ABSTRACT
Terrorism has come to dominate the language and practice of geopolitics. For example, Homeland Security, weapons of mass destruction, the proposed democratization of Iraq and Afghanistan, the internal politics of NATO, and the relationships between the US and Russia are all framed by the identification of terrorism as the most important threat to be addressed in the geopolitical codes of the major powers. Cohen (2002) argues that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 did not change the world, but only the way the US perceives the world. However, in its role as world leader, the way the US has changed its geopolitical code in the wake of those attacks has implications across the globe. Alternatively, perhaps the world has changed: the 9/11 attacks being the most shocking and visible manifestation of new forms of networked geopolitical power.
