Abstract

Drawing on René Girard's anthropology of sacrifice, and on a book of the present author, the essay propose a three-fold analysis of securitarian politics. Even a rough analysis of the alleged balances between liberty and security, indeed, shows they results are neither suitable nor necessary nor proportionate in order to increase national, public and even individual security. If one wants to explain such results, therefore, a third level of analysis must be adopted, in addition to the explicit motivation of rulers (to promote security) and their hidden goals (gain support and power, take advantage of the security business). Terrorism and security politics, just like the Witch Hunt and Nazi Holocaust, cannot be fully explained if one does not approach them from the anthropological perspective of (human) sacrifice.