Methods of state terror

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 378.

Confines and definition

State terrorism, like terrorism, is a contested term. Acts that accusers may describe as terror, supporters may defend as legitimate defense against supposed threats. State terrorism has been defined as "The use or threat of violence by the state or its agents or supporters, particularly against civilian individuals and populations, as a means of political intimidation and control (i.e. a means of repression)" (Sluke, 2000). However, many contend that states cannot commit acts of terror and/or that acts of terror cannot be committed within the scope of a declared war. The distinction between state and nonstate terror has been criticized as distracting from or justifying offiial terrorism (Chomsky and Herman, 1979). Some, such as Spanish judge Baltasar Garzуn view particular political systems as instances of state terrorism: "State terrorism is a political system whose rule of recognition permits and/or imposes a clandestine, unpredictable, and diffuse application, even regarding clearly innocent people, of coercive means prohibited by the proclaimed judicial ordinance." Some acts of state terrorism also qualify as genocide, democide, crimes against humanity or mass murder.

Although state terrorism is an almost universal social phenomenon, instances of state terror usually fall into certain categories. Unfair trial, torture and extrajudicial execution are said to be common practices of state terror, often used to terrorize domestic populations by sovereign or proxy regimes.

Citizens of Western nations are generally protected from unfair trial by constitutional or legislative safeguards and the requirements of due process. Undeveloped nations may have weak institutions and unstable political climates that allow governments to have inappropriate influence over the judiciary, allowing dissenters to be victimized as criminals.

According to Amnesty International (1997), in 1996, out of 150 countries surveyed, 82 had committed torture. Acts of torture are fueled by the lucrative international trade in torture equipment. Many Western companies sell equipment to known human-rights violating regimes.