| ID | 082747 |
| Title Proper | Ideals that were really never in our possession' |
| Other Title Information | torture, honor and US identity |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Steele, Brent J |
| Publication | 2008. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | This article addresses how the recent US treatment of suspects detained in its War on Terror relates to the issues of US self-identity and US honor. Both the abuse of these individuals, and the shock which such abuse engenders (when revealed to the US public), are manifested by punishment drives that reinforce a nation's sense of internal honor, which is constructed and connected to a nation's self-identity. While professing commitments to human rights, on the one hand, and interrogation and torture, on the other, are contradictory practices - they are similar in the sense that both are forms of discipline which uphold internally constituted ontological visions of the US Self. Drawing upon a Foucauldian view of ethics, `the relation to oneself', the article avers that precisely because these disciplinary mechanisms are driven by self-identity and protecting the `honor' of the US nation-state, domestic and international actors can use two tactics - `reflexive discourse' and self-interrogative imaging - to stimulate US agents to reform such practices in the future |
| `In' analytical Note | International Relations Vol. 22, No.2; Jun 2008: p243-261 |
| Journal Source | International Relations Vol. 22, No.2; Jun 2008: p243-261 |
| Key Words | Abu Ghraib ; Aesthetics ; Ethics ; Foucault ; Ontological Security ; Self-Identity ; Shame ; US Identity |