The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror
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"On the appointed day, the unarmed crowd of the Gothic youth was carefully collected in the square or Forum; the streets and avenues were occupied by the Roman troops, and the roofs of the houses were covered with archers and slingers. At the same hour, in all the cities of the East, the signal was given of indiscriminate slaughter; and the provinces of Asia were delivered by the cruel prudence of Julius, from a domestic enemy, who, in a few months, might have carried fire and sword from the Hellespont to the Euphrates. The urgent consideration of the public safety may undoubtedly authorize the violation of every positive law. How far that, or any other, consideration may operate to dissolve the natural obligations of humanity and justice, is a doctrine of which I still desire to remain ignorant." --The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon |
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The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror is a lecture and book written by Michael Ignatieff as part of the Gifford Lectures and considers the question of how, in a liberal democracy, it is possible to balance the legitimate rights of innocent citizens against the state's need to combat terrorism.
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Historical context
This book was written in 2003 to address questions of human rights and humanitarian policy which arose as a result of the issues surrounding the War on Terror, particularly with regard to the US Foreign Policies of the time including the detention of terrorist suspects without trial at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. At the time of writing, Ignatieff was the director of the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
Publishing history
The book is based on a series of six lectures that Ignatieff gave at the University of Edinburgh in 2003 as part of the Gifford Lectures. The book was initially published in hardcover form in 2004, Then, later in 2005, a new paperback edition was published by the Princeton University Press including a new preface by the author.
Structure and arguments
In this book Ignatieff argues that the war against terrorism requires acts which go beyond those permitted by our constitutional restraints and protections of the recognition of individual legal rights. To balance this necessary erosion of liberal freedoms and rights, Ignatieff presents a framework of judicial review, executive and Congressional oversight, free debate and limits on interrogation. He writes that "...defeating terror requires violence. It may also require coercion, secrecy, deception, even violation of rights...To defeat evil, we may have to traffic in evils: indefinite detention of suspects, coercive interrogations, targeted assassinations, even pre-emptive war"
The book is divided into six chapters with a preface:
Preface
1. Democracy and the Lesser Evil
2. The Ethics of Emergency
3. The Weakness of the Strong
4. The Strength of the Weak
5. The Temptations of Nihilism
6. Liberty and Armageddon
Reception and legacy
Reception
Writing in the New York Times, Ronald Steel writes that "in concocting a formula for a little evil lite to combat the true evildoers, Michael Ignatieff has not provided, as his subtitle states, a code of 'political ethics in an age of terror' but rather an elegantly packaged manual of national self-justification."
Sources
- De Wijze, Stephen A., Goodwin, Tom L., Bellamy on Dirty Hands and Lesser Evils: A Response, British Journal of Politics & International Relations; Aug2009, Vol. 11 Issue 3, p529-540, 12p ISSN:13691481
- Slater, JM The lesser evil: Political ethics in an age of terror POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY; WIN, 2004, 119 4, p684-p686, 3p ISSN: 00323195
- Johnson, James Turner The lesser evil: political ethics in the age of terror First Things no 151 Mr 2005, p 44-47 ISSN: 1047-5141
- Segev, R The lesser evil: political ethics in the age of terror ETHICS; JUL, 2005, 115 4, p821-p824, 4p. ISSN: 00141704
- Brodeur, JP The lesser evil: political ethics in the age of terror THEORETICAL CRIMINOLOGY; MAY, 2005, 9 2, p227-p230, 4p ISSN: 3624806
- Minow, M The lesser evil: Political ethics in an age of terror. HARVARD LAW REVIEW; MAY, 2005, 118 7, p2134-p2169, 36p. ISSN: 0017811X
See also
