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Militarized interstate manhunts, "absent/presence" and the spectral logic of the U.S. war on terror: The Ballad of Pancho and Bin Laden.

Militarized interstate manhunts, "absent/presence" and the spectral logic of the U.S. war on terror: The Ballad of Pancho and Bin Laden.

Authors :
Ruback, Timothy
Carlson, Jon
Source :
Journal of International Political Theory; Feb2023, Vol. 19 Issue 1, p21-48, 28p
Publication Year :
2023

Abstract

The decade-long search for Osama bin Laden—in which a manhunt was conducted as part of a full-scale war—was a watershed moment for US foreign policy in the twenty-first Century. Bin Laden was not simply elusive, but ephemerally ghost-like. Similar Militarized Interstate Manhunts (MIMs) are also deeply ingrained in the security politics of the US at its Southwestern border. Specifically, the militarized cross-border pursuits of Pancho Villa in the 1910s and The Apache Kid in the 1890s, serve as analogs to the "War on Terror," especially regarding the allegedly-novel chasing of "ghostly" targets. Building on Jacques Derrida, we explore the role of an "absent/presence" by analyzing the claims of the ghostliness of the target in the context of concurrent claims about the unprecedented nature of events. These cases highlight the importance of the "absent/presence" in making military manhunts thinkable, and explain how the pursuit of "spectral" bodies authorizes exceptional military acts that would otherwise be violations of state sovereignty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
17550882
Volume :
19
Issue :
1
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
Journal of International Political Theory
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
161970833
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1177/17550882221090993