Armed conflict, on domestic or foreign soil, impacts people’s daily lives and shapes policy around the world. Millions live with the threat of terrorism, whether from random sources or known enemies. And the acceptability of torture is debated by politicians and public alike. The International Handbook of War, Torture, and Terrorism synthesizes historical backgrounds, current trends, and findings from the Personal and Institutional Rights to Aggression and Peace Survey (PAIRTAPS), administered in forty countries over nine global regions. Contributors examine the social, cognitive, and emotional roots of people’s thinking on war and national security issues, particularly concerning the role of governments in declaring war, invading other countries, or torturing prisoners. By focusing on the cultural traditions and colonial histories of broad regions rather than of individual nations, the book demonstrates how context shapes ordinary citizens’ views on what is justifiable during times of war, as well as more nebulous concepts of patriotism and security. The Handbook: Introduces the PAIRTAPS and explains the methodology for analyzing responses. Defines war-related concepts from the unique perspectives of Western Europe, U.K./U.S., Middle East, Gulf States, Russia/Balkans, Africa, Latin America, South/Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Provides an integrative summary of definitions and points of view. Situates results in terms of social engagement/disengagement theory. Considers implications for peace and reconciliation. As a reflection of the changing global landscape, the International Handbook of War, Torture, and Terrorism deserves to be read by a wide range of researchers in peace psychology, political science, sociology, and anthropology.

This collection by leading scholars represents state of the art writings on the ethics of war. Many of the most important and contested controversies in modern war receive comprehensive discussion: the practice of torture, terrorism, assassination and targeted killing, the bombing of civilians in war, humanitarian intervention, and the invasion of Iraq Analytical introduction provides a guide to recent developments in the ethics of war An excellent overview for general readers interested in the current debate and controversies over the ethics of war

The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism systematically integrates the substantial body of scholarship on terrorism and counterterrorism before and after 9/11. In doing so, it introduces scholars and practitioners to state of the art approaches, methods, and issues in studying and teaching these vital phenomena. This Handbook goes further than most existing collections by giving structure and direction to the fast-growing but somewhat disjointed field of terrorism studies. The volume locates terrorism within the wider spectrum of political violence instead of engaging in the widespread tendency towards treating terrorism as an exceptional act. Moreover, the volume makes a case for studying terrorism within its socio-historical context. Finally, the volume addresses the critique that the study of terrorism suffers from lack of theory by reviewing and extending the theoretical insights contributed by several fields - including political science, political economy, history, sociology, anthropology, criminology, law, geography, and psychology. In doing so, the volume showcases the analytical advancements and reflects on the challenges that remain since the emergence of the field in the early 1970s.

Sociological analysis of the transformation of prohibitions on assassination, torture, and mercenaries as components of the US War on Terror.

Ethics for Enemies comprises three original essays on highly contentious issues in practical moral philosophy. F. M. Kamm presents powerful arguments about the concept and morality of torture; what makes terrorism wrong and whether it is always wrong; and whether the right motivation and the proportionality of harms to good can make war just.

“If law be the bedrock of civil society, it can no more undergird torture than it could support slavery or genocide.” –from the Introduction The graphic photographs of U.S. military personnel grinning over abused Arab and Muslim prisoners shocked the world community. That the United States was systematically torturing inmates at prisons run by its military and civilian leaders divided the nation and brought deep shame to many. When Steven H. Miles, an expert in medical ethics and an advocate for human rights, learned of the neglect, mistreatment, and torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay, and elsewhere, one of his first thoughts was: “Where were the prison doctors while the abuses were taking place?” In Oath Betrayed, Miles explains the answer to this question. Not only were doctors, nurses, and medics silent while prisoners were abused; physicians and psychologists provided information that helped determine how much and what kind of mistreatment could be delivered to detainees during interrogation. Additionally, these harsh examinations were monitored by health professionals operating under the purview of the U.S. military. Miles has based this book on meticulous research and a wealth of resources, including unprecedented eyewitness accounts from actual victims of prison abuse, and more than thirty-five thousand pages of documentation acquired through provisions of the Freedom of Information Act: army criminal investigations, FBI notes on debriefings of prisoners, autopsy reports, and prisoners’ medical records. These documents tell a story markedly different from the official version of the truth, revealing involvement at every level of government, from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to the Pentagon’s senior health officials to prison health-care personnel. Oath Betrayed is not a denunciation of American military policy or of war in general, but of a profound betrayal of traditions that have shaped the medical corps of the United States armed forces and of America’s abdication of its leadership role in international human rights. This book is a vital document that will both open minds and reinvigorate Americans’ understanding of why human rights matter, so that we can reaffirm and fortify the rules for international civil society. “This, quite simply, is the most devastating and detailed investigation into a question that has remained a no-no in the current debate on American torture in George Bush’s war on terror: the role of military physicians, nurses, and other medical personnel. Dr. Miles writes in a white rage, with great justification–but he lets the facts tell the story.” –Seymour M. Hersh, author of Chain of Command “Steven Miles has written exactly the book we require on medical complicity in torture. His admirable combination of scholarship and moral passion does great service to the medical profession and to our country.” –Robert Jay Lifton, M.D., author of The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide, and co-editor of Crimes of War: Iraq From the Hardcover edition.

This book asks whether just war theory and its rules for determining when war is justified remains adequate to the challenges posed by contemporary developments. Some argue that the nature of contemporary war makes these rules obsolete. By carefully examining the phenomena of intervention, terrorism, and torture from a number of different perspectives, the essays in this book explore this complex set of issues with insight and clarity.