Willem de Koster's Books

Paradoxes of Individualization

Social Control and Social Conflict in Contemporary Modernity

By: Dick Houtman,Stef Aupers,Willem de Koster

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Paradoxes of Individualization

Social Control and Social Conflict in Contemporary Modernity

By: Dick Houtman,Stef Aupers,Willem de Koster

Paradoxes of Individualization addresses one of the most hotly debated issues in contemporary sociology: whether a process of individualization is liberating selves from society so as to make them the authors of their personal biographies. The book adopts a cultural-sociological approach that firmly rejects such a notion of individualization as naïve. The process is instead conceptualized as an increasing social significance of moral notions of individual liberty, personal authenticity and cultural tolerance, which informs two paradoxes. Firstly, chapters about consumer behavior, computer gaming, new age spirituality and right-wing extremism demonstrate that this individualism entails a new, yet often unacknowledged, form of social control. The second paradox, addressed in chapters about religious, cultural and political conflict, is concerned with the fact that it is precisely individualism's increased social significance that has made it morally and politically contested. Paradoxes of Individualization, will therefore be of interest to scholars and students of cultural sociology, cultural anthropology, political science, and cultural, religious and media studies, and particularly to those with interests in social theory, culture, politics and religion.

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Page Count

284

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351912852

ISBN 13

9781351912853

Roots of Counterterrorism

Contemporary Wisdom from Dutch Intelligence

By: Constant Willem Hijzen

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Roots of Counterterrorism

Contemporary Wisdom from Dutch Intelligence

By: Constant Willem Hijzen

The dominant narrative in intelligence studies portrays the evolution of intelligence from Cold War times to the present as one of increasing complexity. But Western intelligence and security services have countered terrorism before: terrorism became an important threat from the end of the 1960s onwards. Counterterrorism efforts before 9/11, however, differed from those employed post-9/11, not only in the way threats were perceived, but also in the repertoires of action that emerged to counter them. Using newly declassified primary sources, Roots of Counterterrorism puts into focus how the rise of terrorism in the 1970s challenged the existing perceived core functions of intelligence, specifically in the Netherlands. Constant Willem Hijzen analyses how the Dutch domestic security service Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst (BVD) scrutinized traces of terrorism from 1968, when Spanish anarchists bombed embassies in The Hague, until the South Moluccan attack of 1978, after which the threat of terrorism and political violence diminished. Unlike counterterrorism in the post-9/11 era, prevention was not the primary goal. Instead, the Dutch security service launched intelligence investigations into the suspected perpetrators of attacks, provided hands-on assistance during terrorist incidents, and advised the police and the Justice department. Roots of Counterterrorism sheds new light on Dutch intelligence history, but also on the dynamics of international intelligence cooperation, operational complexities, and more fundamental questions in intelligence and security studies about the essence and evolution of intelligence and intelligence organizations.

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