The Concept of 'New Terrorism' and Its Place within the Discipline of International Relations

What is it about?

This paper takes hold of the interaction of terrorism with the international system through the concept of ‘new terrorism’. The concept of new terrorism was initially coined within the academic field, before the terrorist attacks (9/11) on World Trade Center in the United States took place on 11 September 2001. Referring to radical changes in structures and strategies of terrorist organisations the concept argues that a new kind of terrorism emerged and targeted the international system instead of approving it. In this study, firstly, it is argued that that kind of an approach takes terrorism(s) as an ahistorical fact(s) with the effect of 9/11 and restrains to a reductionist dialectic by limiting terrorism to Al-Qaeda and its practices. Secondly, it is also asserted that the organisations considered as patterns of new terrorism adopt somewhat collaborative strategies towards the international system rather than disdaining and demolishing it. Lastly, the meaning of the new terrorism for the discipline of International Relations and its reflections in terrorism studies in Turkey will be evaluated.

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Why is it important?

The study evaluates the interaction of New Terrorism and its familiarness among the discipline of International Relations academics in Turkey