The Cost of Counterterrorism
Power, Politics, and Liberty

Argues that anti-terror legislation in the UK and USA has endangered the rights of the individual.

Laura K. Donohue (Author)

9780521844444, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 April 2008

514 pages
23.4 x 15.6 x 2.9 cm, 0.89 kg

'… a learned comparative analysis, as exhaustive as it is exacting …' Survival

In the aftermath of a terrorist attack political stakes are high: legislators fear being seen as lenient or indifferent and often grant the executive broader authorities without thorough debate. The judiciary's role, too, is restricted: constitutional structure and cultural norms narrow the courts' ability to check the executive at all but the margins. The dominant 'Security or Freedom' framework for evaluating counterterrorist law thus fails to capture an important characteristic: increased executive power that shifts the balance between branches of government. This book re-calculates the cost of counterterrorist law to the United Kingdom and the United States, arguing that the damage caused is significantly greater than first appears. Donohue warns that the proliferation of biological and nuclear materials, together with willingness on the part of extremists to sacrifice themselves, may drive each country to take increasingly drastic measures with a resultant shift in the basic structure of both states.

1. The perilous dichotomy
2. Indefinite detention and coercive interrogation
3. Financial counterterrorism
4. Privacy and surveillance
5. Terrorist speech and free expression
6. Auxiliary precautions.

Subject Areas: Terrorism law [LNFV], Terrorism, armed struggle [JPWL], Human rights [JPVH], Comparative politics [JPB], Social & political philosophy [HPS], Peace studies & conflict resolution [GTJ]