Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Terrorism: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
    Terrorism: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
    Terrorism: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
    Ebook269 pages6 hours

    Terrorism: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

    By Joseba Zulaika

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    In counterterrorism circles, the standard response to questions about the possibility of future attacks is the terse one-liner: “Not if, but when.” This mantra supposedly conveys a realistic approach to the problem, but, as Joseba Zulaika argues in Terrorism, it functions as a self-fulfilling prophecy. By distorting reality to fit their own worldview, the architects of the War on Terror prompt the behavior they seek to prevent—a twisted logic that has already played out horrifically in Iraq. In short, Zulaika contends, counterterrorism has become pivotal in promoting terrorism.

    Exploring the blind spots of counterterrorist doctrine, Zulaika takes readers on a remarkable intellectual journey. He contrasts the psychological insight of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood with The 9/11 Commission Report, plumbs the mindset of terrorists in works by Orianna Fallaci and Jean Genet, maps the continuities between the cold war and the fight against terrorism, and analyzes the case of a Basque terrorist who tried to return to civilian life. Zulaika’s argument is powerful, inventive, and rich with insights and ideas that provide a new and sophisticated perspective on the War on Terror.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
    Release dateDec 15, 2009
    ISBN9780226994178
    Terrorism: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
    Author

    Joseba Zulaika

    Joseba Zulaika received his licentiate in philosophy from the University of Deusto, Spain, in 1975, his M.A. in social anthropology from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, in 1977 and his Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Princeton in 1982. He has taught at the University of the Basque Country, at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and at the University of Nevada, Reno, since 1990, where he is currently affiliated as a researcher with the Basque Studies program.

    Related to Terrorism

    Related ebooks

    Anthropology For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Two Novels Tell Very Different Stories About Terrorism in America

      May 30, 2019

      Published a decade apart, the books provide a window onto the American imagination and its understanding of the links between terror and Islam. The post Two Novels Tell Very Different Stories About Terrorism in America appeared first on The Millions.

      9 min read

    • Article

      Robert C. Koehler: Love Thy Neighbor: A National Conversation

      Apr 26, 2023

      Can we form a circle big enough to fit 330 million Americans? Do we have enough folding chairs? I don’t know, but somehow we’ve got to launch a national conversation about ... war, security, guns, fear and, oh God, the global future. Ultimately, we n

      4 min read

    • Article

      Robert C. Koehler: Love Thy Neighbor: A National Conversation

      May 3, 2023

      Can we form a circle big enough to fit 330 million Americans? Do we have enough folding chairs? I don’t know, but somehow we’ve got to launch a national conversation about ... war, security, guns, fear and, oh God, the global future. Ultimately, we n

      4 min read

    • Article

      Preaching The ‘Quiet No’ Of Nonviolence

      Mar 29, 2022

      The Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. is a Methodist minister whose theories and strategies of nonviolence were used in the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s. His new book – “Revolutionary Nonviolence: Organizing for Freedom,” a collection of his

      3 min read

    • Article

      Normalizing Violence

      Mar 22, 2018

      Addressing the Parkland shootings last month, and the apparent emergence of a movement for tougher, saner gun laws that has followed, a USA Today article asked: "What has been so different from all the other mass shootings over the years?" In one sen

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Year in Letters

      Dec 21, 2018

      The Year in Letters
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Enemies of Writing

      Jan 23, 2020

      The Enemies of Writing
      10 min read

    • Article

      Robert C. Koehler: Mass Murder: Our Wounded Humanity

      Apr 20, 2023

      Once again . . . once again . . . once again . . . I’m sure you know what I’m referring to. Yeah, another —the latest (?) —mass shooting in the United States, this one at Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky, on April 10, two days ago as I write

      3 min read

    • Article

      Unintended Consequences

      May 29, 2022

      Unintended Consequences
      10 min read

    • Article

      Vocabulary Is All

      Aug 10, 2017

      Gentle Reader who has been following the continuing confrontation between the forces of science, reason and faith needn't require the services of a newspaper to decide whom to root for in what Samuel Huntington once called a clash of civilizations. I

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Terrorism

    5/5

    2 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Terrorism - Joseba Zulaika

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1