Post-World War II Global Terrorism: The Cultural Perspective

Abstract

This is an analysis of the cultural and intellectual dimensions of terrorism after World War II. I will focus on the overt or implied support for terrorism of notable public intellectuals and artists in Western as well as in developing countries and on their contribution to establishing, in a direct or unintended way, an ideological and cultural network uniting parochial terrorist movements. This focus on creative intellectuals and artists is motivated by the fact that, being essentially an expressive process, terrorism is better understood if seen against the background of the general evolution of the post-World War II global culture of expressive individualism.