Terrorists perform terrible acts. They maim, mutilate and kill in
pursuit of their goals. The horrifying events of 9/11 and the
regular suicide bombings around the world have made terrorism one
of the central preoccupations of the twenty-first century. But what
is the distinctive wrong of terrorism? Criminal acts such as murder
and hijacking are already on the moral statute books, so why is it
that we regard terrorists as different from and morally worse than
ordinary killers and kidnappers?
Some see terrorism is an ideology, others claim it is a
deep-seated social or psychological failing, others that it is a
form of fighting unfairly judged by just-war standards. In this
provocative new book, Robert Goodin puts forward the view that
terrorism is, in fact, a deliberate tactic of frightening people
for socio-political gain. Fear affects peoples ability to reason
clearly and undermines their capacity for autonomous
self-government.
In this way, Goodin contends that terror is not only the weapon
of organizations such as al-Qaeda; it also benefits democratic
politicians who profit from the climate of insecurity induced by
terrorist threats and violence. Political figures conducting a
campaign of fear as part of their war on terrorism may therefore be
committing wrongs akin to those of terrorists themselves. This,
Goodin argues, is what is distinctively wrong with terrorism in the
contemporary world.
Inhoudsopgave
Preface vii
Acknowledgements x
1 Introduction 1
2 Terrorism as Unjust War: Killing Innocent Civilians
6
Three problems with the just-war analysis of terrorism 9
A different sense of ‘innocence’ 18
War crime, ordinary crime or a special offence? 21
3 Terrorism as a Political Tactic: Intending to Instil Fear
31
What sort of ‘ism’ is terrorism? 32
What terrorists want 35
Fear is the key 45
Summing up 48
4 States Can Be Terrorists, Too 50
The definitional ploy 53
States terrorizing other states 60
States terrorizing their own people 66
State-sponsored terror and crimes of complicity 73
5 Warnings Can Be Terroristic, Too: Profiting Politically
from Fear 78
Threats and warnings 80
Impure warnings: ’terrorist warnings’ versus
‘warnings of terrorism’ 85
Politicians’ intentions matter, too 91
Terrorism as an aggravated wrong: is ‘violence’
required? 100
Better ’terrorist warnings’ than none at all?
108
6 Warnings Bound to Be Misheard 111
How big a deal is terrorism? 114
Calibrating risks 118
Mechanisms of misperception 123
Mass-mediated terror 131
Risks of really mass destruction 136
Imprudent precautions 142
7 Terrorizing Democracy 156
Terrorism as a political wrong 156
Fearlessness as a response 159
Hobbesian solutions to non-Hobbesian problems 170
Of tyrants and terrorists 176
8 Conclusions 179
Notes 187
References 218
Index 238
Over de auteur
Robert Goodin is Professor of Social and Political Theory at the Australian National University.
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