This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Beck, U. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

The Terrorist Threat

World Risk Society Revisited

University of Munich

This article differentiates between three different axes of conflict in world risk society. The first axis is that of ecological conflicts, which are by their very essence global. The second is global financial crises, which, in a first stage, can be individualized and nationalized. And the third, which suddenly broke upon us on September 11th, is the threat of transnational terror networks, which empowers governments and states. Two sets of implications are drawn: first, there are the political dynamics of world risk society. In an age where trust and faith in God, class and progress have largely disappeared, humanity's common fear has proved the last - ambivalent - resource for making new bonds. Second, the methodological nationalism that preoccupies the sociological imagination has to be overcome and a `methodological cosmopolitism' has to be created.

Key Words: construction of terrorist enemy images • cosmopolitan state • methodological cosmopolitanism • methodological nationalism

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. Borell Terrorism and Everyday Life in Beirut 2005: Mental Reconstructions, Precautions and Normalization Acta Sociologica, March 1, 2008; 51(1): 55 - 70. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Walklate and G. Mythen How Scared are We? Br. J. Criminol., March 1, 2008; 48(2): 209 - 225. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Mythen Reappraising the Risk Society Thesis: Telescopic Sight or Myopic Vision? Current Sociology, November 1, 2007; 55(6): 793 - 813. [Abstract] [PDF]

				T. Murphy and N. Whitty Risk and Human Rights in UK Prison Governance Br. J. Criminol., September 1, 2007; 47(5): 798 - 816. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Gillespie Security, media and multicultural citizenship: A collaborative ethnography European Journal of Cultural Studies, August 1, 2007; 10(3): 275 - 293. [Abstract] [PDF]

				K. Franko Aas Analysing a world in motion: Global flows meet `criminology of the other' Theoretical Criminology, May 1, 2007; 11(2): 283 - 303. [Abstract] [PDF]

				C. Aradau and R. Van Munster Governing Terrorism Through Risk: Taking Precautions, (un)Knowing the Future European Journal of International Relations, March 1, 2007; 13(1): 89 - 115. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. Fine and V. Boon Introduction: Cosmopolitanism: Between Past and Future European Journal of Social Theory, February 1, 2007; 10(1): 5 - 16. [PDF]

				D. O'Donnell On Critical Theory in a Truth-Less World Advances in Developing Human Resources, February 1, 2007; 9(1): 111 - 119. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. Chernilo A Quest for Universalism: Re-assessing the Nature of Classical Social Theory's Cosmopolitanism European Journal of Social Theory, February 1, 2007; 10(1): 17 - 35. [Abstract] [PDF]

				C.A.S.E. Collective Critical Approaches to Security in Europe: A Networked Manifesto Security Dialogue, December 1, 2006; 37(4): 443 - 487. [Abstract] [PDF]

				G. Mythen and S. Walklate Communicating the terrorist risk: Harnessing a culture of fear? Crime Media Culture, August 1, 2006; 2(2): 123 - 142. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. Inglis and J. Bone Boundary Maintenance, Border Crossing and the Nature/Culture Divide European Journal of Social Theory, May 1, 2006; 9(2): 272 - 287. [Abstract] [PDF]

				G. Mythen and S. Walklate Criminology and Terrorism: Which Thesis? Risk Society or Governmentality? Br. J. Criminol., May 1, 2006; 46(3): 379 - 398. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. Pick and K. Dayaram Reflexive Judgement, Risk and Responses: HIV/AIDS in Africa and Asia Journal of Human Values, April 1, 2006; 12(1): 55 - 64. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. Chernilo Social Theory's Methodological Nationalism: Myth and Reality European Journal of Social Theory, February 1, 2006; 9(1): 5 - 22. [Abstract] [PDF]

				N. Bubandt Vernacular Security: The Politics of Feeling Safe in Global, National and Local Worlds Security Dialogue, September 1, 2005; 36(3): 275 - 296. [Abstract] [PDF]

				Z. Skrbis, G. Kendall, and I. Woodward Locating Cosmopolitanism: Between Humanist Ideal and Grounded Social Category Theory Culture Society, December 1, 2004; 21(6): 115 - 136. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. Fine Taking the 'Ism' Out of Cosmopolitanism: An Essay in Reconstruction European Journal of Social Theory, November 1, 2003; 6(4): 451 - 470. [Abstract] [PDF]