Fighting Terrorism In The Liberal State

Contains papers that illustrate the balanced dichotomy between terrorism and counter-terrorism against the background of the liberal state. How to establish the equilibrium of combating terrorism while preserving the liberties of the open society? This book begins with this question and tackles different aspects and dimensions of this dilemma.

Examines global terrorist networks and discusses the long-term future of terrorism.

This book unravels the role of democracy after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and reflects important debates surrounding the security of Muslim communities in the years to come. It looks at the problems of torture, violence and the legal resources available to contemporary democracies to confront terrorism. While terrorism is often regarded as one of the major threats to the West and the nation-state, this book explores the notion that a disciplined sense of terror is what keeps society working. The strengths and limitations of liberalism are examined, as well as the ethical dilemma of torture and human right violations in the struggle against terrorism. This book carefully dissects the origin of the nation-state and how it keeps society united. The author offers a creative and unique approach to democracy and worldwide terrorism, exploring the consequences for the nation-state. This book looks at the connections between terrorism, mobility, consumption, torture and fear. It will be of interest to researchers as well as postgraduate and postdoctoral students within the fields of Human Geography, Politics, Media and International Relations.

The End of the Liberal State addresses two specific questions: What, if anything, has changed so radically in the aftermath of 9/11 that it merits such a wide-scale change to security questions? What is the legacy that the 'West' hopes to hand over as China, India, Brazil and Nigeria lead the 'non-Western' world into prominence in global society as economic power shifts towards them? Professor Castellino reviews the position of the liberal state in international society pre-2001; the events of 11 September 2001 and their immediate aftermath; and the current position of the liberal state both abroad and in the UK. He outlines the reasons why he believes the terrorists are winning, and offers a set of strategies that could reverse the trend - and by so doing ensure a strong legacy that could act as a bulwark to guard against the erosion of the values of democracy and human rights that have developed in Europe since the Enlightenment era

He calls for a "new radicalism" and a "liberal American interventionism" to promote democratic values throughout the world - a vigorous new politics of American liberalism."--BOOK JACKET.

This edited volume questions the widespread resort to illiberal security practices by contemporary liberal regimes since 9/11, and argues that counter-terrorism is embedded into the very logic of the fields of politics and security. Although recent debate surrounding civil rights and liberties in post-9/11 Europe has focused on the forms, provisions and legal consequences of security-led policies, this volume takes an inter-disciplinary approach to explore how these policies have come to generate illiberal practices. The book argues that policies implemented in the name of protection and national security have had a strong effect on civil liberties, human rights and social cohesion - in particular, but not only, since 9/11. The book undertakes detailed sociological enquiries concerning security agencies, and analyses public discourses on the definition of the terrorist threat. In doing so, it aims to show that the current reframing of civil rights and liberties is in part a result of the very functioning of both the political and the security fields, in that it is embedded in a broad array of domestic and transnational political, administrative and bureaucratic stakes.

This book reviews the war on terror since 9/11 from a human rights perspective.

This edited volume aims to deepen our understanding of state power through a series of case studies of political violence arising from state ‘counter-terrorism’ strategies. The book examines how state counter-terrorism strategies are invariably underpinned by terror, in the form of state political violence. It seeks to answer three key questions: To what extent can counter-terror strategies be read as a form of state terror? How fundamental is state terror to the maintenance of a neo-liberal social order? What are the features of counter-terrorism that render it so easily reducible to state terror? In order to explore these issues, and to reach an understanding of what it means to say that the ‘war on terror’ is terror , the contributing authors draw upon case studies from a range of geographical contexts including the UK and Northern Ireland, the US and Colombia, and Sri Lanka and Tamil Eelam. Analysing these case studies from a psychological-warfare and hegemonic perspective, the book also includes two chapters from Noam Chomsky and John Pilger, which provide a global and historical context. This book will be of great interest to students of critical terrorism studies, political violence, war and conflict studies, sociology, international security and IR.