Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in subsequent chapters of the book. This book talks about how terrorism is vectored through and connected to power, inequality and injustice. Indubitably, terrorism receives much wider coverage in the social science and criminological literature than at any point previously. The book explores the central contradictions and tensions that are embedded in the construction, representation and regulation of terrorism. It discusses the events such as 9/11 and 7/7 not as random happenings but as events that have occurred within the wider tapestry of economic and political change in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere. The book argues that the war on terror has resulted in a raft of pre-emptive legislation, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. Westo-centric thinking has driven both foreign policy and international security agendas, from efforts to tighten security at airports to the invasion of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan.