Terrorism in risk society

approaches on issues concerning human rights

Abstract

This paper aims to approach the existing conflict between the phenomenon of terrorism and the concept of Human Rights. It shall be legitimate to say, on the one hand, that acts of violence have coexisted with mankind since early ages; it acknowledges, for instance, the horror caused by combating groups in battles, such as the zealots’ acts during the Roman occupation over Israel territory, whose aim was to weaken soldiers morale; also, violence has been on throughout Western world revolutions, being strengthened after World War I and II; in this sense, the terror practice may bring about ideological discussions, thus being seen as a demonstration of political freedom or consciousness. On the other hand, contemporary terrorism is addressed against any people or a crowd, exposing them to the risk of death or to the threat of their bodily integrity, which also represents general welfare. The problem we are facing, therefore, concerns the dialectical conflict that occurs between terrorism and Human Rights. For such, firstly we speculate on notions regarding globalisation and the emergence of the ‘risk society’, where we find the threat of terrorism; secondly, we approach the dialectics of morality, recurrent in the analysis of terrorism phenomenon; finally, we seek to establish a critical discussion between terrorism and legal policy of Human Rights. This paper has been idealised through dialectical method, and carried out through bibliographic research.