http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=4897
Mervyn Bendle
"Five years after the September 11 attacks on America and nearly four years after the Bali bombings, it is appropriate to make an assessment of the state of research into terrorism in Australia. This article looks at three areas of critical concern. Academic interest: it seems clear that academic research into terrorism in Australia is characterised by a level of disinterest that verges on the irresponsible or even deliberate avoidance. Research infrastructure: one bright spot is the emergence of several centres of research and policy development in Australia that can now more adequately support research into the various dimensions of terrorism. Ideological orientation: like so many of the humanities and social sciences, terrorism research has been badly infected by the simplistic “class, gender, race” theoretical template, which is being combined with related concepts to produce highly predictable research results that invariably conclude that it is the West and not terrorism that is at fault. As we shall see below this appears to be a version of the “Stockholm Syndrome” reaction to stress."
