Terrorism and Torture: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Figures......Page 9
Tables......Page 11
Contributors......Page 13
Preface......Page 15
References......Page 16
Terrorism risk and torture......Page 17
Terrorism and torture provoke fear......Page 18
State-sponsored terrorism and torture......Page 19
The law, criminal justice, and crime prevention......Page 20
Psychological and motivational processes......Page 24
The role of the media......Page 27
Public reactions and political perspectives......Page 30
References......Page 32
2 Torture, terrorism, and the moral prohibition on killing non-combatants......Page 34
The strategic imperative?......Page 35
Non-combatant immunity......Page 43
Torture......Page 45
Terrorism......Page 51
Conclusion......Page 54
Notes......Page 55
References......Page 56
3 The equivalent logic of torture and terrorism: the legal regulation of moral monstrosity......Page 60
Justifying violence: the just cause of defending human rights......Page 61
Justifying violence and the means: asymmetrical struggles......Page 63
Exceptional means to achieve a just cause......Page 64
Manipulative interpretation of existing laws......Page 65
An intermediate, compromise position: claims of necessity......Page 68
Direct challenges to existing laws......Page 71
Conclusion......Page 74
Notes......Page 75
References......Page 76
The competing implications of war and justice for responding to terrorism......Page 79
Individual vs. group targets......Page 80
Top priority vs. competing priorities......Page 81
Military vs. criminal-justice values......Page 82
Judicial mistakes vs. jujitsu politics......Page 83
A look at the numbers......Page 84
What does effective counter-terrorism look like in an occupied territory?......Page 85
What does unsuccessful counter-terrorism look like in an occupied territory?......Page 87
What does counter-terrorism look like in democratic countries?......Page 89
How are criminal gangs and terrorist groups alike?......Page 91
What does the Pentagon think is needed to succeed against terrorists?......Page 94
Terrorism as Politics: War, Justice, and Torture......Page 95
References......Page 99
5 Reducing the opportunities for terrorism: applying the principles of situational crime prevention......Page 102
Situational crime prevention......Page 103
The opportunity structure for terrorism......Page 106
Analyzing the opportunity structure......Page 108
Weapons......Page 110
Tools......Page 111
Facilitating conditions......Page 113
Changing the opportunity structure for terrorism......Page 114
Evaluation......Page 116
A program of situational prevention......Page 117
Conclusions......Page 119
References......Page 120
6 From the terrorists' point of view: toward a better understanding of the staircase to terrorism......Page 122
The staircase to terrorism......Page 123
Variability in the relative importance of contextual and dispositional factors......Page 125
Degrees of freedom......Page 127
The "rotten barrel" rather than "a few bad apples"......Page 128
The crisis of identity in Islamic communities......Page 131
Evolution of identity......Page 132
Catastrophic evolution and identity threat......Page 134
Perceived identity threat in Islamic societies......Page 135
Concluding comment......Page 137
References......Page 138
An initial caveat: some terrorists are mentally unbalanced/socially dysfunctional......Page 141
Terrorists are "normal people"......Page 142
A case study......Page 143
Beliefs about terror are social constructions......Page 144
A theoretical framework: from costs and benefits to identities and norms......Page 146
The cycle of violence: terrorist and non-terrorists' decisions......Page 150
Psychological outcomes......Page 153
Political outcomes......Page 154
Implications of an agentic normative influence approach for conflict management......Page 159
References......Page 164
8 The cycle of righteous destruction: a Terror Management Theory perspective on terrorist and counter-terrorist violence......Page 170
Reciprocal violence......Page 171
Terror Management Theory......Page 173
Why do terrorists kill?......Page 175
Humiliation and injustice......Page 176
Alienation and identity confusion......Page 180
Community support......Page 181
Terrorism, death reminders and support for terrorist and counter-terrorist violence......Page 182
The cycle of violence as symbolic attacks......Page 183
A ray of hope......Page 185
Compassionate values......Page 187
Common humanity and the value of family......Page 188
The value of caring relationships......Page 189
References......Page 190
9 Misinformation and the "War on Terror": when memory turns fiction into fact......Page 195
The power of hints: the creation of false memories......Page 196
"The jury will disregard…": discounting of misinformation......Page 199
From suspicion to skepticism: differentiating between information and propaganda......Page 205
Skepticism and the media: mission unaccomplished......Page 209
Conclusions and outlook......Page 212
Notes......Page 215
References......Page 216
Images of terrorism: negotiating with the media as victim and icon......Page 220
Images of torture: resistance to the "War on Terror"'s hegemonic discourse within the media......Page 228
Afterword......Page 234
References......Page 235
The persistence of torture......Page 237
The facts about news coverage of the torture phenomenon......Page 238
Coverage is incomplete......Page 240
News media avoid the "torture" label......Page 243
The questionable quality of torture stories......Page 245
Justifying war-time torture......Page 246
Coverage delays and sparsity......Page 248
How systematic is torture?......Page 250
Indexing torture stories to official versions......Page 251
Dearth of investigative journalism in torture situations......Page 253
The power of the news media to change public policies......Page 254
The findings in perspective......Page 255
What can be done, realistically?......Page 257
Appendix......Page 258
References......Page 259
Suggested further reading......Page 261
12 Reversed negatives: how the news media respond to "our" atrocities......Page 262
White and misperception in wars......Page 264
News coverage and selective perception......Page 266
Saddam’s endless evil and Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)......Page 271
The hidden casualties of allied bombing......Page 273
The hidden casualties of allied behavior......Page 275
An inexplicable parade of abstracted deaths......Page 276
Conclusion......Page 277
References......Page 278
The 2001 Australian election......Page 281
Media coverage and differential effects on issue salience for voters......Page 282
Issue agenda-setting and issue priming......Page 284
Data and methods......Page 285
Television issue coverage......Page 286
Voter predispositions and exposure to TV campaign news......Page 289
Exposure to TV and timing of vote decision: effects on international issues as key to vote choice......Page 291
Exposure to TV and timing of vote choice: effects on issue agenda setting......Page 293
International security and domestic issue effects on political evaluations......Page 295
Attitudes toward security/domestic issues and voter policy stances......Page 297
Conclusion......Page 300
References......Page 303
14 Terrorism, anxiety, and war......Page 306
Anxiety and opposition to war......Page 307
Post-September 11 anxiety......Page 308
Support for war in Afghanistan......Page 311
Support for war in Iraq......Page 313
Determinants of anxiety......Page 316
Emotional reactions to physical threat......Page 318
War support......Page 320
Conclusion......Page 322
Anxiety and the gender gap......Page 323
Notes......Page 324
References......Page 325
15 I'm right, you're dead: speculations about the roots of fanaticism......Page 329
References......Page 339
16 Reducing terrorist risk: integrating jurisdictional and opportunity approaches......Page 341
Questioning the necessity of the "other": alternatives to exclusionary actuarial strategies......Page 342
Approaches to society-wide risk reduction: an analogy with public health......Page 344
Ensuring there is a functioning political system to address dissatisfaction......Page 348
Acknowledging the existence of underlying causes that motivate and perpetuate terror......Page 349
The staircase metaphor: a broad model for reducing support for terrorism......Page 351
Decreasing immediate threat: focusing on terrorists or opportunity......Page 352
Targeting potential terrorist opportunities......Page 353
Integrating jurisdictional and opportunity-focused approaches to reducing terrorist risk......Page 356
Conclusion
......Page 358
References......Page 359
Index......Page 361