The 9/11 Effect: Comparative Counter-Terrorism

This book critically and comparatively examines the responses of the United Nations and a range of countries to the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. It assesses the convergence between the responses of Western democracies including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada with countries with more experience with terrorism including Egypt, Syria, Israel, Singapore and Indonesia. A number of common themes - the use of criminal law and immigration law, the regulation of speech associated with terrorism, the review of the state's whole of government counter-terrorism activities, and the development of national security policies - are discussed. The book provides a critical take on how the United Nations promoted terrorism financing laws and listing processes and the regulation of speech associated with terrorism but failed to agree on a definition of terrorism or the importance of respecting human rights while combating terrorism.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction; 2. The United Nations responds; 3. Countries that did not immediately respond; 4. The United States responds: executive power and extra-legalism; 5. The United Kingdom responds: a legislative war on terrorism; 6. Australia responds: hyper legislation; 7. Canada responds: immigration, inquiries and human security; 8. Conclusions.

About the Author :
Kent Roach is a Professor of Law at the University of Toronto where he holds the Prichard–Wilson Chair in Law and Public Policy. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2002. His eleven books include Constitutional Remedies in Canada (winner of the 1997 Owen Prize), Due Process and Victims' Rights: The New Law and Politics of Criminal Justice (shortlisted for the 1999 Donner Prize), The Supreme Court on Trial: Judicial Activism or Democratic Dialogue (shortlisted for the 2001 Donner Prize), September 11: Consequences for Canada (named one of the five most significant books of 2003 by the Literary Review of Canada) and (with Robert J. Sharpe) Brian Dickson: A Judge's Journey (winner of the 2004 J. W. Dafoe Prize). He is co-editor of the first and second editions of Global Anti-Terrorism Law and Policy and has served with the Commission of Inquiries into both Maher Arar and the bombing of Air India Flight 182. He has appeared before working groups and legislative committees in Canada, Indonesia and the United States and is a member of the International Task Force on Terrorism, Democracy and the Law.

Review :
'The scope and ambition of this book is daunting - its scale is magisterial, its attention to detail and the depth of its analysis are truly impressive … It is very much to be hoped that there will be future editions, partly because it is in the nature of the very fast moving field of counter-terrorism that some of its observations risk becoming out of date and, more importantly, because it seems quite improbable that anyone else could surpass Roach's masterly achievement.' Lucia Zedner, University of Toronto Law Journal