Targeted Killings

Claire Finkelstein is the Algernon Biddle Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, and a co-Director of the University of Pennsylvania Institute of Law and Philosophy. She writes in the areas of criminal law theory, moral and political philosophy, philosophy of law, international law, and rational choice theory. A particular focus of her work is bringing philosophical rational choice theory to bear on legal theory, and she is particularly interested in tracing the implications of Hobbes' political theory for substantive legal questions. Recently she has also been writing on the moral and legal aspects of government-sponsored torture as part of the U.S. national security program. In 2008 Finkelstein was a Siemens Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin, during which time she presented papers in Berlin, Leipzig, and Heidelberg. She is currently working on her book, Contractarian Legal Theory, and is the editor of Hobbes on Law (Ashgate, 2005).Jens Ohlin's research and teaching interests are focused on criminal law theory, public international law, and international criminal law. He is the author, with George Fletcher, of Defending Humanity: When Force is Justified and Why (Oxford University Press, 2008), which offers a new account of international self-defense through a comparative analysis of the rules of self-defense in criminal law. His scholarly work has appeared in top law reviews and journals, including the Columbia Law Review, Cornell Law Review, Harvard International Law Journal, American Journal of International Law, and several OUP edited volumes. His current research focuses on the normative application of criminal law concepts in international criminal law, especially with regard to genocide, torture, joint criminal enterprise and co-perpetration, as well as the philosophical foundations of collective criminal action. Andrew Altman is Professor of Philosophy at Georgia State University and Director of Research of the Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics. Previously, he taught at George Washington University and Bowling Green State University. Professor Altman was a Liberal Arts Fellow in Law at the Harvard Law School and has published extensively in legal and political philosophy. His publications include the books, Critical Legal Studies: A Liberal Critique (Princeton U.P.), Arguing About Law: An Introduction to Legal Philosophy (Wadsworth) and A Liberal Theory of International Justice (co-authored with Christopher H. Wellman; O.U.P.) His articles have appeared in Philosophy and Public Affairs and Ethics, among other leading philosophy journals.

We are entering a new era in which targeted killing will be the preferred method of fighting enemies in a great many contexts. In terms of geographical reach, targeting precision, the manageability of the intervention, and the minimization of the cost and casualties, the practice is hugely attractive to militaries and politicians alike. But it also comes with potentially grave costs in terms of respect for basic moral principles, as well as established human rights and international humanitarian law. This book provides the best possible panorama of diverse and competing perspectives on emerging practices and will be an invaluable guide to those shaping future policies in this area.

• PREFACE ; Introduction ; PART I: THE CHANGING FACE OF WAR: TARGETING NON-COMBATANTS ; 1. Allowing the State to Rebut the Civilian Presumption: Playing Whack-A-Mole Without a Mallet? ; 2. Targeting Co-belligerents ; 3. Can Just War Theory Justify Targeted Killing? Three Possible Models ; 4. Justifying Targeted Killing With a Neutral Principle? ; PART II: NORMATIVE FOUNDATIONS: LAW ENFORCEMENT OR WAR? ; 5. The Ethics of Targeted Killing on a Moral Continuum ; 6. Targeted Killing as Preemptive Action ; 7. The Privilege of Belligerency and Formal Declarations of War ; PART III: TARGETED KILLING AND SELF-DEFENSE ; 8. Going Medieval: Targeted Killing, Self-Defense, and the Jus ad Bellum Regime ; 9. Imminence in Justified Targeted Killing ; 10. Defending Defensive Targeted Killings ; PART IV: EXERCISING JUDGMENT IN TARGETED KILLING DECISIONS ; 11. The Importance of Criteria-Based Reasoning in Targeted Killing Decisions ; 12. Are Targeted Killings Unlawful? A Case Study in Empirical Claims without Empirical Evidence ; 13. Operation Neptune Spear: Was Killing Bin Laden a Legitimate Military Objective? ; 14. Efficiency in Bello and ad Bellum: Making the Use of Force Too Easy? ; PART V: UTILITARIAN TRADE-OFFS AND DEONTOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS ; 15. Targeted Killing and the Logic of Double Effect ; 16. Targeted Killings and the Morality of Hard Choices ; 17. Targeted Killing and the Strategic use of Self-Defense ; INDEX