Goodin What's Wrong With Terrorism?

1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7456-7389-9
Verlag: John Wiley & Sons
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 256 Seiten, E-Book

Terrorists perform terrible acts. They maim, mutilate and kill inpursuit of their goals. The horrifying events of 9/11 and theregular suicide bombings around the world have made terrorism oneof the central preoccupations of the twenty-first century. But whatis the distinctive wrong of terrorism? Criminal acts such as murderand hijacking are already on the moral statute books, so why is itthat we regard terrorists as different from and morally worse thanordinary killers and kidnappers?

Some see terrorism is an ideology, others claim it is adeep-seated social or psychological failing, others that it is aform of fighting unfairly judged by just-war standards. In thisprovocative new book, Robert Goodin puts forward the view thatterrorism is, in fact, a deliberate tactic of frightening peoplefor socio-political gain. Fear affects peoples ability to reasonclearly and undermines their capacity for autonomousself-government.

In this way, Goodin contends that terror is not only the weaponof organizations such as al-Qaeda; it also benefits democraticpoliticians who profit from the climate of insecurity induced byterrorist threats and violence. Political figures conducting acampaign of fear as part of their war on terrorism may therefore becommitting wrongs akin to those of terrorists themselves. This,Goodin argues, is what is distinctively wrong with terrorism in thecontemporary world.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Goodin, Robert E.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface vii
Acknowledgements x
1 Introduction 1
2 Terrorism as Unjust War: Killing Innocent Civilians6
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 Fear31
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 Politicallyfrom 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

Über Autor(innen)

Robert Goodin is Professor of Social and Political Theory at the Australian National University.