| The thesis contemplates terrorism, both the legislative reactions to it and its impact on human rights. It is argued that the preservation of human rights is vital for the prevention of terrorism, encompassing state and non-state terrorism alike. Further, the author shows that legislators tend to disregard fundamental human rights when confronted with terrorism. The thesis is structured in three parts: a historical background of selected terrorist movements throughout time and space serve to conceptualise terrorism as a term and to summarise some general lessons to be learnt. The second part describes different counter-terrorist legislation, both past and present, in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, and Germany, and puts these laws into their historical and political context. Special regard is given to human rights sensitive laws and measures, and criticism both from courts and academic writers are taken into account. The third part of the thesis compares and analyses situations in the different countries. In particular, the influence of a terrorist incident on the different national legislators is examined, the characteristics and developments compared. Further, the effect of the events of September 11th on the law is studied and compared to previous legislative reactions to former attacks. Also, the roles of national courts and of the European Court of Human Rights in the preservation of human rights in terrorism cases concerning the four examined countries are crystallised. The thesis concludes with a final assessment of the present situation and provides a general outlook as to future developments. |
