JUSTICE AFTER TERRORISM: WARFIGHTING, PAST INJUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION

The phenomenon of terrorism occupies an important place in contemporary political reality. Accordingly, all states are committed to fight against terrorism and protect their citizens from terroristic attacks. In this thesis, I aim at framing a normative account of how democracies should fight terrorism beyond military means. I engage with the literature on just war theory, transitional justice and recognition theory to conceptualize justice after terrorism. In light of the vibrant discussions in the aforementioned strands of literature, this study contemplates ending warfighting in terrorism, the aftermath of terrorism and the longer transitional post-terrorism period in order to provide justified grounds for the arguments to pursue peace and justice in societies with endured terroristic past. My discussion focuses on the moral and political arguments to decide when and how the military warfighting against terrorists should be ended; how the wrongdoing which terrorists inflict on their victims should be vindicated; and how the post-terrorism reconciliation should be conceptualized. Throughout my argumentation, justice after terrorism appears as a recognition-theoretical transitional justice account that envisages the re-recognition of the victims as the backward-looking remedy and just societal transformation as the forward-looking measure.