The tragedy of September 11th 2001 demonstrated that the United States was not invulnerable. The American response—the skilful application of military power, backed by active diplomacy, leading to the rapid collapse of the Taliban regime—demonstrated that America nevertheless remains the dominant global power, militarily, economically, diplomatically. The immediate impact of the American success in Afghanistan—achieved […]
Terrorist attacks on and since September 11th have stimulated public soul-searching, military and diplomatic responses, and efforts to reform public policy. Both the attacks and responses to them have raised a host of questions about social organization, basic social institutions, how people mobilize amid crises, and how differences of culture and politics shape conflict and cooperation.
This website features an extraordinary and still-expanding collection of essays by leading social scientists from around the country and the world. These are efforts by social scientists to bring theoretical and empirical knowledge to bear on the events of Sept. 11, their precursors, and what comes after.
We have asked the authors of these essays to write against two-week deadlines. Much to their credit they have obliged, even when it is difficult to come by sure knowledge in a time of quickly changing circumstances.
These essays are intended as resources for teachers—especially college and university instructors—who want to address the unfolding events in their courses from the perspectives of the social sciences. We hope they may also serve journalists and others who seek a guide to academic knowledge related to these events. Not least they are for all of us who seek deeper understanding in troubling times.
Ten years after these essays were published, contributors to After September 11 were asked to reflect on what they wrote and to explore what had changed and what remained the same since those harrowing times, resulting in the essay collection 10 Years after September 11.
Good Muslim, Bad Muslim—An African Perspective
by Mahmood MamdaniEver since September 11, there has been a growing media interest in Islam. What is the link, many seem to ask, between Islam and terrorism? The Spectator, a British weekly, carried a lead article a few weeks ago that argued that the link was not with all of Islam, but with a very literal interpretation […]
The U.S. Bombing of Afghanistan: A Women-Centered Perspective
by Saba Gul KhattakHow do we analyze the US bombing of Afghanistan? Is this bombing a ceremonial reaffirmation of power? Is it about avenging the 11th September hijackings, the subsequent destruction and damage of the WTC and the Pentagon respectively and the death of thousands of innocent people? Is it about the display and exhibition of US armaments […]
“Traditionalist” Islamic Activism: Deoband, Tablighis, and Talibs
by Barbara D. MetcalfWhen the Afghan Taliban emerged into the international spotlight at the end of the twentieth century, no image was more central than what seemed to be their rigid and repressive control of individual behavior justified in the name of Islam. They set standards of dress and public behavior that were particularly extreme in relation to […]
Counter-terrorism, Armed Force and the Laws of War
by Adam RobertsThe essay is also published in Survival (quarterly journal of IISS, London), vol. 44, no. 1, Spring 2002, pp. 7-32. Copyright © The International Institute for Strategic Studies, London, 2002 What is the role of the laws of war in the ongoing ‘war on terror’ proclaimed and initiated by the US following the terrorist attacks […]
9/11 and the New ‘Anti-politics’ of ‘Security’
by Kanishka JayasuriyaThe dramatic events of September 11, 2001 have ramifications for the nature of global governance as well as the institutions of liberal democracy. The most serious danger these events pose is their potential to usher in, under the appealing cloak of ‘security’, a debilitating form of ‘anti politics’ that marginalizes the constructive conflicts—the debate and […]
The Attack on Humanity: Conflict and Management
by I. William ZartmanThe Attack on Humanity of 11 September is captured in two contradictory images. On one hand, it is portrayed as a response to globalization, on the other as religious rage. Both provide insights and implications. The September attack is the backside of globalization, the first and fiercest reaction of its kind. It was reverse globalization […]
The Political Psychology of Competing Narratives: September 11 and Beyond
by Marc Howard RossMany Americans are deeply troubled by the often tepid reactions from the Muslim world to the September 11 attacks and by the images of street protests in Muslim countries against U. S. military actions in Afghanistan. These reactions have led to a spate of stories in the popular press and television asking, “Why do they […]
Muslims in the West: A Positive Asset
by Tariq ModoodFor Western political leaders and commentators to keep politically repeating that the ‘war on terrorism’ is not a war on Muslims is of great importance. For the rhetoric associated with Samuel Huntington’s ‘clash of civilization’ is thick in the air; just as it was politically being brought under control—at least as an official posture—the Italian […]
Women, War and Fundamentalism in the Middle East
by Haideh MoghissiA constructive discussion and dialogue about Islam and gender has never been free of its controversies. The task has been how to explain the stubborn survival of traditions and practices hostile to women in Islamic societies without adding to the arsenal of racist imagery about Islam and Muslim women, targeting diasporic communities in the West. […]