The Global Complexities of September 11th

1 August 2002

journal article
research article
Published by SAGE Publications in Theory, Culture & Society

Vol. 19 (4) , 57-69
https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276402019004004

Abstract

This article assesses whether some notions from complexity or non-linear theory help to make sense of September 11th. This relates to the author's more general concern, to interrogate `globalization' through the prism of complexity. Some of the topics investigated in this article include the nature of networked relationships between the macro and micro levels, the character of a liquid and mobile power, the differentiation between and juxtapositions of wild and safe zones, the world-wide screening of certain global events, the unpredictability and irreversibility of time, the nature of attractors, and the more general character of systems that are neither ordered nor wholly anarchic remaining `on the edge of chaos'.

Keywords

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