20 G L O B A L P O L I T I C S

Events: On the morning of 11 September 2001, acoordinated series of terrorist attacks were launchedagainst the USA using four hijacked passenger jetairliners (the events subsequently became known asSeptember 11, or 9/11). Two airliners crashed into theTwin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York,leading to the collapse first of the North Tower andthen the South Tower. The third airliner crashed intothe Pentagon, the headquarters of the Department ofDefence in Arlington, Virginia, just outside WashingtonDC. The fourth airliner, believed to be heading towardseither the White House or the US Capitol, both inWashington DC, crashed in a field near Shanksville,Pennsylvania, after passengers on board tried to seizecontrol of the plane. There were no survivors from anyof the flights. A total of 2,995 people were killed inthese attacks, mainly in New York City. In a videotapereleased in October 2001, responsibility for theattacks was claimed by Osama bin Laden, head of theal-Qaeda (see p. 295) organization, who praised hisfollowers as the ‘vanguards of Islam’.

Significance: September 11 has sometimes beendescribed as ‘the day the world changed’. This certainlyapplied in terms of its consequences, notably the unfolding‘war on terror’ and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraqand their ramifications. It also marked a dramatic shift inglobal security, signalling the end of a period during whichglobalization and the cessation of superpower rivalryappeared to have been associated with a diminishingpropensity for international conflict. Globalization, indeed,appeared to have ushered in new security threats and newforms of conflict. For example, 9/11 demonstrated howfragile national borders had become in a technological age.If the world’s greatest power could be dealt such a devas-tating blow to its largest city and its national capital, whatchance did other states have? Further, the ‘external’ threatin this case came not from another state, but from aterrorist organization, and one, moreover, that operatedmore as a global network rather than a nationally-basedorganization. The motivations behind the attacks were alsonot conventional ones. Instead of seeking to conquer terri-tory or acquire control over resources, the 9/11 attackswere carried out in the name of a religiously-inspiredideology, militant Islamism (see p. 199), and aimed atexerting a symbolic, even psychic, blow against thecultural, political and ideological domination of the West.This led some to see 9/11 as evidence of an emerging

‘clash of civilization’ (see p. 190), even as a strugglebetween Islam and the West.

However, rather than marking the beginning of a newera in global security, 9/11 may have indicated more areturn to ‘business as normal’. In particular, the advent ofa globalized world appeared to underline the vital impor-tance of ‘national’ security, rather than ‘international’ or‘global’ security. The emergence of new security chal-lenges, and especially transnational terrorism, re-empha-sized the core role of the state in protecting its citizensfrom external attack. Instead of becoming progressivelyless important, 9/11 gave the state a renewed signifi-cance. The USA, for example, responded to 9/11 by under-taking a substantial build-up of state power, both at home(through strengthened ‘homeland security’) and abroad(through increased military spending and the invasions ofAfghanistan and Iraq). A unilateralist tendency alsobecame more pronounced in its foreign policy, as the USAbecame, for a period at least, less concerned aboutworking with or through international organizations ofvarious kinds. Other states affected by terrorism have alsoexhibited similar tendencies, marking a renewed emphasison national security sometime at the expense of consider-ations such as civil liberties and political freedom. 9/11, inother words, may demonstrate that state-based powerpolitics is alive and kicking.

GLOBAL POLITICS IN ACTION . . .

September 11 and global security

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