IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jintdv/v18y2006i1p87-104.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

War without end? Magic, propaganda and the hidden functions of counter-terror

Author

Listed:
  • David Keen

    (Development Studies Institute (DESTIN), London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK)

Abstract

This paper suggests that current tactics in the 'war on terror' are predictably counterproductive, and that these 'failing' tactics actually serve a range of political, economic and psychological functions for diverse actors who make up the 'war on terror' coalition. It compares the 'war on terror' to civil wars, especially in Africa, where experience shows that predictably counterproductive tactics are common and the aim is not necessarily to win. Current violent responses to terror-which represent 'magical thinking' in important ways-are based on the fallacy of a finite group of evil people who can be physically eliminated; more productive would be a genuine attempt to understand the processes that lead people to embrace violence and an attempt to engage with processes of exclusion, humiliation and discrimination. This is something that needs to be built into any developmental initiative; otherwise, we are left with a vast pool of anger and a counter-terror reflex that only exacerbates the problem. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • David Keen, 2006. "War without end? Magic, propaganda and the hidden functions of counter-terror," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(1), pages 87-104.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:18:y:2006:i:1:p:87-104
    DOI: 10.1002/jid.1264
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/jid.1264
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/jid.1264?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:18:y:2006:i:1:p:87-104. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/5102/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.