ABSTRACT
Terrorist attacks are deeply traumatic. They disrupt the normal course of life and leave a profoundly emotional impact, often generating fear, anger and resentment. Dealing with the legacy of such traumas is a major political challenge. Yet this challenge is often exacerbated by prevailing ways of confronting the threat of terrorism. In most instances, political elites deal with the legacy of pain and death by re-imposing order. Emotions, such as fear, are manipulated to justify particular policy approaches. A case in point here is the situation following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 (9/11), when the US government and its allies employed a strong rhetoric of evil to gain broad support for their ‘war on terror’, most notably for their invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Such an appropriation of emotions builds a sense of identity and political community that rests on a stark separation between a safe inside and a threatening outside. Dealt with in this way, the threat and continuing trauma of terrorism can come to inscribe and perpetuate exclusive and often violent ways of configuring community. Rather than solving the problems at stake, ensuing political attitudes generate new antagonisms which, in turn, increase rather than reduce the spectre of terrorism.
