Contents

Introduction

Terrorism and Language Wars

The Mediation of Terror

Culture and the Political Signifier

Cultural Politics and Globalization

Government, Democracy and the Mediasphere

Structure and Methods

Key Concepts

1 Mediated Terror and the Politics of Representation

Terror

Televisual Media and the Broadcast of Violence

Representation and Violence

The First Casualty: War and Truth

Conclusions

2 Conflict and Culture: Civilization, History, Identity

Culture and Islam

The Clash of Civilizations Thesis

The Media and Cultural Division

Division and Identity Politics

History and the Roots of Islam

Modernization and Civil Society in the Middle East

Palestine and the 'Jewish Question'

The Body Politic: Interface with Globalization

Interdependence and the Formation of the Cultural Divide

Conclusions

3 The Meaning of 9/ 11: In the Midst of Infi nite Justice

Meaning and the Aesthetics of Terror

Divine Justice: Global Order

Citizens, Consensus and Dissent

Hero - Victims

Public Opinion and the Not- Quite- Real

The Meaning of America and the Twin Towers

Freedom

Surveillance and Control

Conclusions

4 The Iraq Invasion: Democracy in the Field of Battle

The Purposes of War

From Freedom to Democracy

Coalitions of the Killing

Democracy in the Age of Terror

The Electronic Polis

Bomb the World

In Bed with al- Qa'ida

Al- Jazeera and the Alternative Media

Conclusions

5 Globalizing Jihad: The Bali Bombings at the End of Paradise

October 12 and Global Jihad

Jamaah Islamiyah

Paradise Defi led

Clash of Imaginings: Global and National Context

The Crisis of Contiguity

The Bombings: Media and Political Discourses

The Blind Puppeteer: Atrocity and Civil Society in Indonesia

Development and Recovery in Bali

Conclusions

6 The Occupation of Iraq: Rule of Law and the New Public Sphere

Resolution

The First Casualty: David Kelly and Trial by Ordeal

The New Iraq

Privatization and Occupation

Ordeal and Execution

Al- Jazeera and the Rule of Law

Images of Violence: Photographs and the Transformative Public Sphere

Ordeals at Abu Ghraib

The Body Politic and Abu Ghraib

Theatre of War

Conclusions

Conclusion: Cultural Democracy, Difference and the End of Civilization

Language Wars Here and Over There

Democracy and Global Culture

The Hijab and Global Politics

World Government: Beware the Faithful

References

Index