Introduction : the transnational folk devil

We write this introduction in the grim aftermath of the Oslo massacres of 22 July 2011 in which 77 people died. Most of the victims were members of the youth wing of the Norwegian Labour Party, a party with a history of support for multiculturalism and religious tolerance, and early media speculation suggests that Anders Behring Breivik, who has admitted carrying out the bombing and shootings, believed he was part of a violent crusade against Islam, a shock trooper in the clash of civilizations: His lawyer has suggested that he is probably insane, a remark endorsed by some media and political commentators. Whether or not such a diagnosis is confirmed through legal process, it is important to recognize that by constructing the perpetrator as a deranged monster, one who had lost all sense of moral proportion or attachment to reality, we evade some complicated questions. These concern the rise of new racial politics in the contemporary West, specifically Islamophobia, that attacks the liberal democratic state and calls into question its ability to manage globalization, immigration and cultural difference.