Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism: Situatingal-Qaeda and the Global War on Terror withinGeopolitical Trends and Structures

摘要

Two North American political geographers situate contemporary terrorism in theworld within broad historical trends and geopolitical structures. They employ Rapoport's"four waves of terrorism" to illustrate the changing geography of terrorism (from an intra-state to an international phenomenon) and place it within the context of broad historical shiftsin modes of warfare that envisages terrorism as a form of war stemming from imperialism andstate-building. The authors broaden the structural setting of terrorism to include gco-economics and the concept of relative deprivation, using empirical analysis to argue that con-temporary terrorism is primarily a feature of the semi-periphery of the world-economy(middle-income countries). Specific characteristics of the Global War on Terror are inter-preted by relating processes of imperialism and state-building to a situation in which the U.S.is facing geopolitical challenges and a possible decline in global-power status. Journal ofEconomic Literature, Classification Numbers: 1390, O100, Y900. 3 figures, 1 table, 52 refer-ences.