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Drawing the Line on Opprobrious Violence1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2012

Augustus Richard Norton
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Abstract

Deliberate and indiscriminate targeting of civilians, most particularly in a non-war environment, is an unjustifiable form of violence that can be defeated most effectively through multilateral efforts, according to Norton, and must not be fathomed as anything but pure and simple terrorism, which is not to be tolerated. The U.S. State Department's definition of terrorism is too ambiguous to allow delineation between what is permissible in time of war and in time of peace, and creates more controversy than consensus: one person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter. Fortunately, fertile ground for the multilateral combating of terrorist activities and states promoting them (Lybia, Syria, Iran) was laid in 1989 with an unofficial U.S.-USSR agreement to exchange vital information to prevent such acts. The author places great hope in this new dialogue.

Type
Articles
Information
Ethics & International Affairs , Volume 4 , March 1990 , pp. 123 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs 1990

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References

2 See Murphy, John, State Support of International Terrorism: Legal, Political, and Economic Dimensions (Boulder: Westview Press; London: Mansell Publishing, 1989), p. 3Google Scholar.

3 Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead, in an address before the Brookings Institution Conference on Terrorism, Washington, D.C., December 10, 1986.Google Scholar

4 Hoffmann, Stanley, The Political Ethics of International Relations (The seventh Morgenthau Memorial Lecture on Ethics & Foreign Policy) (New York: Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, 1988), p. 17Google Scholar.

5 For example, see the Public Report of the Vice President's Task Force on Combatting Terrorism (Washington, D.C.: February 1986), p. 1, where it is argued that terrorism is the “unlawful use or threat of violence against persons or property to further political or social objectives. It is generally intended to intimidate or coerce a government, individuals or groups to modify their behavior or policies [emphasis provided].”.Google Scholar

6 Wilkinson, Paul, Terrorism and the Liberal State (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1977).CrossRefGoogle Scholar Also see Zinam, Oleg, “Terrorism and Violence in the Light of Discontent and Frustration,” in Livingston, Marius H., ed., International Terrorism in the Contemporary World (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1978), pp. 240–65Google Scholar.

7 United States Department of State, Patterns of International Terrorism 1982 (Washington, D.C., 1983).Google Scholar

8 This perspective, though developed independently, is close to that of Michael Walzer who argues that terrorism's method is “the random murder of innocent people. Randomness is the crucial feature of terrorist activity.” Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations (New York: Basic Books, 1977), p. 197.Google Scholar

9 See Norton, Augustus Richard and Weiss, Thomas G., Soldiers with a Difference: The Rediscovery of U.N. Peacekeeping (New York: Foreign Policy Association, Headline Series, forthcoming).Google Scholar

10 Aaron, Raymond, Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations (Garden City: Anchor Books, 1973), p. 153Google Scholar.

11 Bremer, L. Paul III, Book review in Parameters, Vol. 19, No. 2 (June 1989), pp. 102–3.Google Scholar

12 Roberts, Adam, “Ethics, Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism,” Journal of Terrorism and Political Violence, Vol. 1, No. 1 (January 1989), p. 62.Google Scholar