• Corpus ID: 55781965

Constructing Cosmic War: Rhetorical Outbidding and Religious Violence

@inproceedings{Henne2011ConstructingCW,
  title={Constructing Cosmic War: Rhetorical Outbidding and Religious Violence},
  author={Peter S. Henne},
  year={2011}
}

• Peter S. Henne
• Published 2011
• Political Science

With the rise of religious violence in recent decades, a great amount of scholarly attention has focused on determining what role (if any) religion plays in these conflicts. Existing approaches, however, overlook the mechanisms through which religion influences violence. In contrast, I take a relational approach to religious violence in this article, arguing that the process of rhetorical outbidding can help explain the nature of religious violence. Groups engaged in political violence do not just conduct attacks to gain public support, they compete for the rhetorical resources to generate such support. Religious militants, accordingly, attempt to advance a frame that defines the conflict as a religious one, conducting attacks to both demonstrate the veracity of this frame and their devotion to their religious beliefs. Thus, the “cosmic war” of religious violence is constructed through the efforts of religious militants. I apply this to the rhetoric of the al-Qaeda network and the effects the group’s rhetorical appeals have had on the actions of al-Qaeda-linked religious militants. The article contributes to debates on religious violence, as well as the role of rhetoric in politics.