Democracy and Terror

MARTIN PLOT

Constellations. International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory

Blackwell

Lugar: Oxford; Año: 2005 vol. 12 p. 173 - 181

1351-0487

In this paper I will analyze how in the so-called “war on terror” – a definition that has remained fundamentally unchallenged in US public discourse, particularly during the 2004 presidential campaign – the battlefield and the time of war, normally the space and time to which the use of emergency powers has to be limited, became “everywhere” and “as long as the executive says so,” respectively. Moreover, I will also show how with the executive order on military tribunals and the creation of detention camps and application of torture in Guantánamo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and an unknown number of undisclosed locations in continental USA, the current administration has claimed the right to consider itself unbounded by the American Constitution, the system of separation of powers, and international law when dealing with foreign aliens or so-called “unlawful combatants.” Finally, I will show the implications for the democratic regime the current administration's claim of the right to secretly and unilaterally determine the status of anybody detained by its security or armed forces. As we will see, we first did not know what was going on under these self-attributed emergency powers – but that was, as we learned later, precisely the point. Revista indexada en: Academic Search (EBSCO Publishing) Academic Search Premier (EBSCO Publishing) IBSS: International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (ProQuest) Philosopher´s Index (Philosopher´s Information Center) PhilPapers POIESIS: Philosophy Online Serials (PDC) ProQuest Central (ProQuest) ProQuest Research Library (ProQuest) Social Services Abstracts (ProQuest) SocINDEX (EBSCO Publishing) Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest) Worldwide Political Sciences Abstracts (ProQuest)