Human Rights and Antiterrorism: A Positive Legal Duty to Infringe Freedom From Torture?

In law freedom from torture and ill-treatment is “absolute,” meaning that a state cannot infringe the right for purposes that would seem legitimate such as the protection of national security. However, with the growth in international terrorism, particularly suicide violence, should the freedom remain without limitation? This article considers legitimizing torture by reference to the “positive” legal obligation the right imposes on states to prevent harm to individuals by third parties such as terrorists. Assuming such a legal argument could be made out, it is questioned whether adopting such measures of interrogation would in fact outweigh the negative consequences that would inevitably follow from reversing accepted international standards for the protection of, say, detainees from ill-treatment in state custody.     

Victims or Madmen? The Diagnostic Competition over "Terrorist" Detainees at Guantánamo Bay

This article traces the pathologization of suspected terrorists held captive at the U.S. military base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The occurrence of several reported suicide attempts among the detainees provided "proof" for their captors that terrorists are indeed fanatical madmen. These same reports of suicide attempts, however, were contradictorily diagnosed by human rights and humanitarian organizations as evidence of psychological deterioration induced by prolonged detention. What is notable in this diagnostic competition over what, exactly, afflicts the detainees is that both advocates and resisters to the detentions pathologized the detainees by chalking up the suicide attempts to their purportedly impaired psyches. This is significant because the pathologization of the detainees is one condition of possibility for their excision from the global body politic. Authoritarian practices, such as the incarceration of the "mad" and the detention of "suspected terrorists," are theorized as integral to global liberal governance, which divides up populations, and subjects those deemed mad, deviant, or dangerous to coercive measures in the name of order, security, and liberty. The article concludes with a consideration of the ways in which international relations (IR) could be more attentive to the operation of the "psy" disciplines in the conduct of international affairs.     

Is There a Culture or Religion of Torture? International Support for Brutal Treatment of Suspected Terrorists

Do certain cultures or religions predispose citizens to support the deployment of torture against suspected terrorists? Based on an international survey of 31 different countries, we examine how religion and culture affect respondents' position on torture. We find that at the individual level, the nonreligious are resolutely opposed to torture, and that Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, and other faiths are more supportive. Among world cultures, Muslim/African cultures are most opposed to the torture of terrorists, while Confucian, English-speaking, and South Asian cultures are the most supportive of it. We also find that the use of torture has less support in countries that are suffering from terrorism, once religion and culture are considered.     

Addressing the Needs of Survivors of Torture: A Pilot Test of the Psychosocial Well-Being Index

Survivors of torture experience numerous psychosocial stressors that threaten individual well-being in resettlement. This study reports findings from a pilot test that applied the newly developed Survivors of Torture Psychosocial Well-Being Index. The study used a case-level mixed design to assess survivor psychosocial well-being across 16 life domains from intake up to 18 months. Ecological systems theory grounds this study. Participants demonstrated increased well-being as evidenced by statistically significant change on the mean ratings of their total scores. Three case examples illustrate the instrument. Practice applications, lessons learned, study limitations, and future directions are presented.     

The Special Needs of Victims of Torture or Serious Violence: A Qualitative Research in EU

Abstract

In recent years ongoing wars and serious violations of human rights have driven increasing numbers of people away from their homes, especially in the Middle East and Africa to countries in the European Union to seek asylum. It is estimated that between 5% and 35% of these asylum-seekers and refugees have suffered from torture or serious violence. Studies and practice have shown that an appropriate response to the special needs of victims of torture or serious violence contribute to reduce survivors’ suffering and provide properly international protection. EU legislation recognizes that such vulnerable individuals have special needs, but few of these needs have already been identified and recognized as such. This article reports on a qualitative study carried out in six EU countries - France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta and Portugal - to explore the special needs of victims of torture or serious violence who present among asylum-seekers, during the asylum request procedure, in reception, and throughout rehabilitation and social integration. The study aims to release into the academic community the results of a large policy and practice-oriented study.     

Sexual Violence Against Marginalized Victims: Choice of Victim or Victim of Choice?

Research shows that sex trade workers and homeless populations are at a high risk of severe violence and homicide. Based on a sample of 229 violent sex offenders, we investigate the differences between sexual crimes committed against marginalized (n = 73) and nonmarginalized victims (n = 156). Findings from logistic regression analyses show that offenders who target marginalized victims are more likely to degrade their victim and use a variety of torture methods. However, offenders who target nonmarginalized victims are more likely to use a weapon, and kill the victim by strangulation. Implications for future research are discussed.     

State writing,subversion and citizenship in Southern Rhodesia’s state of emergency, 1959–1960

This article takes a moment of political upheaval – Southern Rhodesia’s 1959 State of Emergency – to explore the uses of writing in the remaking of state authority and citizenship. The 1950s had produced a powerful bureaucratic state, a shaky attempt at multi-racial “partnership,” and African aspirations to a citizenship able to encompass equality, rights and self-determination. The Emergency brought the tensions in these modes of government and citizenship to the fore. The article explores the working out of these tensions in two instances: the bureaucratic attempt to manage political detainees, and the police evidence used to substantiate charges of subversion on the part of nationalists in court. The article traces the limits of the state’s “lawfare” and the means by which detainees and nationalists developed new understandings of citizenship as aspirational imaginary, legal condition and practical tool, through the written word.     

Torture,Sex and Military Orientalism

This article revisits the debate about recent American torture practices, particularly the use of discredited anthropological texts to validate long-held Orientalist assumptions about the sexual vulnerability of Muslim males. Such practices are placed in an historical context of older imperial constructions of sexually deviant Muslims as well as of more general forms of gendered and sexual subordination required for war. American torturers intended to produce very particular objects of torture—ones willing and able to confess their ‘true’ orientation in terms of a binary hetero/homo sexual code established in 19th-century Europe. The torturers had the power to confirm through confession and re-enactment their crude assumptions, irrespective of the actual sexualities of those being tortured, with consequences for the transnational and reactionary politics of sexual identity.     

Torture, sex and military Orientalism

This article revisits the debate about recent American torture practices, particularly the use of discredited anthropological texts to validate long-held Orientalist assumptions about the sexual vulnerability of Muslim males. Such practices are placed in an historical context of older imperial constructions of sexually deviant Muslims as well as of more general forms of gendered and sexual subordination required for war. American torturers intended to produce very particular objects of torture—ones willing and able to confess their 'true' orientation in terms of a binary hetero/homo sexual code established in 19th-century Europe. The torturers had the power to confirm through confession and re-enactment their crude assumptions, irrespective of the actual sexualities of those being tortured, with consequences for the transnational and reactionary politics of sexual identity.     

国际制度竞争、利益分配与国际秩序转型

国际秩序转型的动力、过程和方向是政策界与理论界关注的核心议题。历史上的国际秩序转型通常以暴力方式实现,旧的秩序被完全推翻,获胜大国及其集团围绕自身利益建立一套新的秩序安排。在当今时代,暴力方式难以为继,新兴大国只能通过一些相对和平的手段改变既有利益分配格局,以此推动秩序的渐进调整。进入21世纪以来,国际制度竞争成为国际秩序转型的核心动力,崛起国寻求提升在制度体系内的物质利益和规则主导权,守成国则试图利用制度体系内的优势地位维护既得利益。崛起国的制度竞争策略包括改革既有制度、创建新的包容守成国的制度和排斥守成国的制度,守成国针对崛起国的行动而制定相应的反制策略。双方的制度竞争通过改变既有利益分配的不同维度来决定国际秩序的转型模式。当前,中国通过改革既有制度和创建新的包容守成国的制度实现了物质利益和规则主导权的提升,中美两国在国际制度领域的持续互动将决定未来国际秩序转型的进程。     

Watching from the sidelines? The decline of the IMF's crisis management role

This article compares the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s crisis management role during the Asian financial crisis in 1997–98 with the role it has played during the ‘credit crunch’ which emerged in the wake of the subprime crisis in the United States. With prominent calls for the construction of new forms of global financial governance to prevent a recurrence of the subprime crisis in the future, we explore how the designated guardian of the international financial system has responded to the credit crunch in order to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the existing system. Our comparison of the US subprime crisis and the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s indicates that the IMF has lost credibility with its members, and particularly with its principal sponsor, the United States, which has curbed its capacity to develop multilateral solutions to major financial crises.     

China’s international socialization of Caribbean state-society complexes: Trinidad and Tobago as a case study

ABSTRACT

Using the case study of Trinidad and Tobago, this article analyzes the process of reciprocal international socialization that allows Beijing to construct a cognitive and normative space conducive to a new regional order in the Caribbean which should be politically friendly, economically profitable, and socially open to its government, companies, and citizens. We argue that there has been a shift in the identity of Trinidad’s state-society complex due to the influence of China’s very visible political, economic, and social conditionalities. Their impact on political elites (which is reflected in government discourse and actions) and on the society at large (as shown by interviews with 30 Trinidadian nationals) is analyzed in order to show that Type I, ‘role playing’ socialization has been reached. However, frustration within Trinidad’s society with the domestic effects of China’s economic and social conditionalities clearly limits the potential for the evolution toward the more advanced Type II socialization exemplified, in the same region, by the Soviet-Cuban relationship. This suggests that, at least in the near future, key features of the Chinese approach incompatible with its self-proclaimed win-win nature will prevent Beijing from upgrading its status to that of a decisive socializer in the Caribbean.     

To address or not to address the violent past in the classroom? That is the question in Côte d’Ivoire

In the aftermath of violent conflict, divided societies have to answer the important question of whether, when and how to address their country’s violent past within their educational system. Whereas some scholars within the field of peace education and transitional justice argue that addressing the violent past in the classroom is important for fostering mutual understanding and empathy among future generations in order to prevent conflict recurrence, other scholars are more sceptical about the need and feasibility of addressing the violent past in schools. They emphasize the possible negative impact in terms of increased tensions within schools and within society more generally. The current paper makes an important empirical contribution to this debate by analysing the views and perceptions on this matter of 984 secondary school teachers in Abidjan, the largest city and de facto capital of Côte d’Ivoire – a country that was recently torn apart by ethnic strife and violent conflict. It emerges that while so far most teachers have shied away from addressing their country’s conflict history in class, it also appeared that many of the teachers were actually in favour of breaking this culture of silence.     

Girls as “Weapons of Terror” in Northern Uganda and Sierra Leonean Rebel Fighting Forces

Girls—both willingly and unwillingly—participate in terrorist acts within the context of contemporary wars. These acts range from targeting civilians for torture and killing to destroying community infrastructures so that people's physical and psychological health and survival are affected. Girls witness or participate in acts such as mutilation, human sacrifice, forced cannibalism, drug use, and physical and psychological deprivation. This article focuses upon girls in two fighting forces: the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Northern Uganda and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone and their roles as combatants whose primary strategy is perpetrating terrorist acts against civilians. In analyses of gender and terrorism, girls are typically subsumed under the larger category of female, which marginalizes their experiences and fails to recognize that they possess agency and power.     

Counterterrorist Legislation and Respect for Civil Liberties: An Inevitable Collision?

The literature on counterterrorist measures often emphasizes the potential harmful effects of such measures on human rights and civil liberties. While recent research has examined the effects of counterterrorist legislation on the violation of physical integrity rights (e.g., torture and extrajudicial killings), no quantitative cross-national study has looked at the consequences for civil liberties. Still, case studies in a variety of countries suggest that counterterrorist legislation indeed leads to various infringements of liberties such as the freedoms of expression, religion, assembly, and movement. We conduct a cross-national time series analysis of counterterrorist legislation and consequent repression of civil liberties for the years 1976–2009. We find that the effects of legislation vary by levels of initial repression. Legislation has a negative effect on respect for civil liberties in countries with moderate levels of repression. However, this effect diminishes in non-repressive countries and reverses in countries with high levels of repression.     

加强两岸税收合作促进两岸融合发展——基于《两岸税收协议》文本的分析

近年来,海峡两岸经济交往密切,人员来往频繁。为防范和消除重复征税,促进两岸经济合作,2015年8月25日《两岸税收协议》正式签署。本文通过对照OECD协定范本、UN协定范本及大陆与其他国家(地区)签署的税收协定或税收安排,分析《两岸税收协议》文本的主要条款,揭示其中所体现的协定立场,即大陆为促进两岸融合发展而让渡了诸多税收利益。随后从理论上分析了该协议生效后预期将产生的积极影响,包括实现税收协定通常的目的,以及增加台湾当局税收收入、减轻台湾地区纳税人税负、提升台湾经济地位等。最后展望未来,期待两岸共同努力,促成《两岸税收协议》尽早生效执行。     

Perhaps this time it's different: ideas and interests in shaping international responses to financial crises

The experience of the recent two decades of financial crises shows that donor countries and international financial institutions (IFIs) can respond to a crisis in a peripheral open economy by either of two crisis management strategies: either they can impose harsh conditionality to fix the domestic economy and prevent future moral hazard problems, or they can provide last-resort credit to restore market confidence. In some cases, the crisis management strategy changes as the crisis evolves. What are the factors that determine the choice of key donor countries and IFIs? This article traces the processes by which the USA and the International Monetary Fund designed the crisis management strategy in respect to the Asian crisis, and how Germany and the European Central Bank designed the response to the eurozone crisis, in order to understand how ideas regarding the causes and solutions of a financial crisis interact with the interests of key donor countries. The article argues that in both cases ideas and interests are mutually constituted, but in each case the mechanism that linked ideas and interests was different: whereas in the Asian case US interests led to policy innovation and experimentation and to a change in the crisis management strategy, in the European case ideas played a greater role in shaping German interests. The article explains this difference on the basis of the lessons learned by IFIs from the Asian crisis, which were then implemented in the eurozone case.     

Effectiveness of Programs to Prevent School Bullying

Sixteen major evaluations of programs to prevent school bullying, conducted in 11 different countries, are reviewed in detail. Of these 16 evaluations, 8 produced desirable results, 2 produced mixed results, 4 produced small or negligible effects, and 2 produced undesirable results. These varying findings may reflect variations in programs, in implementation, in assessment methods, or in evaluation designs. It is concluded that high-quality evaluations are needed in the future, with randomized designs, theoretically grounded interventions, multiple measures of bullying, and attempts to disentangle the effectiveness of different program components.     

A Progressive Authoritarianism? The case of post-2006 Fiji

Abstract

Post-development has matured well beyond the romanticism and celebration of the local of its early proponents. The new ‘conditions of possibility’ that embody the latest contributions to the field are studies in governmentality. This paper explores the heterogeneous postcolonial spaces of post-2006 Fiji by deploying a Foucauldian analysis of Bainimarama's government, particularly focusing on the formation of identities and the attributes of a ‘normalised citizenry’. The analysis aims to help explain why the implementation of a liberal rationality, in the form of racial equality for socio-political change in the country, calls for citizens to be subjected to various arts of government—surveillance, physical and psychological violence and, in some cases, incarceration and torture. An understanding of this brutal and puzzling irony is found in Fiji's colonial legacies and the ongoing contestation over what constitutes a ‘normalised citizenry’ in the country. I propose that Fiji's present contestations and anomalous coalescence of liberal rationalities and non-liberal means are best explained with reference to the paradoxical notion of progressive authoritarian governmentality.