Enduring Freedom: The Transformation of Liberal Masculinity in the Terrorism Related Discourse

Abstract

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, cultural supplements of the most read newspapers in Germany, as well as new publications on that subject, quoted the geopolitical concepts and points of view gathered in the works of the Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt (1888-1985). The author of this article shows how this discourse –which points out to the emergence of new transgressive political agents- articulates, certainly in a non explicit way, the preoccupation with Western constructed masculinities, which were considered as endangered. In these responses the idea of a masculinity capable of defending a new world order is rehabilitated in the name of “liberty” of “the Western world” and of “mankind”. This idea of masculinity conveys not only a fascist past, but also a fascination with submission and the use of violence against the civil standards of the rule of law. Finally, this analysis shows how, in the present construction of a new world order, what is at stake is the struggle for a new hegemonic masculinity, pointing out as well the high price of the exclusions that it exercises.