Introduction : the colonial prose of counterterrorism -- Ethereal assassins : colonial law and 'hereditary crime' in the nineteenth century -- 'The magical lore of Bengal' : surveillance, swadeshi and propaganda by bomb, 1890s to 1913 -- 'The eye of government is on them' : anti-colonialism and emergency during the First World War -- Indefinite emergency : revolutionary politics and 'terrorism' in interwar India -- Terrorism as a 'world crime' : the British Empire, international law, and the invention of global terrorism -- Conclusion : empire, law, and terrorism in the 21st century.
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 19th and early 20th centuries. Beginning with the 'thugs', 'pirates', and 'fanatics' of the 19th century, McQuade traces the emerging and novel legal category of 'the terrorist' in early 20th 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"-- Provided by publisher.
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