This book offers a multifaceted, analytical account of counterterrorism argumentative speech. Traditionally, existing scholarship in this field of research has taken a selective focus on issues and actors, concentrating mainly on US state discourse after 9/11. However, this approach ignores the fact that there was counterterrorism speech before 9/11, and that there are other countries and other actors who also actively engage in the counterterrorism discursive field, both within and outside of the Western world. Addressing several thematic, chronological and methodological gaps in the current literature, Arguing Counterterrorism offers a dynamic perspective on counterterrorism argumentative speech. Over the course of the volume, the authors tackle the following key issues: first, historical and cultural continuity and change. Second, the phenomenology of counterterrorism speech: its nature, instrumentalisation, implications and interactions between the various actors involved. The third theme is the anatomy of counterterrorism speech; namely its political, cultural and linguistic constitutive elements. Employing a multi-disciplinary framework, the authors explore these issues through a geographically and historically diverse range of case studies, resulting in a book that broadens the perspective of counterterrorism argumentation analysis. This book will be of much interest to students of critical terrorism studies, counterterrorism, discourse analysis, security studies and IR.

Table of Contents:
Introduction, Daniela Pisoiu Part I: Roots and Cultures 1. The Rhetorical Origins of the U.S. War on Terror, Carol K. Winkler 2. Western Responses to Terrorism in the 1970s, Ondrej Ditrych 3. The Power of Terrorism Frames: Responses to non-Islamist Lone-Wolf Terrorism in Europe, A. Maurits van der Veen Part II: Phenomenology 4. Between Insurrection and "Reformism": Public Discourses of 21st Century Greek Armed Groups, Anastassia Tsoukala 5. When Terrorists Talk Back, Daniela Pisoiu and Nico Prucha 6. Plenty of Oxygen: Terrorism, News Media and the Politics of the Australian Security State, David C. Holmes and Rebeka Sullivan 7. Jihadist Terrorism in Europe: Which Role for Media?, Sybille Reinke de Buitrago 8. Counterterrorism as contested terrain: performative contradictions and "autoimmune disorder", Ramaswami Harindranath Part III: Anatomy 9. The Elusive Essence of Evil: Constructing Otherness in the Coalition of the Willing, Jack Holland 10. The Discourse on Political Islam and the "War on Terror": Roots, Policy Implications and Potential for Change, Corinna Mullin 11. The Multiple Contexts of Russian Counterterrorism Frames: Framing Process and Discursive Field, Aurélie Campana 12. The Hunter and the Hunted: Metaphors of Pursuit, Prey and the Intractability of Difference in post 9/11 American Counterterrorism Discourse, Deborah Wills and Erin Steuter