4 Emotions in the war on terror Emma Hutchison and Roland Bleiker Terrorist attacks are deeply traumatic. They disrupt the normal course of life and leave a profoundly emotional impact, often generating fear, anger and resentment. Dealing with the legacy of such traumas is a major political challenge. Yet this challenge is often exacerbated by prevailing ways of confronting the threat of terrorism. In most instances, political elites deal with the legacy of pain and death by re-imposing order. Emotions, such as fear, are manipulated to justify particular policy approaches. A case in point here is the situation following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 (9/11), when the US government and its allies employed a strong rhetoric of evil to gain broad support for their ‘war on terror’, most notably for their invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Such an appropriation of emotions builds a sense of identity and political community that rests on a stark separation between a safe inside and a threatening outside. Dealt with in this way, the threat and continuing trauma of terrorism can come to inscribe and perpetuate exclusive and often violent ways of configuring community. Rather than solving the problems at stake, ensuing political attitudes generate new antagonisms which, in turn, increase rather than reduce the spectre of terrorism. A thorough understanding of the powerful but often neglected role of emotions is essential to move from conflict-prone patterns towards the possibility of establishing a culture of healing and reconciliation. Rather than understanding security as simply the management of fear, anger and resentment, one must examine how emotions are linked to notions of identity, belonging and community. We argue that confronting the threat of terrorism more effectively requires paying much closer attention to this process. To be more precise, our argument is two-fold. First we outline in detail why and how prevailing antagonistic and militaristic ways of dealing with terrorism risk producing violent and destructive forms of community. The second part of our argument considers alternative ways of working through the threat and legacy of terrorism. We point out that an understanding of how emotions permeate political policies and actions provides inroads into how cycles of violence may be fundamentally reconfigured. Emotions such as compassion and empathy could be actively cultivated in an effort to construct more inclusive, non-violent and rehabilitative configurations of community. Hutchison, Emma and Roland Bleiker. 2008. “Emo;ons in the War on Terror,” in Alex J. Bellamy, Roland Bleiker, Sara E. Davies and Richard Devetak (eds.), Security and the War on Terror, pp. 57‐70. London: Routledge.