Keeping The Gloves On? Anti-Torture Norms And British Counterterrorism From the IRA To Al Qaeda

Thursday, February 4, 2016
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
(Pacific)
William J. Perry Conference Room
Encina Hall, Second Floor, Central, C231
616 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305
Speaker: 
  • Frank Foley
Abstract: This paper seeks to understand the varying degrees to which security agencies perpetrate or collude in torture in the context of state responses to terrorism. The empirical focus is on two key British counterterrorist campaigns: against Irish republican terrorism in the 1970s, and against Al Qaeda-inspired terrorism since 2001. In the former case, British security agencies carried out coercive interrogations on a wide scale; in the latter, they have generally refrained from such practices, although they have allegedly colluded in torture by foreign intelligence services. Why does the extent of British security agency involvement in torture vary between the two periods? Drawing on IR constructivist theory, the paper stresses how the justification and interpretation of the international anti-torture norm in the UK changed between the 1970s and 2000s, with significant implications for the behavior of security officials. It also assesses that institutions, the law and the likelihood of legal sanction play an important role, but finds less support for explanations based around the magnitude of the terrorist threat. The paper seeks to contribute to our understanding of the conditions under which security agencies may be induced to respect human rights.

 

About the Speaker: Dr. Frank Foley is Lecturer in International Relations at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. Dr Foley’s research focuses on counterterrorism, human rights, intelligence and police agencies, particularly in Britain, France and the United States. He is the author of Countering Terrorism in Britain and France: Institutions, Norms and the Shadow of the Past (Cambridge University Press, 2013). He has published articles in Security Studies, the Review of International Studies, and the European Journal of Criminal Research and Policy. Dr Foley holds a PhD in Political Science from the European University Institute in Florence. He has been the Zukerman post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), and recipient of a “Terrorism Research Award” from the US National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). Dr Foley has briefed governments and security practitioners on his research findings, including British and French counterterrorist officials and Department of Defense staff at the Pentagon in Washington DC. He comments for a variety of national and international media, including BBC News, France 24 and Voice of America.