoretically informed case studies on state violence and state terror. How do states justify their acts of violence? How are these justifications critiqued? Although legally state terrorism does not exist, some states nonetheless commit acts of violence that qualify as state terror as a social fact. In which cases and under what circumstances do (illegitimate) acts of violence qualify as state terrorism? Geographically, the volume covers cases and discourses from the Caucasus, South East and Central Asia, the Middle East, and North America.

This book is about states' use of 'terrorism' to label others, especially specific groups within their own political territories and how such usage is legitimated. The two contexts examined are British labellings of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the 1970s-1990s and Nepal's use of 'terrorism' to describe Maoists in the post '9/11' era. The first part of the book situates it within scholarship on states and 'terrorists', two terms that are not often studied together in Terrorism Studies. Then, a rhetorical analytical approach to studying official representations of IRA and Maoists as 'terrorist' is provided. This is followed by empirical analysis of Nepal and Northern Ireland, and then a chapter which draws attention to the politics of representing others as 'terrorist' in the United States in the context of the 'war on terror'. The focus is on how language was used to label others as 'terrorist' and how this changed. This is a useful book because it outlines how rhetorical practices and ways of describing others exhibit similarities across geographical regions and before and after '9/11'. As such, discussions of there being a 'new terrorism' need to take into account that states have been utilizing similar representational strategies to label and marginalise others as 'terrorist' since before '9/11'. Overall, this book directs attention to how 'states' and 'terrorists' in Britain and Nepal formed in relation to each other and how 'terrorism' was used as a delegitimating strategy, leading to the formation of 'suspect communities' and increased 'terroristisation' of society. In this way, it suggests that the variability of 'terrorism' allows states to establish and legitimate specific practices against its others but also could be a source for resistance, as noted in the case of Nepal in 2006. This book will be valuable for scholars and students of critical terrorism studies, those who study the state and its identity-formation and scholars of Nepal and small states in the international system. It will also be of use to those interested in rhetorical analysis and media/cultural studies.

Countering extremism is starting to receive more attention as a subject of research in academia and policy circles alike, demonstrating its rising popularity within the market. Nevertheless, the market currently lacks literature on the topic of extremism (as opposed to terrorism), and critical approaches in particular. The concept of this book thus grows from the need to look at the under-researched approaches to the topic from a critical perspective.This book brings together a set of scholars from a diverse range of countries, experts in many fields of social sciences to present valuable multidisciplinary analysis of both theoretical and practical aspects related to countering extremism. It will thus be of interest for scholars and students of the following disciplines, among others: Anthropology, Comparative Politics, Criminology, Education Studies, Gender Studies, International Relations, Post-colonial Studies, Peace Studies, Sociology, Subaltern Studies, Terrorism Studies.

Reconciliation after Terrorism brings together scholars from the hitherto disparate fields of terrorism and reconciliation studies, in order to examine whether reconciliation is a possible strategy for dealing with and ending a terrorist conflict. Although terrorist activities often play a role in situations of conflict and transition, terrorists are generally not taken into consideration as active participants by researchers and practitioners. In some cases, the terrorists turn into political actors during the reconciliation process and their past is not an issue anymore, as it was the case with the ANC in South Africa. This book examines the notion of reconciliation with terrorists from a theoretical and empirical perspective. The notion of engagement and reconciliation with terrorist groups is generally seen as problematic, if not impossible. This is somewhat surprising, given that the idea of societal reconciliation has become a common response to state terror- although not usually in situations of conflict with sub-state terrorist actors. Similar to state terror, sub-state terrorism is a sign of a deep societal rift which reconciliation measures may help to overcome. The text investigates the reconciliatory process further, raising the central questions: (a) what constitutes ‘reconciliation’ as a process and an outcome; and (b) how can reconciliation be facilitated in a situation of social conflict. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism studies, transitional justice, conflict resolution, peace and conflict studies and IR in general. * * *Reconciliation after Terrorism was featured in the Terrorism Bookshelf: Top 150 Books on Terrorism and Counterterrorism, selected and reviewed by Joshua Sinai. -Perspectives on Terrorism , Vol. 6, No 2, 2012* * *

This new handbook is a comprehensive collection of cutting-edge essays that investigate the contribution of Critical Terrorism Studies to our understanding of contemporary terrorism and counterterrorism. Terrorism remains one of the most important security and political issues of our time. After 9/11, Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) emerged as an alternative approach to the mainstream study of terrorism and counterterrorism, one which combined innovative methods with a searching critique of the abuses of the war on terror. This volume explores the unique contribution of CTS to our understanding of contemporary non-state violence and the state’s response to it. It draws together contributions from key thinkers in the field who explore critical questions around the nature and study of terrorism, the causes of terrorism, state terrorism, responses to terrorism, the war on terror, and emerging issues in terrorism research. Covering a wide range of topics including key debates in the field and emerging issues, the Routledge Handbook of Critical Terrorism Studies will set a benchmark for future research on terrorism and the response to it. This handbook will be of great interest to students of terrorism studies, political violence, critical security studies and IR in general.