Exporting the Patriot Act? democracy and the 'war on terror' in the Third World

Third World Quarterly

Volumn 28, Issue 5, 2007, Pages 1017-1032

  Whitaker, Beth Elise ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CIVIL SOCIETY; DEMOCRACY; DEMOCRATIZATION; DEVELOPING WORLD; FOREIGN POLICY; LAW ENFORCEMENT; NATIONAL SECURITY; STRATEGIC APPROACH; TERRORISM; UNITED NATIONS;

NORTH AMERICA; UNITED STATES;

EID: 34250331283     PISSN: 01436597     EISSN: 13602241     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01436590701371751     Document Type: Article

References (51)

1. Thomas Carothers, 'Promoting democracy and fighting terror', Foreign Affairs, 82 (1), 2003, pp 84-97.
2. Christopher C Joyner, 'The United Nations and terrorism: Rethinking legal tensions between national security, human rights, and civil liberties', International Studies Perspectives, 5 (3), 2004, pp 240-257.
3. See, for example, VV Ramraj, Michael Hor & Kent Roach (eds), Global Anti-Terrorism Law and Policy, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. The authors provide one of the broadest studies of anti-terrorism legislation around the world, including examples from Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas.
4. Rosemary Foot, 'Collateral damage: Human rights consequences of counterterrorist action in the Asia- Pacific', International Affairs 81 (2), 2005, pp 411-425.
5. Reports can be found at the CTC website, http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/ committees/1373/. Although UN Resolution 1373, which created the CTC, also concerns terrorist financing, I have focused here on legislation addressing sub-paragraph 2(a) on criminalising terrorism and bringing its perpetrators to justice.
6. According to AP news reports, the Filipino military complained that the new law lacked the teeth necessary for their fight against terrorists, while leftist leaders vowed to challenge it in court for violating civil liberties.
7. Freedom House, Freedom in the World: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties, various dates. Annual issues are available at http://www.freedomhouse.org. This study used the political rights score for each country in the year the anti-terrorism bill was enacted; for countries that are still debating such measures, scores from the 2006 Freedom House report were used.
8. Of the countries listed in the third column of Table 1, this average political rights score excludes Zimbabwe, where anti-terrorism legislation was introduced more recently. An initial bill introduced there in March 2006 was withdrawn after a few months because of concerns that it violated the constitution. A revised anti-terrorism bill was gazetted in December 2006 and introduced in parliament in March 2007 as this article was going to press.
9. For an interesting series of articles on the politics of labelling different groups as terrorists, see the special issue of Third World Quarterly, 26 (1), 2005.
10. Latha Varadarajan, 'Patriot games: Making sense of anti-terrorism legislations in the post-9/11 world', paper presented at the International Studies Association annual meeting, Honolulu, HI, March 2005.
11. Dominic Bascombe, 'Anti-terrorism legislation in the Commonwealth: A briefing paper for the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative', May 2003, at http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/.
12. CPP Information Bureau, 'CPP assails US for pushing VAT increase and anti-terror bill', press release, 6 May 2005.
13. US Agency for International Development (USAID), US Overseas Loans and Grants [Greenbook], 2005, at http://qesdb.cdie.org/gbk/.
14. This differs markedly from US efforts to force countries to sign 'Article 98' bilateral immunity agreements that protect US citizens from prosecution before the International Criminal Court. Per congressional legislation in 2002, certain categories of US military and economic assistance have been suspended to countries that have not signed such agreements, including several of the countries under discussion here.
15. Eric Rosand, 'Security Council Resolution 1373, the Counter-Terrorism Committee, and the fight against terror', American Journal of International Law, 97 (2), 2003, pp 333-341.
16. 'Third report of the Republic of Costa Rica on the measures taken to follow up United Nations Security Council resolution 1373 (2001), submitted to the United Nations Security Council Counter- Terrorism Committee, in response to the Chairman's note', United Nations Security Council S/2003/453, March 2003, p 4, at http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/ committees/1373/submitted_reports.html.
17. Rosand, 'Security Council Resolution 1373'.
18. International Peace Academy, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights & Center on International Organization at Columbia University, 'Human rights, the United Nations, and the struggle against terrorism', report of a conference held in New York, 7 November 2003.
19. Commonwealth Secretariat, 'Model legislative provisions on measures to combat terrorism', September 2002, at http://www.thecommonwealth.org.
20. Bascombe, 'Anti-terrorism legislation in the Commonwealth'; and Dominic Bascombe, 'An update of anti terror legislation in the Commonwealth', July 2004, at http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/. The availability of information about Commonwealth countries is one reason for the emphasis on them in this article.
21. Karthika Sasikumar, 'Regimes at work: A comparative analysis of the international nonproliferation and counter-terrorism regimes', paper presented at the International Studies Association annual meeting, Honolulu, HI, March 2005.
22. Paulynn P Sigam, 'Anti-terrorism legislation in the Philippines: A plot of its own', CyberDyaryo internet publication, 4 September 2002, reproduced in World Press Review, 49 (11), November 2002.
23. Philip C Tubeza, 'Tempers flare in House anti-terrorism hearing', Philippine Daily Inquirer, 5 May 2005.
24. Joel D Barkan, 'Kenya after Moi', Foreign Affairs, 83 (1), 2004, pp 87-100.
25. Honourable Paul Muite, MP-Kabete, interview with the author, Nairobi, 9 November 2005.
26. US officials were especially disappointed by the June 2005 acquittal of seven suspects in the Nairobi and Mombasa incidents by Kenyan courts.
27. Honourable William Bellamy, US Ambassador to Kenya, interview with the author, Nairobi, 27 March 2006. In private, however, the ambassador continued to remind Kenyan leaders of the need for anti-terrorism legislation.
28. Honourable Paul Muite, 'State jobs: MPs' verdict must be respected', Daily Nation, 3 October 2005. This accusation was flatly denied by several officials at the US Embassy in Kenya.
29. Interestingly, the number of American visitors to Kenya recently has risen to new highs. Kenyan tourism officials believe that the totals would be even higher if the travel warning was dropped.
30. USAID, US Overseas Loans and Grants. These overall increases were made, despite the mandated suspension of certain categories of economic and military assistance for Kenya's refusal to sign an Article 98 agreement with the USA.
31. During that period, liberation movements such as the now-governing African National Congress were often labelled terrorists and the term continues to provoke strong emotions today.
32. Jane Duncan, 'Anti-Terrorism Bill will stamp on human rights', Sowetan, 10 January 2003, at http://fxi.org.za/anti-terrorism.htm.
33. Iqbal Jasssat, 'US-inspired climatic changes in the form of anti-terror laws: Will these rain clouds unleash a torrent of hail?', 2003, at http://www.mediareviewnet.com.
34. The earlier Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) was allowed to expire in 1995 after widespread criticism of its abuses.
35. Human Rights Watch, 'In the name of counter-terrorism: Human rights abuses worldwide', Briefing for the 59th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 25 March 2003.
36. Ibid.
37. Dan Morrison, 'India's "Patriot Act" comes under scrutiny', Christian Science Monitor, 30 October 2003, p 7.
38. Kranti Kumara, 'Repeal of India's draconian anti-terrorism law: Largely a cosmetic change', World Socialist Web Site, 27 November 2004, at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/nov2004/ind-n27.shtml.
39. Manas Mohapatra, 'Learning lessons from India: The recent history of antiterrorist legislation on the subcontinent', Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 95 (1), 2004, pp 315-343.
40. Human Rights Watch, 'In the name of counter-terrorism'.
41. These governments were especially critical when the alleged mastermind of the Bali bombings, Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, was convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to just 30 months in prison in March 2005.
42. Foot, 'Collateral damage'.
43. 'US eases curbs on ties with Indonesian military', Financial Times 31 May 2005.
44. After widespread criticism and a campaign by the International Federation of Journalists, no charges were filed.
45. In October 2005 Besigye returned to Uganda from self-imposed exile in South Africa to launch another presidential campaign. Within days, he was arrested on rape and treason charges, prompting widespread protests and the suspension of aid by several foreign donors. In January 2006 he was released on bail by the High Court. The presidential elections in February 2006 were marred by irregularities and Besigye protested against the result, but the Supreme Court declared Museveni the winner.
46. Human Rights Watch, 'Opportunism in the face of tragedy: Repression in the name of anti-terrorism', 2004, at http://www.humanrightswatch.org/ campaigns/september11/opportunismwatch.htm.
47. Quoted in ibid.
48. Tanzanians gave the law a nickname tying it to former US Secretary of Homeland Security John Ashcroft.
49. Informal discussions with Tanzanians by the author, Dar es Salaam, June and July 2003.
50. Varadarajan, 'Patriot games'.
51. Adekeye Adebajo, 'Africa and America in an age of terror', Journal of Asian and African Studies, 38 (2-3), 2003, pp 175-191.