Knowledge at war

The relative frequent use of terms such as “fake news”, “known unknowns”, among others in the public discourse should have convinced by now the most sceptical observer that epistemology is too important a business to be left to philosophers or … politicians. 9/11 has not only ushered us in a more insecure world where unchecked ideologies and fundamentalisms threaten to disrupt life anywhere between the North and the South. It also brought with it challenges to knowledge formation, risk and (un)certainty while unleashing an overworking of (counter-)terroristic imagination. Knowledge at War takes IR research programmes to task and asks how they succeeded or failed to make sense of the present-day terrorism. It surveys to which extent epistemological choices, programmatic existential beliefs constrain richer analyses and interpretations of terrorism despise the multiple publications and the methodologies used in terrorism research – as ranging from literature reviews, limited or extended data collections, empirical observations, anthropological and philosophical perspectives. Knowledge at War then shows how history, coupled with a sensibility for epistemology, knowledge framing, and language can provide richer perspectives on the roots of current-day terrorism and catalyze sustainable responses.