International Terrorism Discourses

The use of the labels ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism’ has deeply political connotations. It renders certain individuals and groups and their actions illegitimate, while also creating support for other measures, such as US drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen or increased surveillance measures in Germany and the UK. The question of which groups and actions should be considered to constitute ‘terrorism’ and what to do about them is severely contested between states as well as within them. This is illustrated in the common phrase: ‘One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.’ Constructivist terrorism research and critical security studies are hence increasingly interested in the social construction of terrorism.

The project contributed to this line of research by adopting a cross-national comparative perspective and by analysing school textbooks. Specifically, it studied how textbooks for social studies and civic education published in a wide range of countries between 2003 and 2014 use the labels ‘terror’ and ‘terrorism’. The methodology employed by the project combined quantitative content analysis with a qualitative reading of the material.

Das Projekt trug zu dieser Forschung bei. Es analysierte Schulbücher und nahm dabei eine international vergleichende Perspektive ein. Konkret wurde betrachtet, wie zwischen 2003 und 2014 publizierte Schulbücher für das Fach Sozialkunde/Staatsbürgerkunde aus einer Vielzahl an Ländern die Begriffe „Terror“ und „Terrorismus“ verwenden. Methodisch kombinierte das Projekt eine quantitative Inhaltsanalyse mit einer qualitativen Sichtung des vorliegenden Materials.