Terrorism and the right to resist : a theory of just revolutionary war

The words 'rebellion' and 'revolution' have gained renewed prominence in the vocabulary of world politics and so has the question of justifiable armed 'resistance'. In this book Christopher J. Finlay extends just war theory to provide a rigorous and systematic account of the right to resist oppression and of the forms of armed force it can justify. He specifies the circumstances in which rebels have the right to claim recognition as legitimate actors in revolutionary wars against domestic tyranny and injustice, and wars of liberation against wrongful foreign occupation and colonialism. Arguing that violence is permissible only in a narrow range of cases, Finlay shows that the rules of engagement vary during and between different conflicts and explores the potential for irregular tactics to become justifiable, such as non-uniformed guerrillas and civilian disguise, the assassination of political leaders and regime officials, and the waging of terrorist war against civilian targets. Cover 1 Half title 3 Title 5 Copyright 6 Dedication 7 Contents 9 Acknowledgements 12 1 Introduction 17 1.1 Revolutions armed and unarmed 17 1.2 Armed resistance and the concept of terrorism 19 1.3 Outline of the argument 24 Part I Theory and principles 33 2 Justice, oppression, and the right to resist 35 2.1 A right to resist 35 2.2 Oppression and the objects of resistance 36 2.3 Human rights and ‘the revolutionary stance’ 43 2.4 From human rights to the right to resist 46 2.5 Self-determination and social justice as goals of rightful resistance 52 2.6 Justice and the duty to resist 58 2.7 Conclusion: resistance to oppression as a right 68 3 Rights worth killing for 71 3.1 The problem of narrow proportionality 71 3.2 Three possible responses 74 3.3 Political oppression and conditional threats 79 3.4 Two qualifications 83 3.5 Contexts for rightful armed resistance 92 4 The codes of resistance 103 4.1 Introduction 103 4.2 The jus in bello 106 4.3 Limits of the Standard jus in bello 125 4.4 Conclusion 139 5 Rights worth dying for: Distributing the costs of resistance 141 5.1 The jus ad bellum and the in bello codes 141 5.2 Necessity, success, and proportionality 144 5.3 Ad bellum proportionality: balancing innocent casualties 152 5.4 Combatants, friendly and unfriendly 155 5.5 Non-combatant non-beneficiaries 157 5.6 Non-combatant beneficiaries: offsetting innocent casualties 162 5.7 The proportionality of resistance 165 5.8 The proportionality paradox 167 Part II Wars of liberation: Fighting within the Standard JIB 171 6 Non-state groups and the authority to wage war 173 6.1 Introduction 173 6.2 Defending individuals from attack 175 6.3 Legitimate authority and the Standard JIB 184 6.4 Legitimate authority and non-state groups 194 6.5 Conclusions 200 7 Guerrilla war, discrimination, and the problem of lawful irregulars 206 7.1 Introduction 206 7.2 Discrimination and the legal liability of just combatants 209 7.3 Just determinations of discrimination 215 7.4 Discrimination and the rights of irregular combatants 222 7.5 Conclusion 230 Part III Fighting beyond the law of war 233 8 The Partisan jus in bello: Resistance beyond the laws of war 235 8.1 Introduction 235 8.2 The Partisan JIB 236 8.3 Viewpoints on asymmetric war 247 8.4 The Standard JIB versus the Partisan JIB 254 8.5 Conclusions 261 9 Terrorist war 263 9.1 Introduction 263 9.2 A ‘logical choice’ 266 9.3 The moral wrong(s) of terrorism 271 9.4 Models for all-things-considered justification (A): proportionality 277 9.5 Models for all-things-considered justification (B): fairness 290 9.6 The Terrorist JIB 299 10 Back to the start: The ethics of beginning 302 10.1 As if from nowhere 302 10.2 Revolutionary strategy 306 10.3 The moral dimensions of revolutionary entrepreneurship 316 10.4 Conclusion: proportionality and overwhelmingly violent regimes 326 Conclusions 329 Bibliography 334 Index 352 This book provides a systematic account of the right to resist oppression and of the forms of violence it can justify. Christopher J. Finlay specifies the conditions rebels must meet to claim recognition as legitimate actors in revolutionary conflicts against domestic tyranny and injustice, and wars of liberation against wrongful foreign occupation. Extends the just war theory to the right to resist oppression and explores the forms of armed force it can justify in the narrow range of cases where violence is permissible Christopher J. Finlay, University Of Birmingham. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.