Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - The war against terror, neo-medievalism, and the Egyptian Revolution
AU - Diken, Bulent
PY - 2012/8
Y1 - 2012/8
N2 - The key image of thought in the war against terror is 'clash', of civilizations and of religions. Islamic fundamentalism becomes, in this context, a synonym for chiliastic fanaticism. To problematize this framework, the article contrasts the contemporary katechontic take on the apocalypse, which legitimizes the war on terror, with Taubes's revolutionary eschatology, which seeks a total deligitimization of power. Locating Islamic fundamentalism in relation to the apocalyptic tradition in this way provides an alternative to the standard critiques of Islamic terrorism. Initially I frame the discussion of the apocalyptic within the dialectic between two forms of nihilism, radical and passive nihilism, linking them to terrorism and post-politics. Then I move towards the discussion of contemporary politics and re-visit the idea of communism in the context of the recent Egyptian Revolution. The pivot around which this double move is undertaken and the terms of the discussion are changed is the concept of event.
AB - The key image of thought in the war against terror is 'clash', of civilizations and of religions. Islamic fundamentalism becomes, in this context, a synonym for chiliastic fanaticism. To problematize this framework, the article contrasts the contemporary katechontic take on the apocalypse, which legitimizes the war on terror, with Taubes's revolutionary eschatology, which seeks a total deligitimization of power. Locating Islamic fundamentalism in relation to the apocalyptic tradition in this way provides an alternative to the standard critiques of Islamic terrorism. Initially I frame the discussion of the apocalyptic within the dialectic between two forms of nihilism, radical and passive nihilism, linking them to terrorism and post-politics. Then I move towards the discussion of contemporary politics and re-visit the idea of communism in the context of the recent Egyptian Revolution. The pivot around which this double move is undertaken and the terms of the discussion are changed is the concept of event.
KW - apocalypse
KW - islamic fundamentalism
KW - terrorism
KW - nihilism
KW - event
KW - Communism
KW - revolution
U2 - 10.3898/NewF.75.02.2012
DO - 10.3898/NewF.75.02.2012
M3 - Journal article
VL - 75
SP - 26
EP - 44
JO - New Formations: A Journal of Culture, Theory and Politics
JF - New Formations: A Journal of Culture, Theory and Politics
SN - 1741-0789
ER -