FEAR This page intentionally left blank F E A R The History of a Political Idea corey robin 3 2004 3 Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Copyright © 2004 by Corey Robin Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 2004 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Robin, Corey, 1967– Fear: the history of a political idea / by Corey Robin. p. cm. ISBN 0–19–515702–8 1. Political theory. 2. Fear—Political aspects. I. Title. JA74.5R48 2004 320'.01'9—dc22 2004006813 Design and composition by Susan Day 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper to my parents This page intentionally left blank contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 part 1 history of an idea 27 1 Fear 31 2 Terror 51 3 Anxiety 73 4 Total Terror 95 5 Remains of the Day 131 part 2 fear, american style 161 6 Sentimental Educations 167 7 Divisions of Labor 199 8 Upstairs, Downstairs 227 Conclusion: Liberalism Agonistes 249 Notes 253 Index 303 This page intentionally left blank acknowledgments I would like to thank the following friends, colleagues, teachers, and editors, who read and commented upon this manuscript, whether in draft, paper, or article form: Bruce Ackerman, Moustafa Bayoumi, Roger Boesche, Shelley Burtt, Josh Cohen, Peter Cole, Michael Denning, Jack Diggins, Tom Dumm, Sam Farber, Steve Fraser, Josh Freeman, Paul Frymer, Emily Gordon, Greg Grandin, Nancy Grey, Michael Hardt, Adina Hoffman, David Hughes, Judy Hughes, Allen Hunter, Victoria Kahn, Ariel Kaminer, Rebecca Karl, Scott James, David Johnston, Gordon Lafer, Jackson Lears, Chris Lehmann, Mark Levinson, Penny Lewis, Arien Mack, Ian Malcolm, Arno Mayer, David May- hew, Kirstie McClure, John McCormick, John Medeiras, Laurie Muchnick, Sankar Muthu, Molly Nolan, Karen Orren, Christian Parenti, Kim Phillips- Fein, Francis Fox Piven, Robert Potts, Mel Richter, Jessica Robin, Andy Sabl, Scott Saul, Jim Scott, Ellen Schrecker, Jenny Schuessler, Alex Star, Michelle Stephens, Laura Tanenbaum, Rob Tempio, Peter Terzian, Jeanne Theoharis, Roy Tsao, Michael Walzer, Kathi Weeks, Eve Weinbaum, Keith Whittington, Daniel Wilkinson, Richard Wolin, Brian Young, and Marilyn Young. Special thanks to Rogers Smith, my dissertation advisor, to Tim Bartlett, my editor at Oxford University Press, and to Barbara Fillon, Peter Harper, and Catherine Humphries at Oxford University Press. Generous funding for the comple- tion of this project was provided by the International Center for Advanced Studies of New York University; the Wolfe Institute for the Humanities at Brooklyn College; the Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York; and the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at the Graduate x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Center of the City University of New York. Finally, a word of thanks to the students, faculty, and staff of Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York; to Jonathan Stein, who long ago asked me what was so great about Hobbes since “everything with him is fear”; to John Dunn, who first suggested that I shouldn’t read Hobbes as if he were Tocqueville; and to my family, for everything. Portions of this book have appeared elsewhere. Many thanks to the relevant publisher for allowing me to use material from the following: “Remembrance of Empires Past: 9/11 and the End of the Cold War.” In Cold War Triumphalism: The Misuse of History After the Fall of Communism, ed. Ellen Schrecker (New York: The New Press, 2004), pp. 274–97. “Fear, American Style: Civil Liberty After 9/11.” In Implicating Empire: Globalization & Resistance in the 21st Century World Order, ed. Stanley Aronowitz and Heather Gautney (New York: Basic Books, 2003), pp. 47–64. “Lavatory and Liberty: The Secret History of the Bathroom Break.” Boston Globe(September 29, 2002), p. D1. “Closet-Case Studies.” New York Times Magazine (December 16, 2001), pp. 23–24. “Denied the Fruits of Their Labors.” Dissent(Fall 2001), pp. 131–35. “Fear: A Genealogy of Morals.” Social Research 67 (Winter 2000), pp. 1085–1115. “Reflections on Fear: Montesquieu in Retrieval.” American Political Sci- ence Review94 (June 2000), pp. 347–60. “Why Do Opposites Attract? Fear and Freedom in the Modern Political Imagination.” In Fear Itself: Enemies Real and Imagined, ed. Nancy L. Schultz (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1999).