Culture and Society

A short anecdote-like explanation of the many vagaries and anthropologist may run in to while in the field. Wilken, for one, was an ideal stranger to confide in since she was an insider and yet not part of strained social relations. But that put a burden on her to be part of such ...

I det seneste tiår er der sket store forandringer i Europa. Den Kolde Krig er slut, Berlinmuren revet ned, Sovjetunionen opløst, Tyskland genforenet, Tjekkoslovakiet delt, Jugo slavien splittet, og store dele af Vesteuropa er forenet i en politisk union. Også i antropo logien er der sket forandringer. Der har vaeret en maerkbar vaekst i interessen for Europa, og navnlig Østeuropa har tiltrukket sig antropologisk opmaerksomhed. Men der er også sket noget i forhold til Vesteuropa. Den Europaeiske Union, der ellers i påfaldende grad har glimret ved sit fravaer i Europa-antropologien, optraeder i stadig flere antropologiske analyser. Enten som betydningsskabende ramme for og direkte medspiller i samfundsog kulturproduktionen i Europa eller som analyseobjekt i sig selv. Og selv om der endnu ikke er tale om masseproduktion, tegner der sig så småt konturerne af noget, man kunne kalde "en antropologi om Den Europaeiske Union11.

This paper and the subsequent article have in most respects been superseded by Mark Sedgwick, Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), but are still made available for reference.

This article examines the nature of religious terrorism, principally with reference to al-Qaeda. It argues that a distinction must be made between the ultimate aims and the immediate objectives of ‘religious’ terrorists, and that while the ultimate aims will be religiously formulated, the immediate objectives will often be found to be almost purely political. This distinction is illustrated with reference to such premodern religious terrorists as the Assassins and Zealots. Immediate objectives, are for many purposes more important than ultimate aims.

Although the immediate objectives of al-Qaeda on 9=11 cannot be established with certainty, it is highly probably that the intention was to provoke a response from the US that would have a radicalizing impact on al-Qaeda’s constituency.

Reference to public opinion in the Middle East, especially in Egypt, shows that this is indeed what has happened. Such an impact is a purely political objective, familiar to historians of terrorism from at least the time of Errico Malatesta and the ‘propaganda of the deed’ in the 1870s. While no direct link between Malatesta and al-Qaeda exists, al-Qaeda was certainly in contact with contemporary theories that Malatesta would have recognized, and seems to have applied them.

Even though its immediate objectives are political rather than religious, al-Qaeda is a distinctively Islamic group. Not only is its chosen constituency a confessional one, but al-Qaeda also uses—and when necessary adapts—well-known Islamic religious concepts to motivate its operatives, ranging from conceptions of duty to conceptions of ascetic devotion. This is demonstrated with reference to the ‘Last Night’ document of 9=11. The conclusion is that terrorism which can be understood in political terms is susceptible to political remedies.

This article examines the causes of terrorism at a global level. It also reexamines the chronology of terrorism since the nineteenth century. It argues that local causes cannot explain global waves, and that while ideology is a necessary ingredient in causing terrorism, it does not explain it. The article proposes that the most important cause of global waves of terror is the inspiring example for radicals everywhere of what are, or appear to be, successful uses of terrorist strategies. This hypothesis is tested in the context of a reevaluation of David Rapoport's chronology of global waves of terrorism. The article argues for different periodization, and for labeling the waves as Italian, German, Chinese, and Afghan.

Responding to the articles of Jeff Kenney, Amira Sonbol, and William Shepard, Mark Sedgwick first modifies his original typology to include William Shepard's proposed category of "establishment." While applauding many of Jeff Kenney's points, Sedgwick defends the use of typologies of Western origin, such as his own, when discussing Islamic sects. Although he accepts Amira Sonbol's call for deeper analysis than is provided by the sociological classification of sects, Sedgwick argues for keeping the study of the origins and nature of a sect separate from the investigation of the reasons for the presence or absence of wide support for a sect. He finally examines al-Qa'ida, showing that in terms of his own typology it is an "outward-oriented" sect. He suggests that al-Qa'ida is closer to an "interest group" than to other category generally accepted in political science.

This essay introduces this special issue of Nova Religio by examining the main varieties of jihad and the main varieties of Islamism, and also by exploring the overlap between scholarship on terrorism and scholarship on NRMs. Three unusual varieties of jihad are identified, all of which are relatively modern: anti-colonial jihad, pacifist jihad, and Islamist jihad. All three are explored further by other articles in this issue. This essay also argues that the internal dynamics of the Islamist terrorist cell have much in common with the internal dynamics of the sectarian NRM, and that understanding this helps to explain both the moral and the strategic/operational decisions made by Islamist terrorists.