From the psychology of terror to the politics of trauma. New article on FiloTabù.

My new article has just been published on FiloTabù:
Dalla psicologia del terrore alla politica del trauma (From the psychology of terror to the politics of trauma).

For much of the twentieth century, power relied on fear as a governing technology. A single shock — a terrorist attack, a named enemy, a security alert — was enough to generate obedience. It was the psychology of terror: fear as an immediate instrument to discipline, mobilize, and justify the state of exception.

Today, however, the technique has evolved. Contemporary politics no longer governs through the sudden flash of terror, but through the prolonged duration of trauma. Not through temporary fear, but through the wound that never heals. This new regime keeps societies in a state of chronic vulnerability — uncertain, exhausted, and dependent.

In the article I explore how the management of collective trauma — from the pandemic to the war in Ukraine, from Palestine to the global media machine — has become a powerful political tool. Rather than protecting, governments now destabilize; rather than healing, they amplify. Fear no longer pushes people to act, but to surrender.

Drawing on thinkers such as Jacques Derrida, Cathy Caruth, Naomi Klein, and Byung-Chul Han, the piece examines how trauma operates not only as a psychological condition but as a political structure — one that shapes perception, language, and the very sense of time.

The full article (in Italian) is available on the FiloTabù blog.