Abstract

Terrorism and the State; Rethinking the Rules of State Responsibility by Dr.Tal Becker is an ambitious project. Dr. Becker goes ‘head to head’ with the agency paradigm of direct State responsibility for private conduct, as consecrated by the International Law Commission (‘ILC’), and proposes a causality based approach of State responsibility for private acts of international terrorism. Dr. Becker holds a masters degree from the Hebrew University and received his doctorate from Columbia University. Terrorism and the State began as Dr. Becker’s doctoral dissertation, but was completed while he served as legal counsel to the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations from 2001-2005. Dr. Becker also served as Vice-Chairman of the Legal Committee of the UN General Assembly. While the book is written in his personal capacity, Dr. Becker’s experience at the United Nations undoubtedly shaped his thinking and research on terrorism related issues. Indeed, his analysis is occasioned by the increasing threat posed by non-State terrorist actors, for whose conduct the State will rarely be directly responsible, and what he perceives to be the inadequacies of the international legal system in responding thereto. Dr.Becker’s project is driven primarily by his conviction that indirect State responsibility for private acts of terrorism is too blunt a tool in the ‘war on terror’ and that direct responsibility would better serve the interests of peace and security. While there may certainly be cause to question his underlying assumptions, Dr. Becker’s conclusion that principles of causation offer a more effective and attractive framework for regulating State responsibility for private acts of terrorism is carefully argued and certainly thought provoking. The paradigm shift Dr. Becker offers is intended to stimulate debate on the nature and framework of State responsibility in international law – and is not entirely limited by his focus on international terrorism. As such, his study is of interest to international lawyers generally, in addition to being of particular use to scholars who focus on terrorism.