Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit

Barkun evaluates terrorism threat in ‘Chasing Phantoms’

Wednesday, April 27, 2011, By News Staff
Share

In his 11th book, “Chasing Phantoms: Reality, Imagination, and Homeland Security Since 9/11” (UNC Press, 2011), Professor Michael Barkun examines the huge gap that exists between the realities of the terrorism threat facing the United States and the everyday discourse about that threat among government officials and the general public. He argues that an irrational, emotion-driven obsession with dangers that cannot be seen has played—and continues to play—an unacknowledged role in sustaining the climate of fear that drives the U.S. “war on terror.” It is past time, Barkun concludes, “to try to put policy on a more rational foundation.”

Barkun, a professor emeritus of political science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University and an expert on domestic terrorism and political extremism, suggests that it’s sometimes difficult for us to make a clear distinction between our own fears and the reality of dangers in the world, particularly since the end of the Cold War. Back then, we knew where dangers lay and how the world divided between good and evil. Since the early 1990s, however, that hasn’t been the case, and there exists what Barkun calls an “enemy vacuum,” which is often filled with the figure of the terrorist. The question is, he asks: “Do we do that because the terrorist is really an immense danger, or have we magnified the figure of the terrorist because we need to have the vacuum filled?”

According to Barkun, “There needs to be a sense of proportion, an ability to gauge the significance of terrorism alongside the other issues that face the United States—Iran, China, energy, the environment, the economy, and so on. Immediately after 9/11, terrorism was seen as the only issue that mattered. We know now that that fixation on terrorism distorted policy, that it was neither the only problem nor the most important problem.”

“Chasing Phantoms” offers a straightforward, jargon-free look at the role and structure of the Department of Homeland Security and how U.S. terrorism policy is crafted. In doing so, Barkun demonstrates that U.S. homeland security policy reflects significant non-rational thinking and offers new recommendations for effective—and rational—policymaking.

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • 2023-24 Parking Rates Announced
    Friday, May 26, 2023, By News Staff
  • Lutheran Chaplain Announces Retirement
    Thursday, May 25, 2023, By Dara Harper
  • SyracuseCoE Awards $180,000 for 9 Faculty Fellow Projects Supporting Research and Innovation
    Thursday, May 25, 2023, By News Staff
  • From Generation to Generation: Doing Well by Doing Good
    Thursday, May 25, 2023, By Eileen Korey
  • Office of Veteran and Military Affairs Celebrates Graduating Military-Connected Students
    Wednesday, May 24, 2023, By Charlie Poag

More In Uncategorized

Syracuse Views Spring 2023

We want to know how you experience Syracuse University. Take a photo and share it with us. We select photos from a variety of sources. Submit photos of your University experience using #SyracuseU on social media, fill out a submission…

Awards of Excellence Honoree: Maxwell has Been ‘a Guiding Hand’ in Public Service Career

Standing before an audience of fellow Maxwell School alumni gathered in Washington, D.C., for the second annual Maxwell Awards of Excellence, CNN anchor Boris Sanchez ’09 shared the motivation behind his work as a journalist. Sanchez emigrated from Cuba as…

NASA Honoring Those Who Were Aboard Space Shuttle Columbia And Other Late Astronauts

Sean O’Keefe, University Professor in the Maxwell School, was interviewed for the USA Today article “Twenty years later, loss of space shuttle Columbia still teaches us lessons.” The article emphasizes how NASA’s Memorial Grove is used to honor late astronauts,…

NFL, Eagles and Chiefs All Set To Win The Economics Game In Super Bowl LVII

Rodney Paul, director and professor of sport analytics in the Falk School, was quoted in the Washington Examiner story “The economics of the Super Bowl: Hosting, gambling, ads, and more.” The article talks in-depth about all of the economics that…

CEOs Requiring In Person Work Is Hurting Diversity

Arlene Kanter, director of the Disability and Policy Program and professor in the College of Law, was interviewed for the Business Insider article “Some CEOs are pushing workers to return to the office, but it could come with a cost:…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.