Copyright © The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press.
Book Review |
Sterba J. P. (ED) 2003.
Terrorism and international justice
Thames Valley Police, Kidlington, Oxford OXON OX5 2NX, UK
J. P. Sterba (ED) 2003. Terrorism and international justice Oxford University Press ISBN: 0-19-515888-1 (pbk)
Since the tragic events of 9/11 researchers and practitioners alike have sought to understand the new paradigm of terrorism in the 21st century, and its impact on the international community. Of interest to anyone wishing to understand the broad issues and philosophical concepts that underpin modern-day terrorism, the thematic papers collected in Terrorism and International Justice aim to explore long-standing issues, such as the nature and morals of terrorism (Part I) and the mind-set of terrorists (Part II), within the specific historical context of the US Government's ‘War on Terror’. Part III goes on to consider whether the response to terrorist acts by Western Governments can be morally justified.
The volume begins with a useful précis of terrorist activity and suppression through history from Robespierre's ‘Reign of Terror’ in 18th century France through 19th century revolutionary Russia to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Whether or not these events can be described as ‘terrorism’ in the modern sense depends upon the definition of ‘terrorism’ (discussed by Tomis Kapitan in Chapter 2)—strictly speaking using fear and intimidation as a means to an end. These examples illustrate several key points: that terrorism can sometimes operate as a modernizing force; that ‘terrorism’ involves not just acts of terror but a motivating political purpose to achieve change; and that terrorism does not always involve the indiscriminate targeting of innocent people. The varying definitions of terrorism and the subjectivity of moral perception are a vein running through many essays in the book, which show clearly the logical inconsistencies inherent in judging some acts right or wrong.
A key contribution to the volume by the philosopher Noam Chomsky in Chapter 3 Terror and Just Response begins to address the question of a state's response to terrorist acts against it, particularly in the US—suggesting the minimum moral level of response applies universality: applying the same, or more stringent, standards to yourself as to others. His critique of US foreign policy in Nicaragua, Haiti, and Afghanistan indicates double standards on the part of the US Government, suggesting that ‘no-one... can consider massive bombardment to be an appropriate and properly "calibrated" response’ (p.72). He goes on to consider briefly the background to 9/11 and the perception in the Arab world that the US is seeking to protect its interest in Near East oil, pointing to the findings of the Dutch government that the CIA had been involved from 1980 in recruiting, training and arming radical Islamists to support the US in the Balkans—and are now paying the price of their interventions. The themes touched upon by Noam Chomsky—if not the condemnation of the US—such as the competing narratives of each side, and the morality of responding to terrorism, are considered in a more nuanced way and in greater depth in subsequent papers.
In Chapters 5 and 6 Robert Phillips and Zayn Kassam respectively consider the nature of the current terrorist threat from extremist Islam, linked to ‘a deep and coherent ideology of fundamentalism stretching back fourteen centuries’ (p.102), and ask whether Islam actually teaches, promotes or requires terrorist acts as a religious duty. Kassam argues that the popular media seek to demonise Muslims by projecting Islam as inflexibly predisposed to violence and hate, and backward in segregating women from the public sphere, while hypocritically enjoying the material benefits of the modern world. He suggests that this view conflates ‘technologization’ with Westernization; the latter being loaded with issues of domination, identity, secularity, and morality. Kassam goes on to consider the attractions of fundamentalism for the impoverished, the ambitious young, or those coping with cultural dislocation, concluding that violent militant interpretations of Islam pose a threat to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
The Moral Response to Terrorism and Cosmopolitanism by Louis Pojman (Chapter 7) outlines the change in the threat from terrorism, from mutual secular self-interest in the Cold War, to religious fundamentalists who are willing to kill themselves as well as us: ‘The comprehensive cultural reinforcement of the suicide bomber and terrorist marks this kind of fundamentalism off from our normal sense of prudent and moral behaviour’ (p.141). Modern technology—bombs, aircraft, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear warfare—has exponentially increased the threat. The key changes which characterize the post-9/11 nature of terrorism (at least in the West) are the use of suicidal missions aiming to kill very large numbers of people, the global reach, and a concomitant awareness of how the sensationalism of the global media can be used to polarize and unify opposition to the West. Pojman, and in Chapter 7 Daniele Archibugu and Iris Marion Young, hypothesize a global world order and rule of law based on international co-operation as an ‘alternative’ response to terrorism—although the US have been unwilling to legitimize international institutions and courts if they conflict with US interests.
Taken overall, the book offers an almost first-response insight into academic discussion of terrorism as the ripples of 9/11 reverberated into 2003. The essays must be taken as reflective of their time, as the book notably contains no mention of Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, Abu Ghraib prison, Guantanamo Bay, and the use of torture as a means of fighting terrorism—as the papers were of course written before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Indeed, some essays read as though the authors have not yet got over their shock at such an infringement onto US soil, and are just beginning to assimilate the events of 9/11 and analyse the underlying reasons. As such, the book contains disappointingly few serious, mature, attempts at formulating a strategy against modern terrorists, despite pointing out the history and background which could have predicted such an attack. There is little agreement on the causes or definition of terrorism, so the authors offer a diverse range of viewpoints which gives the book a fractured feel, relying on reiteration rather than development of the themes throughout. It nonetheless offers an informed, broad, and considered discussion of the ongoing issues of international terrorism and response.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||