Terrorism Unjustified - The Use and Misuse of Political Violence

Vicente Medina challenges common misconceptions and excuses for extreme political violence and differentiates between justified political violence and unjustifiable terrorism. Medina draws on philosophical concepts like just war theory while adding social and political science perspectives to contextualize today's terrorism within current international law and moral attitudes.

List of contents

Table of Contents
Dedication
Acknowlegments
Introduction
1. Brief History of Terrorism
Modern Origin of Terrorism
Four Waves of Terrorism
State Terrorism and Political Violence
Terrorism and War
Summary
2. Disputing Terrorism
Perspectivism and Political Violence
Definitions of Terrorism
Summary
3. Critics of Terrorism
Why Terrorism is Morally Offensive
Opponents of Terrorism
Who are the "Innocent"?
Is There Anyone "Innocent"?
4. Apologists of Terrorism
Who are the "Enemies"?
Apologists' Arguments
5. "Whatever It Takes"
6. Postscript
Notes
Bibliography

About the author

Vicente Medina is associate professor of philosophy at the Seton Hall University. Among his publications are "Militant Intolerant People: A Challenge to John Rawls' Political Liberalism," Political Studies, vol. 58, no. 3 (2010), "Unconditional vs. Conditional Critics of Terrorist Violence: A Seemingly Endless Debate," Public Affairs Quarterly, vol. 20, no. 4, (2006); "Locke's Militant Liberalism: A Reply to Carl Schmitt's State of Exception," History of Philosophy Quarterly, vol. 19, no. 4 (2002); and Social Contract Theories: Political Obligation or Anarchy? (1990).

Product details

• Authors: Vicente Medina, Medina Vicente
• Publisher: Rowman and Littlefield
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.06.2022
• EAN: 9781538171226
• ISBN: 978-1-5381-7122-6
• No. of pages: 280
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: general, reference works; PHILOSOPHY / Social, PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Terrorism, Social & political philosophy, Ethics & moral philosophy, Terrorism, armed struggle