Counter-Terrorism
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Counter-Terrorism

The Ethical Issues

9781800373068 Edward Elgar Publishing
Edited by Seumas Miller, Professor of Philosophy, Charles Sturt University, Australia, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands and the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford, UK, Adam Henschke, Department of Philosophy, University of Twente, the Netherlands and Jonas Feltes, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
Publication Date: 2021 ISBN: 978 1 80037 306 8 Extent: 224 pp
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. It is free to read, download and share on Elgaronline.com.

This insightful book provides an analysis of the central ethical issues that have arisen in combatting global terrorism and, in particular, jihadist terrorist groups, notably Al Qaeda, Islamic State and their affiliates. Chapters explore the theoretical problems that arise in relation to terrorism, such as the definition of terrorism and the concept of collective responsibility, and consider specific ethical issues in counter-terrorism.

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Critical Acclaim
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This insightful book provides an analysis of the central ethical issues that have arisen in combatting global terrorism and, in particular, jihadist terrorist groups, notably Al Qaeda, Islamic State and their affiliates. Chapters explore the theoretical problems that arise in relation to terrorism, such as the definition of terrorism and the concept of collective responsibility, and consider specific ethical issues in counter-terrorism.

The book discusses a range of key topics including targeted killing, enhanced interrogation of terrorists, preventive detention, freedom of expression and terrorist content on social media, bulk metadata collection and responding to terrorist attacks that use weapons of mass destruction. It also explores ethical issues that have often been neglected, such as psychological warfare and stings. Taking a practical approach, the book offers recommendations for resolving these ethical problems in counter-terrorism.

Integrating philosophical and legal analysis with empirical evidence, this book will be critical reading for scholars and students of human rights, international relations and terrorism and security law. Its use of specific examples of terrorist organisations, tactics and outcomes will also be valuable for policy-makers in the field.
Critical Acclaim
‘Counter-Terrorism: The Ethical Issues provides a thorough and systematic introduction into the ethics of counter-terrorism. Drawing on leading experts in the field and aimed at a wider audience, it clarifies the philosophical foundations, covers widely discussed special topics, and expands the debate to so far understudied but nonetheless important legal and moral issues. Combining theoretical and analytical depth with a simultaneous realistic focus on practice, it offers excellent politically relevant scholarship on a pressing issue of our times.’
– Uwe Steinhoff, University of Hong Kong

‘The authors have produced a very welcome and balanced compilation of ideas on how to counter terrorism while taking into account the norms and values of liberal societies. Confronted with European, American and Australian perspectives both practitioners and students of counter-terrorism policies will find useful yardsticks and judgment tools with the help of illuminative concepts such as the web of prevention, standing intentions of terrorists, narrative dominance and the distinction between speech and public communication, whereby ethics is not used to condemn the practitioners but to show them opportunities that will help them to professionalize their approaches.’
– Bob de Graaff, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
Contributors
Contributors: M.B. DeRosa, J. Feltes, A. Henschke, S. Miller, M. Regan, S. Robbins, M. Robillard, M. Skerker, L.J. West, A.L. White
Contents
Contents:

Introduction to counter-terrorism: the ethical issues 1
1 Preventive criminal law: terrorist crimes and liberal
democratic values 10
Mitt Regan and Alexandra L. White
2 The definition of terrorism 24
Seumas Miller and Jonas Feltes
3 Collective responsibility and counter-terrorism 35
Seumas Miller and Jonas Feltes
4 Kill, wound or capture: ethics considerations for
counter-terrorism operations 46
Michael Robillard
5 Accountability for targeted killing 61
Mary B. DeRosa and Mitt Regan
6 Interrogation ethics in counter-terror operations 77
Michael Skerker
7 Preventive detention of terrorists 92
Seumas Miller
8 Use of stings in counter-terrorism: entrapment and ethics 105
Seumas Miller
9 Counter-terrorism, social media and the regulation of
extremist content 116
Levi J. West
10 On free public communication and terrorism online 129
Adam Henschke
11 Counter-terrorism and PSYOP 143
Michael Robillard
12 From ‘need to share’ to ‘need to care’: information
aggregation and the need to care about how surveillance
technologies are used for counter-terrorism 156
Adam Henschke
13 Bulk data collection, national security and ethics 169
Scott Robbins
14 Collective moral responsibility and chemical, biological,
radiological and nuclear terrorism: the case of phosphine 181
Jonas Feltes

Index
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