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This book investigates counterterrorism responses from a strategic-culturalist perspective, focusing on France and Italy in the post-9/11 era. Terrorism occupies a predominant space within contemporary political debate across all European countries. Recent attacks in Europe have raised many questions about the status of counterterrorism structures within European countries, revealing a wide range of practical as well as discursive security implications. This work provides an original contribution to the understanding of counterterrorism by asking how values, norms, and a shared sense of identity matter in policy dynamics. It explores and assesses which cultural elements are relevant for the fight against terrorism and investigates the impact which these elements can have on practical approaches to terrorism. Despite the current attention to terrorist attacks in Europe, the cases of France and Italy in counterterrorism affairs are particularly overlooked by the existing literature; this book analyses, questions, and examines the strategy of these two countries through the instruments offered by the culturalist approaches to strategy.This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism studies, discourse analysis, European politics, security studies, and international relations in general.

In Angry Public Rhetorics, Celeste Condit explores emotions as motivators and organizers of collective action—a theory that treats humans as “symbol-using animals” to understand the patterns of leadership in global affairs—to account for the way in which anger produced similar rhetorics in three ideologically diverse voices surrounding 9/11: Osama bin Laden, President George W. Bush, and Susan Sontag. These voices show that anger is more effective for producing some collective actions, such as rallying supporters, reifying existing worldviews, motivating attack, enforcing shared norms, or threatening from positions of power; and less effective for others, like broadening thought, attracting new allies, adjudicating justice across cultural norms, or threatening from positions of weakness. Because social anger requires shared norms, collectivized anger cannot serve social justice. In order for anger to be a force for global justice, the world's peoples must develop shared norms to direct discussion of international relations. Angry Public Rhetorics provides guidance for such public forums.

The terrorist destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 was the climax of a course plotted by Osama Bin Laden to bring about his apocalyptic vision of a decisive clash between the Western and Moslem worlds. This timely volume details the organizational workings and belief system of Bin Laden's brutal campaign. The authors explore the background and objectives of the attacks, the elaborate planning that went into them, and the process of their practical execution.In addition to its factual account, The Globalization of Terror makes a significant contribution to scholarly and theoretical research dealing with international terror. The book offers a unique analysis of the Afghan'alumni,'who had previously fought the Soviets in the 1980s, within the overall tapestry related to modern international terror. The authors detail how their activities evolved from a movement of national self-defense to the militant worldview identified with radical Islam. The book reveals, as well, the organizational structure so carefully erected by Bin Laden and his associates, in order to realize the vision of a worldwide Islamic Caliphate in practical terms. The book is intended to work as a set of guidelines for newcomers to the world of international terrorism including anti-terror task forces, heads of security companies as well as professionals in the field.The importance of The Globalization of Terror lies in its clear presentation and precise analysis regarding the dimensions of the danger international terror poses to the free world, and in its recommendations for the necessary strategy to prevent the recurrence of acts of large-scale terror.

In the wake of the September 11 attacks, Americans were confronted with a new kind of war and a new kind of danger. After the strikes, institutions were created to mobilize the domestic response to potential terrorist threats and Congress passed legislation giving the president broad powers to fight terrorism and to provide heightened security for the nation. In this timely work, a team of experts addresses the question of how a democracy faces the challenge of balancing legitimate homeland security concerns against the rights and freedoms of its citizens. They evaluate the measures introduced in the aftermath of 9/11 and assess the far-reaching consequences of those changes for American politics and society.

International Relations has traditionally focused on conflict and war, but the effects of violence including dead bodies and memorialization practices have largely been considered beyond the purview of the field. Drawing on Jacques Derrida's notion of hauntology to consider the politics of life and death, Auchter traces the story of how life and death and a clear division between the two is summoned in the project of statecraft. She argues that by letting ourselves be haunted, or looking for ghosts, it is possible to trace how statecraft relies on the construction of such a dichotomy. Three empirical cases offer fertile ground for complicating the picture often painted of memorialization: Rwandan genocide memorials, the underexplored case of undocumented immigrants who die crossing the US-Mexico border, and the body/ruins nexus in 9/11 memorialization. Focusing on the role of dead bodies and the construction of particular spaces as the appropriate sites for memory to be situated, it offers an alternative take on the new materialisms movement in international relations by asking after the questions that arise from an ethnographic approach to the subject: viewing things from the perspective of dead bodies, who occupy the shadowy world of post-conflict international politics. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of critical international relations, security studies, statecraft and memory studies.

The term ‘terrorism'is often applied exclusively to non-state groups or specific ‘rogue states'. Far less attention is given to state terrorism carried out or sponsored by democracies, most notably the United States. History shows that this state terrorism has been responsible for the deaths of millions of people. Weapon of the Strong analyses the forms of US state terrorism through exclusive, never before published interviews with leading commentators and theorists, including Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman, Richard A. Falk, Judith Butler, Ted Honderich, Norman Finkelstein and Gilbert Achcar. The interviews explore the different aspects of state terrorism: its functions, institutional supports and the legal and moral arguments surrounding it, and consider specific case studies in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Weapon of the Strong makes an indispensable contribution to contemporary debates on terrorism and constructs a damning critique of US foreign policy from World War Two to the present day.

Despite occupying a central role and frequently being used in the study of international politics, the concept of the'event'remains in many ways unchallenged and unexplored. By combining the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and his concept of the event with the example of 9/11 as an historical event, this book problematises the role and meaning of'events'in international politics.Lundborg seeks to demonstrate how the historical event can be analysed as a practice of inscribing temporal borders and distinctions. Specifically he shows how this practice relies upon an ongoing process of capturing various movements – of thought, sense, experience and becoming. However the book also demonstrates how these same movements express a life and reality that elude complete capture, highlighting the potential for alternative encounters with the event, encounters that constantly threaten to undermine the limits and imaginary completeness of the historical event. This book offers an exciting new way of thinking about the politics of encountering events, arguing that at the heart of such encounters there are always elements of uncertainty and contingency that cannot be fully resolved or fixed. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of international relations, cultural studies and history.

Days of Decision spans a century of American foreign policymaking, from the Spanish- American War of 1898 to the attacks of September 11, 2001. Michael J. Nojeim and David P. Kilroy carefully examine twelve foreign-policy landmarks, each of which played a crucial role in shaping world history and led to profound changes in U.S. foreign policy. Devoting one chapter to each turning point, they place it in its proper historical context, explore its political consequences—primarily the debates and divisions that arose among policymakers—and discuss the aftermath, focusing on its lasting influence on world affairs and the conduct of American diplomacy and foreign affairs.This accessible, introductory text provides students of foreign policy and international relations a deeper understanding of these disciplines'processes and of America's place in the world.

A career of nearly three decades with the CIA and the National Intelligence Council showed Paul R. Pillar that intelligence reforms, especially measures enacted since 9/11, can be deeply misguided. They often miss the sources that underwrite failed policy and misperceive our ability to read outside influences. They also misconceive the intelligence-policy relationship and promote changes that weaken intelligence-gathering operations.In this book, Pillar confronts the intelligence myths Americans have come to rely on to explain national tragedies, including the belief that intelligence drives major national security decisions and can be fixed to avoid future failures. Pillar believes these assumptions waste critical resources and create harmful policies, diverting attention away from smarter reform, and they keep Americans from recognizing the limits of obtainable knowledge.Pillar revisits U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War and highlights the small role intelligence played in those decisions, and he demonstrates the negligible effect that America's most notorious intelligence failures had on U.S. policy and interests. He then reviews in detail the events of 9/11 and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, condemning the 9/11 commission and the George W. Bush administration for their portrayals of the role of intelligence. Pillar offers an original approach to better informing U.S. policy, which involves insulating intelligence management from politicization and reducing the politically appointed layer in the executive branch to combat slanted perceptions of foreign threats. Pillar concludes with principles for adapting foreign policy to inevitable uncertainties.

The Impact of 9/11 and the New Legal Landscape is the third volume of the six-volume series The Day that Changed Everything? edited by Matthew J. Morgan. The series brings together from a broad spectrum of disciplines the leading thinkers of our time to reflect on one of the most significant events of our time.

The Impact of 9/11 on Politics and War is the first volume of the six-volume series The Day that Changed Everything? edited by Matthew J. Morgan. The series brings together from a broad spectrum of disciplines the leading thinkers of our time to reflect on one of the most significant events of our time.

A third edition of this book is now available. In this cogent text, Laura Neack argues that foreign policy making, in this uncertain era of globalization, global violence and American hegemony, revolves around power seeking and power maintenance. Now in a thoroughly revised and updated edition with concise, accessible chapters, the book reviews both old and new lessons on foreign policy making and behavior using a rich array of new and enduring case studies.Following a levels-of-analysis organization, the author considers the many elements that influence foreign policy. Topics include realist theories on rational actors and the pursuit of national interests; studies of leaders'cognition, beliefs and learning; the relationships between leaders and autonomous governmental groups that influence foreign policy making; the shaping influence of national self-image and culture on government institutions and policies; the so-called democratic peace and how democratization may lead to war; the impact of domestic political debates and political opposition on foreign policy choices; the controversial roles of public opinion and the media; how great powers are expected to behave in foreign affairs and how non-great powers may find openings for foreign policy independence; and the impact of non-state actors on the foreign policies of states.

The danger raised by the terrorist threat is real, existential, and vital to the United States. But the attacks on 9/11 have been broadly misunderstood. In assessing the meaning and significance of the war on terror, Tschirgi raises many issues related to the Middle East and American policy toward that area. For example, he debunks the entire exceptionalist approach to the Arab world (the presumption that Arab societies fail to be fathomed by Western social science). While Tschirgi stresses the need for resolving the war on terrorism favorably, he also suggests two broad policy recommendations. First, he argues that while the United States should maintain its firm commitment to Israel's preservation as a Jewish state, it has no corresponding duty to support Israeli expansionism. U.S.-Israeli relations should proceed on this basis and should be informed by a greater American reliance on principles of international law. Second, Tschirgi concludes that an American withdrawal from Iraq must be effected as early as possible.Tschirgi's provocative thesis is that the attacks of 9/11 were not as unique an event as we commonly believe. Rather, they were understandable—though deplorable—human reactions to a combination of factors that fueled the Arab world's marginalization and led to a generalized feeling among the people of that region that the West (and particularly the United States) posed a mortal threat to their identity. Employing three case studies of marginalized violent conflict—Mexico's Zapatista conflict, Egypt's struggle against the Gama'a al-Islamiyya in Upper Egypt, and Nigeria's fight against the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta—Tschirgi demonstrates the dynamics through which traditional peoples have in modern times opted to wage hopeless struggle against objectively more powerful states. The parallels between the dynamics that informed each of these situations and those marking the international Muslim insurgency against the West are striking, as are the significant differences between the two phenomena. The parallels are found in the mechanics of marginalization and resistance. The differences lie, first, in the Muslim insurgency's identification of the West as a total enemy and the struggle with it as having a zero-sum nature and, second, in the modern terrorists'potential access to lethal means of mass destruction. Both the parallels and differences that mark the two phenomena help deepen a real understanding of the meaning of 9/11.

Organized groups of victims'families and friends have emerged since September 11, 2001, to become a powerful voice in U.S. counterterrorist policy and legislation. These groups were remarkably successful in getting the 9/11 Commission established and in getting the commission's most important recommendations enacted. This report documents these groups and compares them to groups formed in response to other terrorist attacks.

Où étiez-vous le matin du 11 septembre 2001? Chacun se souvient de ce moment précis où il a vu pour la première fois ces images inoubliables. N'est-il pas paradoxal qu'au moment où l'histoire se déroule sous nos yeux nous sommes tentés de nous interroger sur notre propre destinée? Arrêt sur image. La proximité géographique d'abord, mais également les liens aussi profonds qu'ambigus qui nous rattachent à nos voisins du Sud, ont fait en sorte que ces événements ont envoyé une onde de choc qui a traversé toute notre société. En suivant minute par minute l'emploi du temps de ceux qui ont joué un rôle dans cette journée, André Duchesne se sert du 11 septembre comme d'un scanner pour révéler une image fascinante de nous-mêmes. D'abord, en ce jour précis, le hasard ou la nécessité ont voulu que plusieurs événements importants rassemblent Québécois, Canadiens et Américains. Le Québec s'apprêtait à inaugurer à New York toute une série d'événements pour faire la promotion de sa culture. Le 11 septembre était également la date que le NORAD avait choisie pour réaliser un volet de l'exercice Vigilant Guardian, simulation d'attaques aériennes virtuelles arrivant par vagues successives, jusqu'au moment où, partout en Amérique du Nord, les hauts gradés de cette organisation militaire ne savaient plus où s'arrêtait la fiction et où commençait la réalité.Au-delà des grands enjeux historiques ou géopolitiques, sans tenter d'excuser ou d'accabler qui que ce soit, André Duchesne réussit à capter, dans ce livre qui se lit comme un suspense haletant, la densité humaine qui a marqué cette journée, l'émotion qu'elle a créée en chacun de nous.

The last foreign policy review was conducted in 1995 and there has been no thoroughgoing, decisive, public reconsideration of the significance of the terrorist attacks against the United States, the violent response in U.S. policy and action, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, tests and failures of the United Nations Security Council, and the transformed quality of relations along the Canada-U.S. border. Still less has there been any open, extensive, government-led reassessment of the obligations of continental defence or the new and future accommodations required to realign Canada's relations with the United States and the rest of the world. Policy initiatives have instead looked temporizing and partial.

A comprehensive study of the nexus between democratization and security in the Mediterranean, which are seen as essentially complementary yet threatened by political trends witnessed since the September 2001 attacks.

In light of the ongoing war against terrorism, can the United States maintain its dedication to protecting civil liberties without compromising security? At stake is nothing less than the survival of ideas associated with the modern period of political philosophy: the freedom of conscience, the inviolable rights of the individual to privacy, the constitutionally limited state, as well as the more recent refinement of late modern liberalism, multiculturalism. Contributors evaluate the need to reassess the nation's public policies, institutions, as well as its very identity. The struggle to persist as an open society in the age of terrorism will be the defining test of democracy in the Twenty-first-century.

The terrorist destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 was the climax of a course plotted by Osama Bin Laden to bring about his apocalyptic vision of a decisive clash between the Western and Moslem worlds. This timely volume details the organizational workings and belief system of Bin Laden's brutal campaign. The authors explore the background and objectives of the attacks, the elaborate planning that went into them, and the process of their practical execution.In addition to its factual account, The Globalization of Terror makes a significant contribution to scholarly and theoretical research dealing with international terror. The book offers a unique analysis of the Afghan'alumni,'who had previously fought the Soviets in the 1980s, within the overall tapestry related to modern international terror. The authors detail how their activities evolved from a movement of national self-defense to the militant worldview identified with radical Islam. The book reveals, as well, the organizational structure so carefully erected by Bin Laden and his associates, in order to realize the vision of a worldwide Islamic Caliphate in practical terms. The book is intended to work as a set of guidelines for newcomers to the world of international terrorism including anti-terror task forces, heads of security companies as well as professionals in the field.The importance of The Globalization of Terror lies in its clear presentation and precise analysis regarding the dimensions of the danger international terror poses to the free world, and in its recommendations for the necessary strategy to prevent the recurrence of acts of large-scale terror.

This caustic critique of the last four years of American government gives voice to the growing tide of dissent and outrage with America's leaders both inside the country and in the wider world. This book argues that, under George W. Bush, America makes a mockery of the values of liberty and truth that it purports to stand for, and that it is now more important than ever to speak out. It reveals how the crisis in America was engineered by a group of Christian conservatives whose attempts in 1998 to bring down the Clinton government led to the perversion of the American electoral process, resulting in the illegitimate installation of George W. Bush into the Presidency. In the aftermath of September 11th, America has in many senses lost its way. Citizens are counselled to'watch what they say'by the White House, just as questions of deadly import are ignored by the government and the media. In their rush to defend'liberty', George Bush and his allies are actually endangering the freedom of the individual, as laid down in international law. Yet how do we save freedom by limiting it? Why, after all this time, have there been no answers regarding what really happened on 9/11?