Pain & power: what the pains of counterterrorism tell us about the workings of counter-terror power

Abstract

Since 9/11, a vast array of legislation, policies, actors, and practices have emerged under the banner of counterterrorism (CT). This paper conceptualises CT as a distinct social phenomenon, focusing on criminal legal responses as a biopolitical dispositif that deploys “counter-terror power” (CTP). CTP operates differentially, due to its reductionist emphasis on jihadist terrorism. The study examines how CTP functions “from below,” through the embodied experiences of individuals subjected to CT measures. Based on ethnographic research, the paper explores the lived experiences of four men convicted of terrorism-related offences in Switzerland. Each participant underwent between four and eight ethnographic interviews conducted between 2018 and 2024. By analysing their pains–expressed through the conceptual dimensions of weight, width, and depth–the paper develops an empirically grounded critique of the workings of CTP. Ultimately, CTP emerges as liquid, anonymous, and sticky, exhibiting an inertia towards elimination, or killing in the Agambian sense while simultaneously fostering apathy.