The Forum: Dealing with the Aftermath of Political Violence

The topics covered during the conference entitled Reconsidering Conflict, Terror and Resolution Conference, which was held at the University of Strathclyde in September 2008 are presented. The meeting aimed at presenting an opportunity for academics and practitioners from very different disciplinary and professional backgrounds to discuss the causes of conflict and terrorism and the conditions of resolution. The forum focused on an intimate relationship between the international execution of the war on terror and domestic security policy within the United Kingdom. The work of Jon Coaffee and Paul O'Hare that reveals important centers of policy resistance within governmental agencies that are quite different from the diasporic networks of opposition which frequently dominate geopolitical analyses of the Islamist threat was also presented. Christopher Lamont focused on the tensions between the international regimes and implementing agencies operating on the ground illustrates comparable cross-level frictions.