A genealogy of terrorism: colonial law and the origins of an idea

Using India as a case study, Joseph McQuade demonstrates how the modern concept of terrorism was shaped by colonial emergency laws dating back into the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Beginning with the 'thugs', 'pirates', and 'fanatics' of the nineteenth cent...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: McQuade, Joseph 1990- (Author)
Format: Electronic Book
Language:English
Published: Cambridge New York, NY Port Melbourne, VIC New Delhi Singapore Cambridge University Press 2021
In:Year: 2021
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Related Items:Erscheint auch als: 1736825429
Description
Summary:Using India as a case study, Joseph McQuade demonstrates how the modern concept of terrorism was shaped by colonial emergency laws dating back into the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Beginning with the 'thugs', 'pirates', and 'fanatics' of the nineteenth century, McQuade traces the emerging and novel legal category of 'the terrorist' in early twentieth-century colonial law, ending with an examination of the first international law to target global terrorism in the 1930s. Drawing on a wide range of archival research and a detailed empirical study of evolving emergency laws in British India, he argues that the idea of terrorism emerged as a deliberate strategy by officials seeking to depoliticize the actions of anti-colonial revolutionaries, and that many of the ideas embedded in this colonial legislation continue to shape contemporary understandings of terrorism today.
Physical Description:1 Online-Ressource (xvi, 276 Seiten)
ISBN:9781108896238
DOI:10.1017/9781108896238