Understanding Torture

Legal prohibitions against torture cannot prevent state violence. Prohibiting torture will not end it. In "Understanding Torture", John T. Parry explains that torture is already a normal part of the state coercive apparatus. Torture is about dominating the victim for a variety of purposes, including public order; control of racial, ethnic, and religious minorities; and, domination for the sake of domination. Seen in this way, Abu Ghraib sits on a continuum with contemporary police violence in U.S. cities; violent repression of racial minorities throughout U.S. history; and, the exercise of power in a variety of political, social, and interpersonal contacts. Creating a separate category for an intentionally narrow set of practices labeled and banned as torture, Parry argues, serves to normalize and legitimate the remaining practices that are 'not torture'. Consequently, we must question the hope that law can play an important role in regulating state violence. No one who reads this book can fail to understand the centrality of torture in modern law, politics, and governance.

ISBN 0472070770   DEWEY edition DC22 ISBN13 9780472070770 (What's this?)   Pages 408 Publisher The University of Michigan Press   Published in Ann Arbor, MI Imprint The University of Michigan Press   Height (mm) 228 Format Hardback   Width (mm) 152 Publication date 15 Mar 2010   Academic level Tertiary education, Professional / Scholarly DEWEY 341.67

Introduction		Law, Language, and Difference		1
Ch. 1		Torture and International Law		15
Ch. 2		The European Law of Torture		44
Ch. 3		Torture and State Violence in U.S. Law		55
Ch. 4		Torture, Rights, and the Modern State		78
Ch. 5		Torture in Modern Democracies		97
Ch. 6		U.S. Torture at Home and Abroad		135
Ch. 7		Torture in the War on Terror		165
		Conclusion: Living with Torture		204
		Afterword		217
		Notes		221
		Works Cited		275
		Index		303

"A beautifully crafted, convincingly argued book that does not shy away from addressing the legal and ethical complexities of torture in the modern world. In a field that all too often produces simple or superficial responses to what has become an increasingly challenging issue, Understanding Torture stands out as a sophisticated and intellectually responsible work." - Ruth Miller, University of Massachusetts, Boston"

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