Examining Torture Empirical Studies of State Repression

The United States' use of torture and harsh interrogation techniques during the "War on Terror" has sparked fervent debate among citizens and scholars surrounding the human rights of war criminals. Does all force qualify as "necessary and appropriate" in this period of political unrest? Examining Torture brings together some of the best recent scholarship on the incidence of torture in a comparative and international context. The contributors to this volume use both quantitative and qualitative studies to examine the causes and consequences of torture policies and the resulting public opinion. Policy makers as well as scholars and those concerned with human rights will find this collection invaluable.

Tracy Lightcap is Professor and Chair of Political Science and LaGrange College, USA. He is the author of The Politics of Torture and has published articles on torture and interrogation policy, judicial politics and administration, comparative judicial politics, and on judicial decision-making.
 
James P. Pfiffner is University Professor in the School of Public Policy and Director of the PhD Program at George Mason University, USA. He is the author or editor of fifteen books on the presidency and American government, including Torture as Public Policy and Power Play: The Bush Administration and the Constitution.

1. Introduction; Tracy Lightcap and James P. Pfiffner
2. Torture and Public Opinion: The Partisan Dimension; Peter Miller, Paul Gronke, and Darius Rejali
3. Does Terror Cause Torture? A Comparative Study of International Public Opinion About Governmental Use of Coercion; Jeremy D. Mayer, Naoru Koizumi, and Ammar Anees Malik
4. Strange, Savage Blood: Defeat and Torture in the War on Terror; Tracy Lightcap
5. U.S. Torture Policy and Command Responsibility; James P. Pfiffner
6. The Efficacy of Coercive Interrogation; James P. Pfiffner
7. Unintended Consequences: The Effect of Advocacy to End Torture on Empowerment Rights Violations; Courtenay R. Conrad and Jacqueline H. R. DeMeritt
8. Torture Reform in Democracies: A Causal Interpretation; Henry F. Carey