War on Terror - Geopolitics and Culture

Question 1

Why did the 9/11 attacks mark a profound shift in geopolitics?

Answer 1

It signalled the end of a decade marked by geopolitical vertigo. The United States was back with a singular purpose on the global stage. Characterised by more direct intervention, it, twinned with technological developments, reorientated warfare (drone strikes, detention sites, increased securitisation). Political Geographers were interested in uncovering the new distinct spatialities and temporalities of warfare.

Question 2

What aspect of 9/11 was particularly striking for political geographers?

Answer 2

Political geographers have explored the distinct geographical and spatial patterns of the WoT, including the concept of an ‘everywhere war’, and the cultural and visual politics of the era.

Question 3

In what ways was the WoT visually striking?

Answer 3

Marked by a turn in geopolitical thought, the 9/11 attacks, President Bush’s Top Gun moment, and Guantanamo Bay detention centre became a focal point for understanding how visual imagery influences geopolitics.

Question 4

In what three ways have political geographers analysed and made visible the geographies, and geopolitical context during the War on Terror?

Answer 4

1. The logics of pre-emption
2. The place of imagined geographies
3. Spatialities

Question 5

Explain the logics of pre-emption underpinning the War on Terror

Answer 5

Interpreted from texts like the Bush Doctrine, Dalby (2003) argues that the US abandons international law, taking global security into its own hands. In this sense, Dalby (2003) continues stressing that such a worldview developed a new form of American empire of integrated and non-integrated zones.

Question 6

What does Dalby (2003) argue?

Answer 6

Dalby (2003) critiques American foreign policy during the War on Terror, arguing that instead of serving, the containment policy exists as a new form of an American empire. This has subtle connections to a geoeconomic argument of US rule too.

Question 7

Explain the imagined geographies underpinning the War on Terror:

Answer 7

Drawing on Edward Said’s critique on Orientalism, political geographers
critiqued US foreign policy for how it discursively produced places (in the East), and thus justified/pursued intervention in certain way (Graham, 2004)

Question 8

What does Graham (2004) argue?

Answer 8

Graham (2004) argues that US foreign policy during the War on Terror was largely informed by a set of imagined geographies. Namely inspired by Edward Said’s notion of Orientalism, Graham (2004) determines that assaults on the Middle East rest upon discursive constructions. The dominant US discourse via media/political and military elites dehumanises those in the Middle East. Imagined figure of a ‘terrorist’/or the ‘Arc of Crisis’

Question 9

Explain the nuanced spatialities underpinning the War on Terror:

Answer 9

Unlike previous conflicts, political geographers have analysed the geography of the War on Terror, unpacking the nuanced spatiality afforded. Gregory (2011) argues the War on Terror represented an ‘Everywhere War’. Sidaway (2008) stresses the constant conflict, and attacks resemble “banal geopolitics,” which becomes unremarkable or unreported. Amoore (2009) outlines how the War of Terror, particularly the rise of algorithm based decision-making and technology, has diversified the site and divisions of the conflict, into everyday life, constructing an atmosphere of alertness and suspicion.

Question 10

What does Gregory (2011) argue?

Answer 10

In unpacking the nuanced spatiality of the War on Terror, Gregory (2011) determines the conflict an ‘Everywhere War’. Without set boundaries, against a notion of ‘terror’, Gregory (2011) argues that the conflict has permeated pervasive spatial forms.

Question 11

In what ways does Gregory (2011) characterise ‘The Everywhere War’?

Answer 11

1. The world as mapped out by the US by command centres.
2. A range of places were attacked
3. US Language had gone global (the ‘War on Terror’ used across conflicts)
4. More cities became targets (global terror regime)

Question 12

What does Hannah (2008) argue?

Answer 12

Hannah (2008) argues that the War on Terror’s spatiality is not always explicit. Rather, there exist very hidden aspects often silenced. Termed ‘territorial orderings’, Hannah (2008) conceptualises dispersed/hidden and ambiguous spaces exist.

Question 13

Provide an example from Hannah (2008)’s conceptualisation of the War on Terror?

Answer 13

the blinkered, bound, and orange-clad ‘enemy combatants’ held at Guantanamo Bay; the hooded victims of the torture filmed at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq; and the mysterious unidentified captives moved by ‘extraordinary rendition’ to CIA-run ‘black sites’ for interrogation

Question 14

How does Hannah (2008) discuss the spatialities of the War on Terror?

Answer 14

1) Production of a series of spaces of exemption (by leaders)
2) carceral archipelago - global war prison of extra-territorialities.

Question 15

What are the dominant ways culture has been analysed to intersect with the War on Terror?

Answer 15

Scholars have pointed out that the WoT consisted of an increasing visibility of militarisation in everyday life in the West, a rise in counter-terrorism, rise in cinema representation and american exceptionalism.

Question 16

How is the militarisation of everyday life during WoT evident in culture?

Answer 16

Military-based solutions becoming normalised in society. In the UK, Tidy (2015) reflects on the banal ways in which military influence exists in food goods. Grondin (2011) expands this, arguing there are more spaces of war, and that the everyday is expanding. Amoore (2009) continues this, suggesting algorithmic measures have reconfigured notions of distinction.

Question 17

How is the counter-terrorism culture evident during WoT in culture?

Answer 17

Counter-terrorism became a key battlefield of tensions. This is reflected in culture.Ingrim and Dodds (2011) reflect on the common threads between culture and policy in addressing coutner-terrorism, arguing that film justifies it. Whilst also, novels and literary works can offer my sympathetic and contemplative accounts John Le Carre.

Question 18

In what ways has film been a domain in which the War on Terror intersects with culture?

Answer 18

Geopolitics can resonate from one context to another. The context in which culture is watched by audiences makes a difference. E.g., depictions of soldiers as warriors and men constructs an imaginary of the exotic warfare. (Dalby, 2008)

Dodds (2008) film also raises awkward questions over the conflict, with endings being unsatisfying or unpleasing for audiences.

Question 19

How are ideas of American Exceptionalism evident in WoT culture? and how has the literature engaged with this?

Answer 19

Dittmer (2011) explains that the United States’ dominant discourse understands itself to be unlike other states in terms of creation, settlement and wider mission. Robinson (2015) outlines that this is characterised by four principles (1) USA has a obligation to liberate (2) US should not be bound by rules (3) US is uniquely vulnerable (4) US is an innocent victim.

Question 20

How has film been explored in relation to American Exceptionalism?

Answer 20

Dittmer (2011) explores how the superhero boom resonates with a post 9/11 ideology and foreign policy. He argues that the superhero narrative, and national identity and power resemble the united states’ role on the global stage. Indeed, whilst the film ties into post 9/11 popular geopolitics, the analysis misses out how audiences engage with this including wider econonmic changes in the film industry. IRON MAN 2

Question 21

How has Robinson (2011) explored videogames in relation to American exceptionalism?

Answer 21

Robinson (2011) argues that the games offer a critical lens through which we can understand American exceptionalism. They tie in Orientalist tropes determining force as justified, and good for the world. However, these games also help to expose the foundations of american exceptionalism, questioning the decisions of its leaders at points.