State terrorism and counterterrorism

While everyday discourse and the media assume, as a rule, that terrorism is something perpetrated by non-state groups and organizations, the author defines “terrorism” in terms of the nature and aims of the act, rather than with reference to the agent. The definition makes it possible to speak of state terrorism too. The paper sketches a typology of state involvement with terrorism, and goes on to focus on the moral standing of terrorism. It is argued that state terrorism is, by and large, morally worse than terrorism employed by non-state agencies. The paper offers four arguments in support of this claim. It ends with a discussion of the moral aspects of counterterrorism, and in particular of the “war against terrorism” currently being waged by the United States and its allies. In view of the amount of “collateral damage” caused by the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is argued that the “war against terrorism” is seriously morally compromised - although it still falls short of state terrorism.