Tortura oggi: perché no! Riflettendo su Abu Ghraib e Guantŕnamo

2009 ◽  
pp. 121-144
Author(s):  
Caterina Mazza
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
International Terrorism ◽  
Abu Ghraib ◽  
The Us ◽  
Convention Against Torture ◽  
Degrading Treatment

- The empirical evidences and the contemporary discussions get into question the total inadmissibility of torture which has been arranged and fixed on December 10, 1984 by the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In fact, in the present time, several US scholars and politicians argue about the possibility to use torture as an adequate instrument to face the grave threat of international terrorism. Thinkers, for their convictions and analysis, part into two opposite positions: "utilitarian" and "absolutistic". The former is based on the Schmittian theory of emergency and on the idea that torture, a wrong practice in itself, can be justifiable if useful instrument to reach a morally higher "good" or to prevent an ethical worse "evil". The latter is grounded on the Kantian imperative as a guide for human choices. By this point of view, torture is absolutely and categorically unjustifiable, also in presence of a great threat for national security. Which reasoning and purposes support the US scholars in this reconsideration of torture as a tool of democracy? Which the actual consequences of these theoretical reflections?

scholarly journals Ill-treatment and torture in demonstrations and other noncustodial settings. How can academic research help in the discussion?

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pau Pérez-Sales
Keyword(s):  
Use Of Force ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Police Force ◽  
The World ◽  
Convention Against Torture ◽  
The Media ◽  
Degrading Treatment ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Excessive Use Of Force

The events in October 2017 in Catalonia exemplify the difficulty of establishing what ‘excessive use of force’ means. Images of violent repression of defenceless people of all ages waiting to vote accompany the Spanish government’s spokeswoman reiterating in the media that what the police force is doing is “proportional” and therefore allegedly acceptable. Can scientific research add to the debate on what is “proportional” and when an intervention in non-custodial settings enters into what is banned under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (‘CAT’)? This is not a minor issue. According to international databases, from an epidemiological point of view, torture happens mainly in prisons and police stations linked to marginalised populations. Ill-treatment and torture against political dissidents and protesters is less frequent, but widespread, affecting around 70% of countries across the world (Conrad, Haglund, & Moore, 2013).

Black letter abuse: the US legal response to torture since 9/11

2007 ◽  
Vol 89 (867) ◽  
pp. 561-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Ross
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Abu Ghraib ◽  
The Public ◽  
Legal Response ◽  
The Us ◽  
Degrading Treatment ◽  
Black Letter

AbstractThe use of torture by the US armed forces and the CIA was not limited to “a few bad apples” at Abu Ghraib but encompassed a broader range of practices, including rendition to third countries and secret “black sites”, that the US administration deemed permissible under US and international law. This article explores the various legal avenues pursued by the administration to justify and maintain its coercive interrogation programme, and the response by Congress and the courts. Much of the public debate concerned defining and redefining torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. While US laws defining torture have moved closer to international standards, they have also effectively shut out those seeking redress for mistreatment from bringing their cases before the courts and protect those responsible from prosecution.

Torture

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.M. Kamm
Keyword(s):  
The Us ◽  
Convention Against Torture ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
Degrading Treatment ◽  
Henry Shue

This chapter examines torture in relation to rescue, prevention, and punishment, beginning with a discussion of what torture is and the differences among various legal and philosophical conceptions of torture. It analyses the legal definitions of torture proposed by the UN Convention Against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; the US Torture Statute; Henry Shue; and David Sussman. These conceptions of torture focus on the type of pain and suffering being inflicted as well as their purposes and by whom and when they are inflicted. The chapter considers hypothetical cases that address whether torture is permissible and involve officials who know the perpetrator and expect what he would do. It also explores other categories of people whom it might be useful to torture aside from a perpetrator whose being tortured will save only his own victim from the harm he would cause.

Sanctions of the USA and the Policy of Bank of Russia:double Blow to the National Economy

2014 ◽  
pp. 13-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Glazyev
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Economic Sanctions ◽  
Capital Flight ◽  
Practical Advice ◽  
The Us ◽  
Monetary Authorities ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Simultaneous Adoption ◽  
The Eu

This article examines fundamental questions of monetary policy in the context of challenges to the national security of Russia in connection with the imposition of economic sanctions by the US and the EU. It is proved that the policy of the Russian monetary authorities, particularly the Central Bank, artificially limiting the money supply in the domestic market and pandering to the export of capital, compounds the effects of economic sanctions and plunges the economy into depression. The article presents practical advice on the transition from external to domestic sources of long-term credit with the simultaneous adoption of measures to prevent capital flight.

Reluctant Cold Warriors

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Kontorovich
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
National Security ◽  
Soviet Economy ◽  
Accurate Analysis ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Us ◽  
Comprehensive Survey ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Military

The academic study of the Soviet economy in the US was created to help fight the Cold War, part of a broader mobilization of the social sciences for national security needs. The Soviet strategic challenge rested on the ability of its economy to produce large numbers of sophisticated weapons. The military sector was the dominant part of the economy, and the most successful one. However, a comprehensive survey of scholarship on the Soviet economy from 1948-1991 shows that it paid little attention to the military sector, compared to other less important parts of the economy. Soviet secrecy does not explain this pattern of neglect. Western scholars developed strained civilian interpretations for several aspects of the economy which the Soviets themselves acknowledged to have military significance. A close reading of the economic literature, combined with insights from other disciplines, suggest three complementary explanations for civilianization of the Soviet economy. Soviet studies was a peripheral field in economics, and its practitioners sought recognition by pursuing the agenda of the mainstream discipline, however ill-fitting their subject. The Soviet economy was supposed to be about socialism, and the military sector appeared to be unrelated to that. By stressing the militarization, one risked being viewed as a Cold War monger. The conflict identified in this book between the incentives of academia and the demands of policy makers (to say nothing of accurate analysis) has broad relevance for national security uses of social science.

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