Targeted Killings: Law and Morality in an Asymmetrical World

by Claire Finkelstein, Jens David Ohlin, Andrew Altman

Overview

The war on terror is remaking conventional warfare. The protracted battle against a non-state organization, the demise of the confinement of hostilities to an identifiable battlefield, the extensive involvement of civilian combatants, and the development of new and more precise military technologies have all conspired to require a rethinking of the law and morality of war. Just war theory, as traditionally articulated, seems ill-suited to justify many of the practices of the war on terror. The raid against Osama Bin Laden's Pakistani compound was the highest profile example of this strategy, but the issues raised by this technique cast a far broader net: every week the U.S. military and CIA launch remotely piloted drones to track suspected terrorists in hopes of launching a missile strike against them.

In addition to the public condemnation that these attacks have generated in some countries, the legal and moral basis for the use of this technique is problematic. Is the U.S. government correct that nations attacked by terrorists have the right to respond in self-defense by targeting specific terrorists for summary killing? Is there a limit to who can legitimately be placed on the list? There is also widespread disagreement about whether suspected terrorists should be considered combatants subject to the risk of lawful killing under the laws of war or civilians protected by international humanitarian law. Complicating the moral and legal calculus is the fact that innocent bystanders are often killed or injured in these attacks. This book addresses these issues. Featuring chapters by an unrivalled set of experts, it discusses all aspects of targeted killing, making it unmissable reading for anyone interested in the implications of this practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199646487
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	04/30/2012
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	520
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.80(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Claire Finkelstein is the Algernon Biddle Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, and a co-Director of Penn's Institute for Law and Philosophy. She writes in the areas of criminal law theory, moral and political philosophy, philosophy of law, international law, and rational choice theory. A particular focus of her work is bringing philosophical rational choice theory to bear on legal theory, and she is particularly interested in tracing the implications of Hobbes' political theory for substantive legal questions. Recently she has also been writing on the moral and legal aspects of government-sponsored torture as part of the U.S. national security program. In 2008 Finkelstein was a Siemens Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin, during which time she presented papers in Berlin, Leipzig, and Heidelberg. She is currently working on her book, Contractarian Legal Theory, and is the editor of Hobbes on Law (Ashgate, 2005).

Jens Ohlin's research and teaching interests are focused on criminal law theory, public international law, and international criminal law. He is the author, with George Fletcher, of Defending Humanity: When Force is Justified and Why (Oxford University Press, 2008), which offers a new account of international self-defense through a comparative analysis of the rules of self-defense in criminal law. His scholarly work has appeared in top law reviews and journals, including the Columbia Law Review, Cornell Law Review, Harvard International Law Journal, American Journal of International Law, and several OUP edited volumes. His current research focuses on the normative application of criminal law concepts in international criminal law, especially with regard to genocide, torture, joint criminal enterprise and co-perpetration, as well as the philosophical foundations of collective criminal action.

Andrew Altman is Professor of Philosophy at Georgia State University and Director of Research of the Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics. Previously, he taught at George Washington University and Bowling Green State University. Professor Altman was a Liberal Arts Fellow in Law at the Harvard Law School and has published extensively in legal and political philosophy. His publications include the books, Critical Legal Studies: A Liberal Critique (Princeton U.P.), Arguing About Law: An Introduction to Legal Philosophy (Wadsworth) and A Liberal Theory of International Justice (co-authored with Christopher H. Wellman; O.U.P.) His articles have appeared in Philosophy and Public Affairs and Ethics, among other leading philosophy journals.

Table of Contents

1. Targeted Killing: A Legal, Practical and Moral Analysis, Amos Guiora
2. Is Targeted Killing Ever Justified?, Fernando Teson
3. Targeting Co-Belligerents, Jens David Ohlin
4. Ethics in Extremis: The Morality of Hard Choices, Michael Moore
5. Targeted Killings and Cyclical Choices, Leo Katz
6. Like Playing Whack-A-Mole Without a Mallet? Allowing the State to Rebut the Civilian Presumption, Mark Maxwell
7. The Organizational Dynamics of Targeted Killing, Gregory S. McNeal
8. Targeted Killing and the Imminence Requirement, Russell Christopher
9. Going Medieval: Targeted Killing, Armed Conflict, and Self-Defense, Craig Martin
10. Targeted Killing as Preemptive Action, Claire Finkelstein
11. Defending Defensive Targeted Killings, Phil Montague
12. Targeted Killing in Morality and Law, Jeff McMahan
13. Can Targeted Killing Work as a Neutral Principle?, Jeremy Waldron
14. An Argument for Formalizing the Commencement of Hostilities, Richard Meyer
15. A Tension Between Efficiencies of Jus in Bello and Jus Ad Bellum In the Practice of Targeted Killing Through Drone Warfare, Kenneth Anderson
16. Targeted Killing: Fairness and Effectiveness, Daniel Statman
17. Proper Targeting of a War Enterprise, John Dehn
18. Guns for Hire - Death on Demand? Private Military Companies as State Surrogates for Licit Targeted Killings, Kevin H. Govern

Editorial Reviews

"We are entering a new era in which targeted killing will be the preferred method of fighting enemies in a great many contexts. In terms of geographical reach, targeting precision, the manageability of the intervention, and the minimization of the cost and casualties, the practice is hugely attractive to militaries and politicians alike. But it also comes with potentially grave costs in terms of respect for basic moral principles, as well as established human rights and international humanitarian law. This book provides the best possible panorama of diverse and competing perspectives on emerging practices and will be an invaluable guide to those shaping future policies in this area."
— Philip Alston John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, New York University

"The debate over targeted killings has become the most contentious in the contemporary law and morality of war. Is it a legitimate tactic that saves lives compared with old-fashioned bombing campaigns? Or is it ruthless execution by non-uniformed spies piloting science-fiction drones from the safety of a distant control room? May states kill if capture is possible? May they kill their own citizens? What rights do the targets have? Is there a moral difference between killing anonymous enemies and killing men and women whose names you know? The law is ambiguous, and the moral issues cloudy. This volume is the most useful and thought-provoking discussion available, with a stellar group of authors who delve deep."
— David Luban University Professor in Law and Philosophy Georgetown University

From the Publisher