Wars of Terror

Analyzing the role of rhetoric and ideology in the western ‘war on terror’ and Islamic ‘jihad’ in the aftermath of 9/11, Gabriele Marranci shows that we are not experiencing a ‘clash of civilizations’ but a clash among ‘civilizers’ who believe they have the power to define how to be human. Seeing themselves as ‘under attack’ from a globalizing world that threatens to dilute their identity and very existence, both sides employ a civilizational rhetoric to support its recourse to political vi...