On Torture

Globally, no single issue resonates today as much as torture or allegations thereof. Under the current rubric of the war on terror, the governments of the United States and other democratic nations that have long decried human rights abuses have sought to alter the tone, tenor, and definition of the term. From where does the basis for this new paradigm derive? How might it affect a nation's moral and official authority in the eyes of its citizenry and the world? When, if ever, can torture be an accepted practice? What are the psychological and physical aftereffects of such physical and mental violence on the victim, the practitioner, and the populations in whose name torture is committed? The essays gathered in On Torture, a special issue of South Central Review, explore these questions in a philosophical and empirical light. They discuss the definitions of torture, examine the logical underpinnings of the practice as a means of control and of extracting information, assay the manner in which such actions are taken and how they are officially depicted, and offer an overview of government-sanctioned torture in the modern era. In surveying the realities of torture, the contributors unearth commonalities in the creation of torturers during the Algerian War, the systematic abuses that enabled Germany's Nazi regime to function, the dehumanizing manner with which the Israeli Defense Forces allegedly treat Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, and the American public's acquiescence to the new norm after the September 11 terror attacks. They reveal the parallels between the institutionalization of torture within nations and the glorification of war and violence in artistic endeavors throughout the ages and explain how internalizing and accepting torture usurps individual freedom and subverts humanity.

Table of Contents:
About the Cover Photograph Introduction Chapter 1. Torture on Trial: Prosecuting Sadists and the Obfuscation of Systemic Crime Chapter 2. Torture in the Algerian War Chapter 3. There Are No Tortures in Gaza Chapter 4. The Nation as Iron Maiden Chapter 5. Torture, Tongues, and Treason Chapter 6. The Terrorist We Torture: The Tale of Abdul Hakim Murad Chapter 7. The Torturers and Their Public Chapter 8. Are there times when we have to accept torture? / Are we really so fearful? Chapter 9. Torture's New Methods and Meanings Chapter 10. Torture as a Greater Evil Chapter 11. Legitimacy, Identity, Violence, and the Law Chapter 12. Torture Makes the M Chapter 13. Feminism's Assumptions Upended Chapter 14. Totalitarian Lust: From Salò to Abu Ghraib Chapter 15. Information and the Tortured Imagination Notes on Contributors Index

About the Author :
Thomas C. Hilde is a research professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and the coeditor of The Agrarian Roots of Pragmatism.

Review :
If you're thinking, 'Who wants to read a collection of essays about torture?' you may want to reconsider... This fascinating volume examines the nature of torture, its uses, and our perceptions of it. -- John Lewis Baltimore Magazine This book appears at an extraordinary moment. -- Bill Griffin Catholic Worker This edited collection is an excellent and illuminating addition to the literature on the torture policy of the Bush administration during its war on terror. Unflinching and unforgiving. -- Karen J. Greenberg Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs Unflinching and unforgiving, Hilde's volume impresses the reader not just with the depravity of the world of torture that the United States chose to enter but with the sense that the road back to human decency will be a difficult one-one framed, as Dorfman suggests, by the refusal to let fear justify that which erases our humanity. -- Karen J. Greenberg Ethics and International Affairs