Maureen Duffy, Detention of Terrorism Suspects: Political Discourse and Fragmented Practices

DOI10.3366/elr.2020.0661
Published date01 September 2020
Date01 September 2020
Pages443-445
Author

Anyone who has kept an eye on the significant shifts in political, legal and social discourses on national security since 9/11 has no doubt observed the way in which government leaders and, often, the media have used powerful rhetorical devices to tell the story of terrorism in particular ways. In Detention of Terrorism Suspects: Political Discourse and Fragmented Practices, Maureen Duffy carefully unpacks these rhetorical tools to deliver a clear and concerning account of the campaign to create a story of counter-terrorism that is politically convenient. She demonstrates how this convenient rhetoric often capitalises on the laziness of “cognitive misers” who give little consideration to the meaning behind political word-craft. Using a variety of highly publicised and lesser-known counter-terrorism cases, the volume is brought to life through the humanity of the case-studies. The book's six substantive chapters are divided into two parts; the first part focuses on political discourse while the second offers a meticulous look at how politicised discourse led to the highly fragmented detention practices that exist today.

Duffy's methodology combines the study of law and language with argumentation theory to deconstruct post-9/11 narratives and then “reassemble [the pieces] to suggest new perspectives”, much like a kaleidoscope where “reconfiguration of a picture can come about through such a reconfiguration of the component...

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