ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN COUNTER - TERRORISM; A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF KENYAN EXPERIENCE

Abstract

This study provided an analysis of ethical considerations in counter-terrorism by critically examining Kenya’s experience. The research identified three objectives namely; to assess the place of ethical issues in counter-terrorism agenda in the 21-century; to analyze the experience of African countries with ethical considerations in the war against terrorism and final, to critically analyze Kenya’s experience with ethical issues in counter-terrorism. The study was underpinned by grounded theory methodology that eventually provided realism theory as an emergent theory for the study. The study found out that, ethical considerations in counter-terrorism strategies were generally shaped by the differences characteristics between “traditional terrorism” and “new terrorism.” States preferred protection of national security (realism as an ethical approach) in the traditional terrorism era because the traditional terrorism was viewed to be anarchical, ethno-national separatists, relied on state sponsorship and proxies and employ conventional tactics that threated the existence of states. The study found out that mass casualty, lethality, predictableness, decentralization and global presence of terrorist groups were the dominant characteristics of “new terrorism” which in turn informed ethical considerations in Counter-Terrorism strategies. The study concluded that although counterterrorism strategies in the contemporary new terrorism were found to adhere to realism, just war doctrine and consequentialism, the study generally identified realism as the dominant ethical approach to counterterrorism strategies. The finding however failed to determine the place of deontology as an ethical approach in the Counter terrorism agenda. The research provided several feasible recommendations such as the improvement of socio economic infrastructure in ungovernable spaces.