New political religions, or, An analysis of modern terrorism PDF
Preview New political religions, or, An analysis of modern terrorism
New Political Religions,or An Analysis of Modern Terrorism Eric Voegelin Institute Series in Political Philosophy Other Books in the Series Art and Intellect in the Philosophy ofÉtienne Gilson, by Francesca Aran Murphy Augustine and Politics as Longing in the World, by John von Heyking Eros,Wisdom,and Silence: Plato’s Erotic Dialogues, by James M.Rhodes A Government ofLaws: Political Theory,Religion,and the American Founding,by Ellis Sandoz Hans Jonas: The Integrity ofThinking, by David J.Levy Lonergan and the Philosophy ofHistorical Existence, by Thomas J.McPartland The Narrow Path ofFreedom and Other Essays, by Eugene Davidson Robert B.Heilman and Eric Voegelin: A Friendship in Letters, –,edited by Charles R.Embry Transcendence and History: The Search for Ultimacy from Ancient Societies to Postmodernity,by Glenn Hughes Voegelin,Schelling,and the Philosophy ofHistorical Existence,by Jerry Day New Political Religions, or An Analysis of Modern Terrorism University ofMissouri Press Columbia and London Copyright © by The Curators ofthe University ofMissouri University ofMissouri Press,Columbia,Missouri Printed and bound in the United States ofAmerica All rights reserved Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cooper,Barry,– New political religions,or,An analysis ofmodern terrorism/ Barry Cooper. p.cm.— (Eric Voegelin Institute series in political philosophy) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN ---(alk.paper) . Terrorism. . Terrorism—Religious aspects. . Islam and terrorism. . Jihad. . Anti-Americanism. I. Title: New political religions. II. Title:Analysis ofmodern terrorism. III. Title. IV. Series. HV.C .'—dc ™ This paper meets the requirements ofthe American National Standard for Permanence ofPaper for Printed Library Materials, Z.,. Designer:Kristie Lee Typesetter:Phoenix Type,Inc. Printer and binder:The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group Typeface:Minion Publication ofthis book has been assisted by generous contributions from Eugene Davidson and the Eric Voegelin Institute. To the memory ofYusufK.Umar – They won’t believe the world they haven’t noticed is like that. —Graham Greene,Ways ofEscape Purifying the world through holy war is addictive. —Jessica Stern,Terror in the Name ofGod Contents Preface xi Context The shock of /. Political science and the study of evil.Arendt and Voegelin on interpreting totalitarianism.Contemporary equiv- alents: hatred of the West. Law, ideology, and terror. Terrorism and globalization: the spiritual dimension. Spiritual disease and violence.New modes ofwar. Concepts Terrorism defined.The tradition ofpublicity.Terrorist conscious- ness: limited ritual murder. Instrumental but limitless political murder. The problem of altruism. Pneumopathology defined. Imagination and “Second Reality.”The refusal to apperceive reality: friction. The new terrorism. Technology and WMDs. Religious motivations: second reality in operation. The example of Aum Shinrikyo: external story. Pneumopathological motives: poa and omnicide. Genealogy ofSalafism Terrorism and religion. Paradigmatic Islamic history. The early history of Islam.Parallels with the covenant of the Israelites.De- railment,prophecy,and metastatic faith.Ibn Taymiyya.Wahhab- ism.The Muslim Brotherhood.Reprise.Jihad. ix x Contents Genesis ofa New Ideology Jihad and apocalyptic.The goal:creation of an ecumenic umma. Qutb. Perception of America, Egyptian politics. Milestones. The importance ofjahiliyya.Qutb’s pneumopathology.Qutb’s appeal: Faraj.“The Neglected Duty.”Ignorance enshrined.Shiite contri- butions.Khomeini;Fadlallah.The theological problem ofsuicide. Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.The ritual of/. Counternetwar Networks and the information revolution.Networks,markets,and hierarchies. Netwar and cyberwar. Attributes of networks: tech- nology;organizational design;doctrine.Swarming and its impli- cations.Social capital.Narrative.Attributes ofAl Qaeda:the cen- trality ofnarrative.Counternetwar.Conclusions. Appendix:History and the Holy Koran Bibliography Index Preface The originofthis study lies in an invitation I received to address the Philadelphia Society in the spring ofon the spiritual dimension of contemporary terrorism.The two other speakers on that occasion were connected to the U.S.Navy:one taught strategy at the Naval War Col- lege,the other,a retired admiral,had recently been chiefofintelligence for Pacific Command.Those two people had been following the devel- opment of modern terrorism as part of their professional duties for many years.In contrast I have spent most ofmy research life in the area of political philosophy.Notwithstanding the distinct perspectives that political philosophy,naval intelligence,and military strategy brought to the analysis of the phenomenon of contemporary terrorism,the three ofus as well as our audience understood that our differences were also complementary. Accordingly,this study is not primarily about the objectives of ter- rorists nor their personnel,techniques,strategies,or weapons ofchoice. Nor is the focus on the aftermath of the disintegration of the Soviet Union,international politics,the defeat of the Taliban,the war in Iraq and anti-terrorist activities elsewhere, the complexities of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, globalization, the ecumenic resurgence of ethno- religious fundamentalism,the proliferation of the Internet or of small arms and anti-personnel mines.Finally,we are not directly interested in the “clash ofcivilizations”made famous by Sam Huntington. The focus of this study is on the motives of terrorists chiefly as ex- pressed in texts they have written to account for their activities.To that extent it makes no great claim to originality.Of necessity we will deal with the evolution or development ofterrorist practice,but the focus is on the varieties ofa spiritual disorder,what we describe more technically in the chapters that follow as a pneumopathology.Some of the infor- mation is well known, given the media saturation on this topic since xi
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