1st Edition

The Globalization of Terrorism

By Ihekwoaba D. Onwudiwe Copyright 2001

    This title was first published in 2001. Terrorism is today a global problem and, as was recently demonstrated in Kenya and Tanzania, no country is immune. Terrorism occurs everywhere (villages and cities), it targets innocent people and terrorists who are ideologically opposed to one country can vent their anger against citizens of another. Addressing this crucial issue, this book examines the future of global terrorism by employing the World System’s perspectives in the explanation of terrorism and investigating the etiological determinants of international terrorism. It aims to articulate a theoretical explanation of terrorism which will assist the development of practical policies that are effective in counter-terrorism operations. The main features of the book include World System’s Theory (WST), the relevance of WST, factors affecting the definition of terrorism, structural terrorism in the WST, application of Fanon, the political dimension of terrorism ideologies, the disadvantages of ideological labels, measuring WST position and the distribution of terrorism, terrorist incidents by WST position of occurrence and WST position of target, labelling terrorism in context, powerism and anti-powerism, racial terrorism and global apartheid and the criminalization of terrorism.

    Contents: World systems theory; Terrorism: definitional problems; Terrorism in the world system; Data methods; Analysis of the RAND chronology of international terrorism: 1987; Labelling terrorism in context; Inter-continental terrorism; Summary, racial and global terrorism; Appendix; Bibliography.

    Biography

    Ihekwoaba D. Onwudiwe

    ’...[raises] some important questions that, refreshingly, view terrorism from a non-white, middle-class perspective...’ West Africa Magazine ’...the book's strength is its reviews of ciminological and sociological theories with potential relevance to terrorism studies...The book is well structured and easy to read...’ Peace Research ’...Onwudiwe has performed an excellent task [in] pulling together the overriding social, economic, cultural and geopolitical forces operating in the world today...Onwudiwe’s work on terrorism is both scholarly and unique; putting it in the more august company of other excellent works...this book is an excellent look at terrorism from an entirely new and refreshing perspective. Onwudiwe proves his WST theory in a clear manner and I would highly commend this book to students in the field...’ International Criminal Justice Review