The Ethics of Counterterrorism

Isaac Taylor offers a thorough and highly timely book-length treatment of the various ethical challenges that terrorism poses for liberal democracies in the 21st century. Throughout, Taylor provides a balanced, rigorous, and nuanced account of the various moral issues raised by counterterrorism and clearly articulates the major points of ethical and pragmatic tension within this new and still developing area of philosophical inquiry. - Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews As responding to terrorism and terroristic threats has become a primary concern of states and state-like actors, a balanced and thoughtful discussion of the ethics of terrorism has arguably never been so needed. Taylor offers a balanced and comprehensive discussion of the ethics of counter-terrorism and seeks to balance a concern for responding to terrorist threats with the protections of civil liberties, procedural requirements in criminal justice, and familiar norms from just war theory. Highly recommended. - Peter Brian Rose-Barry, Saginaw Valley State University, USA This book takes an in-depth, philosophically rigorous look at actual and possible policy-based responses to terrorism. It argues in favor of some possible responses to terrorism that are commonly discarded, such as negotiation, and against other often-accepted responses, such as withholding procedural rights from suspected terrorists. Sensitive to legal and political considerations, as well as moral issues, this book is sure to be useful to counterterrorist policy experts and academics alike. - Jennifer Kling, Siena Heights University, USA