Challenges of Democracy in the War on Terror

Maximiliano E. Korstanje is Senior Researcher in the Department of Economics at University of Palermo, Argentina. He was awarded Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds, UK, and at the University of Havana, Cuba. He was recently awarded Emeritus Chief Editor of the Journal of Cyber Warfare and Terrorism. His recent books include The Rise of Thana-Capitalism and Tourism (2016), Terrorism, Tourism and the End of Hospitality in the West (2017), and Mobilities Paradox: A Critical Analysis (2017).

"This book clarifies the historical context of the crisis in democracy that fueled Donald Trump’s election in 2016, which was nurtured by entertaining mass media and political corporations promoting the discourse of fear and the doctrine of sovereignty and security. Professor Korstanje’s provocative introduction examines how the ideological core of the liberal state hides "the invisible hand of exploitation." Despite losing the popular vote, Trump’s election underscores how the liberal state is complicit in trampling citizens’ rights in the face of inequality while applauding the spectacle of terrorism, violating immigrants’ rights, and international treaties, even as the stock market soars and the number of homeless people increase. Surely this was not intended by the Enlightenment philosophers, who had not envisioned how the democratic state would renege on is responsibility to citizens’ rights. This fine collection casts a dim light on what could have been the hope of the world." — David Altheide, Arizona State University, USA" The Challenges of Democracy in the War on Terror: The liberal state before the advance of terrorism is a liminal passage where Maximiliano Korstanje discusses the interplay of Fear and Thanatos. These crossing epistemological borders lead to questioning the role of the liberal state, its abuses as well as the indifference of lay-citizens for hospitality. In fact, he dissects the roots of liberal state juxtaposing the rise of terror as a necessary consequence of the decline of democracy. In a nutshell, Korstanje shows once again in this book why he is one of the most-recognized writers in the field of terrorism and tourism." — Adrian Scribano, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina "The present book offers a cogent and trenchant, analysis, and critique of global capitalism. Its argument starts by examining bourgeois democracy in the twenty-first century. It corr

• Introduction 1. The Liberal State 2. Neoliberalism, Consumption and Poverty 3. The Rise of Terror in the Society of the Spectacle 4. Is Torture Enough? 5. The Dark Side of Technologies: The Industry of Fear and the Spocalypse 6. Terrorism, Tourism and Hospitality: Dying in New York City 7. The Democracy and its Faces: The Problem of Islamophobia