Abstract
The attacks of September 11, 2001 represented a turning point in modern history. The United States' territories were attacked for the second time ever, victims belonged to different nationalities, ethnicities and religions; and the attacks received intensive, long-lasting, coverage by media agencies across the globe. Additionally, the attacks were followed by a US-led global war on terror, while the international community adopted tighter security measures. Nonetheless, terrorist attacks have recurrently persisted, which led scholars to question why the ruling classes persist, in the U.S. and other countries, on amplifying security measures and perpetuating militarization discourses, while undermining diplomacy and other alternatives. Hence, this study looks at George W. Bush's presidency and argues that the ruling class, under Bush's leadership has used the 9/ 11 events and the massive antiterrorism campaign they generated to achieve three major self-interested projects: reinforcing the American army's activities domestically and globally; limiting individual liberties and reducing domestic opposition to the elite's ideology and strategies; and lastly, imposing world hegemony and gaining global support for U.S. interests and actions, under the umbrella of its campaign against terrorism. In other words, this study suggests that September 11 attacks represented 'a pretext of convenience' to revive the U.S. ruling class's hegemony domestically and internationally through carrying out a preset agenda ' having the fight against terrorism as a cover-up for deeper political strategies deployed by the ruling elite to consolidate its power and meet some of its political, cultural and economic interests.
Author Information
Engy Moussa, Qatar University, Qatar
Paper Information
Conference: ACAH2016
Stream: Humanities - Political Science, Politics
This paper is part of the ACAH2016 Conference Proceedings (View)
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