From ISIS to (US) Insurrection: Exploring the Sociology of Knowledge on Extremism and Political Violence through Struggles for Expert Authority
Lead Research Organisation:
Aberystwyth University
Department Name: International Politics
Abstract
As major recent events, from Brexit to COVID-19 have revealed, the social and political construction of 'experts' and their 'expert knowledge' is pivotal in shaping outcomes and ways of understanding global challenges. However, the centrality of the contested nature of expertise that these events brought to the fore have also been playing out in the study of 'terrorism'. The Islamic State group's (IS) declaration of a 'caliphate' in 2014 led to a gold rush to provide expertise on the group. It attracted a plethora of different fields, institutions, and individuals producing knowledge and claiming authority on IS (academia, policy institutions, private sector analysts, among many others). However, unlike many spaces of specialised knowledge (e.g., medicine), which have highly regulated fields to demarcate who the 'experts' are (and crucially, are not), the study of 'terrorism', 'radicalisation' and 'counterterrorism' does not maintain such institutionalised regulation. My research has revealed that there is no consistency amongst IS knowledge producers and elite consumers (e.g., government, media) as to who is an 'expert' and what attributes constitute expert authority. This subsequent competition for recognition as an 'expert' and its 'winners' in-turn shapes dominant knowledge on how the group is understood and should be responded to.
Consequently, my research sociologically analyses this period and the conditions of terrorism expertise after 2014. This began with mapping the landscape of IS experts, proceeding to trace how deep historical debates over knowledge on Islam, the Middle East and political violence have shaped contemporary dynamics amongst expertise and their state, media, and wider consumers. This uncovered a broad spectrum of heavily disputed sources of authority that aspiring experts draw upon. Breaking new ground in the study of terrorism, it showed how this 'marketplace of expertise' produces diverse strategies pursued by experts to produce or maintain their authority, impacting whose expertise is utilised by practitioners, policy makers and the media. This research also explored how both physical and virtual spaces (such as conferences and Twitter) also shape the production and circulation of knowledge on IS, the membership of the expert community, and their relations amongst each other and with consumers.
This fellowship's further research aims to extend this analysis of the terrorism 'expert marketplace' from the IS-era to account for the transition towards new terrorism threats in the Anglo-American context (far right). I will explore the processes by which another wave of aspiring experts emerged fulfil a demand to understand the far right, and how established expertise have responded to a changing landscape of consumer demands amid shifting political conditions shaping the framing of this threat. By introducing new findings into my existing analysis and preparing multiple publications based on this collective research, this fellowship will develop and communicate new insights into how the West understands contemporary political violence. As an analysis of expertise within a major, contentious global challenge, it further contributes towards understanding ongoing change in the function and politics of expertise at-large.
Consequently, my research sociologically analyses this period and the conditions of terrorism expertise after 2014. This began with mapping the landscape of IS experts, proceeding to trace how deep historical debates over knowledge on Islam, the Middle East and political violence have shaped contemporary dynamics amongst expertise and their state, media, and wider consumers. This uncovered a broad spectrum of heavily disputed sources of authority that aspiring experts draw upon. Breaking new ground in the study of terrorism, it showed how this 'marketplace of expertise' produces diverse strategies pursued by experts to produce or maintain their authority, impacting whose expertise is utilised by practitioners, policy makers and the media. This research also explored how both physical and virtual spaces (such as conferences and Twitter) also shape the production and circulation of knowledge on IS, the membership of the expert community, and their relations amongst each other and with consumers.
This fellowship's further research aims to extend this analysis of the terrorism 'expert marketplace' from the IS-era to account for the transition towards new terrorism threats in the Anglo-American context (far right). I will explore the processes by which another wave of aspiring experts emerged fulfil a demand to understand the far right, and how established expertise have responded to a changing landscape of consumer demands amid shifting political conditions shaping the framing of this threat. By introducing new findings into my existing analysis and preparing multiple publications based on this collective research, this fellowship will develop and communicate new insights into how the West understands contemporary political violence. As an analysis of expertise within a major, contentious global challenge, it further contributes towards understanding ongoing change in the function and politics of expertise at-large.
Organisations
| Description | As a one year ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship, the purpose of the grant is for enabling achievements utilising existing research, rather than new research and key finding discoveries. As such, this grant was awarded under the objectives of: 1) Produce publications in order to help establish track record, and 2) Communicate research findings. Objective One remains in-progress - while this one year grant enabled the foundational work to produce draft material for such publications as planned, a one year timeline has been insufficient to cover the entire lifecycle of the PhD thesis to publication processes. This objective therefore remains ongoing and is set to be achieved in the next 12 - 18 months, subject to review and publication timelines, and constraints of my current role. Objective Two has been mostly achieved with some practical adjustments required. The objectives of presenting this research to the following bodies, as indicated my grant application, has been achieved: Aberystwyth University's Centre for the International Politics of Knowledge, Aberystwyth University's International Politics Research Seminar; and the International Political Sociology section at the European International Studies Association. In addition, my communication to the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies was adjusted to the European Workshops in International Studies as an alternative collaborative forum, as this research communicaiton provided a direct opportunity in relation to objective one (publications). This workshop has led to an additional draft publication, due to be submitted in 2025. Finally, another strand of Objective Two, presenting to UK government stakeholders, had been initially cancelled due to individual contacts in the relevant areas of UK government having moved-on from positions. However, this objective is still set to be achieved through adaptation to present to alternative but comparable UK government stakeholders within UK defence in early 2025. |
| Exploitation Route | In terms of the empirical nature of this research, all UK government departments concerned with terrorism/counterterrorism are potential beneficiaries of this research, where findings may be taken forward within both the immediate counter terrorism and also broader whole-of-government expert engagement strategies and external-HMG knowledge integration. As identified through subsequent activity in a role after this grant, the outcomes of this research (when fully realised into publications) can also support pedagogical development within professional learning within UK and wider international defence, security and international relations learning. |
| Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Education Government Democracy and Justice Security and Diplomacy Other |