Terrorism and Collective Responsibility

Terrorism and Collective Responsibility is the first full-length examination of terrorism written by a philosopher. In this controversial study, Burleigh Taylor Wilkins relates terrorism to the problem of collective responsibility, and makes the provocative claim that terrorism may be morally justifiable under certain circumstances. Wilkins suggests that the popular characterization of terrorists as criminals does not take into account the reasons that terrorists resort to violence, and maintains that terrorism should be distinguished from ordinary criminal activity. Wilkins discusses various models of collective responsibility, and relates terrorism to the just war tradition. Central to the book is the author's claim that terrorism cannot be understood apart from the problem of the collective responsibility of organized groups, such as political states, for wrongdoings committed against the groups which the terrorists represent. Original in its thesis and timely in its examination of an issue crucial to today's world, this book will appeal to anyone interested in the moral issues surrounding terrorism.