the gothic scene of international relations: ghosts, monsters, terror and the sublime after september 11

Abstract

accepting furet’s claim that events acquire meaning and significance only in the context of narratives, this article argues that a particular type of international relations narrative has emerged with greater distinction after the traumatic experience of september 11: the gothic narrative. in a sense the political rhetoric of president bush marks the latest example of america’s fine tradition in the gothic genre that began with edgar allan poe and nathaniel hawthorne and extends through henry james to stephen king. his discourse of national security, it will be shown, assumes many of the predicates of gothic narratives. the gothic scenes evoked by bush as much as poe involve monsters and ghosts in tenebrous atmospheres that generate fear and anxiety, where terror is a pervasive tormentor of the senses. poe’s narratives, for example, turn on encounters with dark, perverse, seemingly indomitable, forces often entombed in haunted houses. similarly, bush’s post-september 11 narratives play upon fears of terrorists and rogue states who are equally dark, perverse and indomitable forces. in both cases, ineffable and potently violent and cruel forces haunt and terrorise the civilised, human world.

The Monster Unleashed: Iraq’s Horrors of Everyday Life in Frankenstein in Baghdad

“…But if the gothic connection was useful to the enemies of Iraq, how did the same genre serve the purposes of the Iraqi writer describing his country 12 years after Bush's remarks? Devetak (2005) adds that monsters were "metaphors for human anxieties" and that is clear in the 164 case of Iraq after the monsters of sectarianism and terrors have been unleashed, partly as a result of the total collapse of the central government that had, for better or worse, held all the warring factions in check through its cruel state security apparatus (p. 624). After the state's monopoly on violence was lifted, all segments of society claimed their share of violence, and used the unlimited supply of weapons to terrorize everyone else who did not belong to their factions or tribes.…”

The Spaces and Faces of Critical Terrorism Studies

“…Second, this literature has also drawn attention to the problematic language of evil and monstrosity that persistently accompanies constructions of terror (Edwards, 2004: 164;Rai, 2004;Devetak, 2005;Jackson, 2005: 70;Tracy, 2005). Reflecting on the dehumanizing and depoliticizing impacts of this language, these analyses improve our understanding of its centrality in further legitimizing aggressive counter-terrorist strategies.…”

History’s Actors: Insights into the ‘War on Terror’ from International Relations Theory

“…Moreover, the attacks shocked those who sincerely believed and still believe in America's world-historical importance (those who hold that, if spread, the 'American way' will bring freedom to all: 'These values of freedom are right and true for every person, in every society'; Bush, 2002b; see also Bush, 2002a). In this regard, what one leading scholar has called the 'Gothic' event of 9/11 (Devetak, 2005) has been answered by a myth of a war on 'terror' which serves to express and thereby to reaffirm the authority of basic American values to the American people themselves (an example of 'symbolic nonacquiescence' (Feinberg, 1994, pp. 78-9).…”