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Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn on Barrons discussing terror attack memorials

Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn, PhD candidate at ISGA, explained the dilemma countries face in the aftermath of terror attacks.

Every terror attack in Western countries lead to a dilemma: what is the best way to honour the victims and show resilience, without giving the perpetrators their craved place in posterity? Cities like Madrid, Oklahoma, New York, Brussels, Oslo and Manchester have set up memorials and other initiatives.

Unwritten cultural norm

Countries often construct memorials to commemorate terrorist attacks. ‘This has become somewhat of a cultural norm’, De Roy van Zuijdewijn says. There is a tension between the wish to show or mark trauma and showing resilience. De Roy van Zuijdewijn explains: ‘While some might want to physically mark a place, others might want it to look as normal as possible in order not to credit the terrorist by making damage the most visible element.’

Read the full article from Barrons here or read the French version here

Jeanine is a Researcher and Lecturer at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs of Leiden University and a Research Fellow of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism. She has a background in Liberal Arts & Sciences (BA) and International Relations (MA – cum laude). Her research interests are the impact of terrorism, foreign fighters, threat and lone-actor terrorism. Her current PhD-research focuses on reactions to terrorist attacks. She has published various peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and reports on these topics.

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