SPIN Panel – Twenty Years of the Global War on Terror: Looking back, looking forward

Wednesday September 8th, 18:00-20:00 (GMT+1)

September 2021 marks the first in a series of twentieth anniversaries associated with what became known as the Global War on Terror. Though the UK and US have only just withdrawn military forces from Afghanistan, bringing to a close, for some, this ‘longest war’, conflicts in new regions are ongoing, while the impact and legacies of the war will continue to be felt in the decades to come in countries across the globe.

This SPIN panel therefore brings together a range of experts on the war to reflect on what we now know (and still don’t) about its causes and its legacies. Covering the war on terror through its military occupations; the rise of new domestic and international surveillance and police powers; the development of new industries, technologies and specialists in terrorism and counter-terrorism (including the rise of special operations’ manhunts and drone warfare); as well as the scandals of extraordinary rendition, Guantanamo and torture, and the challenges of accountability in an age of digital archives and misinformation.

Speakers include:

• Amal Abu-Bakare (Liverpool) – Author of The Colour in Counter-terrorism (forthcoming)
• Edmund Clark (UAL) – Author of Negative Publicity: Artefacts of Extraordinary Rendition; The Mountains of Majeed; Control Order House; Guantanamo: If the Light Goes Out
• Nivi Manchanda (Queen Mary, London) – Author of Imagining Afghanistan; Race and Racism in International Relations
• Owen Thomas (SPIN, Exeter) – Author of Liberal Wars
• Simon Frankel Pratt (Bristol) – Author of Normative Transformation and the War on Terror (forthcoming)

Chaired by Elspeth Van Veeren (SPIN, Bristol) – Author of Guantanamo Matters (forthcoming)

Please join us to mark this important historical milestone. All welcome. The event is free to attend and will be held online, through Zoom. Sign up available through Eventbrite here.