Description
Anti-terrorism powers across the world are employed by liberal democratic states and
autocratic regimes alike to identify and dismantle enemies of the state. While many states
use such powers judiciously, in many more states the use of anti-terrorism powers since
2001 has proven to be little more than repressive. The crucial precursor for all such anti-
terrorism powers is the designation and proscription of an entity as terrorist. Recent
scholarship has demonstrated the inherently political and often arbitrary determinations
that lead to terrorist designations in the 21st Century, and their frequently counter-
productive consequences. Yet, the antecedent practices of contemporary proscription
powers are yet to be fully revealed: where did such powers first develop and mature, and
what contributed their design? To address this question, this paper undertakes a
genealogical analysis of the use of proscription powers in colonial administrations across
the world, specifically those of Britain's colonial practices in Kenya and Nigeria in the
1940s and 50s. The paper, first, draws out the discursive framing of (emancipatory)
political movements in these countries as anti-state enemies, and identifies the laws and
experimental repressive practices of exclusion employed by colonial authorities. Second,
it traces the movement of these 'experimental' approaches into the UK's domestic anti-
terrorism frameworks addressing violence in initially Northern Ireland and, latterly, the
post-9/11 era. Finally, the paper traces the impact of colonial proscription practices on
contemporary antiterrorism regimes worldwide
