Hello, I am writing a research paper on the topic of counter-terrorism. I have attached screenshots of the criteria along with my research proposal. Please use the research proposal as a based to the paper with the sources except the “Wall Street Journal” source. Please make sure each criteria is checked and that it follows the correct format! Thank you!
Feedback based on the research proposal:
I think it needs just a bit more specificity. You note two European countries which have adopted US counterterrorist policies (France and Britain), but for it to be a fully fleshed out puzzle you’ll need to briefly note some comparable countries which have not done the same. This does not mean you need to discuss the entire legal framework of those countries, because that would be too much for a paper of 20-25 pages. However, you’ll at least need to establish that it is puzzling that France and Britain more-or-less adopted these policies but that other comparable countries (ex: Canada, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, etc.) with similar Islamophobic attitudes did not (or, at least did not fully adopt them). In this regard, your research question would have an additional qualifier: “Why did the US policies on counterterrorism become a reference to states such as France and Britain following 9/11, but not other similar states?” You’ll certainly be able to establish this with the evidence you provided. For example, the dataset on 20 liberal democracies and their responses to international terrorism would be a great first place to look. I’d suggest picking one or two comparable countries to France and Britain and using those to establish your puzzle. Another thing to consider for your paper is the following — given the permissive legal framework, why wouldn’t all countries with pre-existing Islamophobic attitudes adopt these policies? In other words, what is special about France and Britain’s attitudes toward Muslim minority groups that made them more likely to adopt these policies, but not other countries with presumably similar anti-Muslim sentiments? Is it something about their legal systems which makes carrying out these policies easier than in, say, Belgium or Germany? You don’t need to have an answer for this just yet, but it’s something you’ll need to consider in writing your paper. I suspect the book by Kent Roach might help you answer this question. This might also mean you need to add an additional qualifier to your thesis to reflect what is special about Britain and France. Another thing you’ll need to do is to define how you’re measuring Islamophobia, marginalization, and prejudice. Is this going to be measured by the number of hate crimes against a country’s Muslim population? By the type of legislation enacted? By the number of false counterterror arrests of Muslim civilians? There are likely many ways to define this, but you’ll need to measure it in some way so that you can make the argument it has changed or been reinforced by the adoption of these policies. A small note on your 5 sources – the Wall Street Journal is not an academic peer-reviewed source.
Here is the link to a special series of articles on the topic of Racism in counter-terrorism and surveillance which might be helpful for you: https://www.nature.com/collections/vcmvfpplyb