Torture: The Role of Ideology in the French-Algerian War

(Hardback)

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Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of France's Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, this book looks in depth at the use of torture during the French-Algerian War (1954-1962) to reveal the failure of that liberal democratic state to uphold its obligations on rights. Rita Maran examines the Mission Civilisatrice ideology that justified the routine use of torture during that war and points out that human rights violations traceable to ideology occur irrespective of a state's political system or tradition of rights. The book contrasts the routinization of torture with the contemporaneous global development of norms to assure human rights and abolish torture. Maran concludes that reliance on a state's avowedly benevolent traditions of rights is not necessarily sufficient to protect individuals against state-directed violence, and that international law on human rights can provide significant protection. The book begins with a brief history of torture in France up to the French-Algerian War. Torture, international human rights law, and civilizing mission ideology are then described and defined. The major portion of the book is devoted to interpretation of the discourse of exemplary people from three sectors of French society--government, the military, and the intellectuals--to demonstrate that reliance on the civilizing mission ideology rationalized the use of torture. Torture is a source of valuable and stimulating ideas for political scientists, historians, lawyers, social psychologists, journalists, ethicists, scholars of colonialism and colonial discourse, and all concerned with human rights as part of international discourse.

Reviews

From the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789, through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, and the European Convention on Human Rights 1950, France has subscribed to the right of an individual to be protected from torture. How, then, did France condone the use of torture in the Algerian War Maran's well-researched study describes the reasons for torture and the tension that accompanied this change in French ideology. The French mission civilisatrice to Algeria was badly damaged when French national law failed to protect the right to be secure from torture. For torture to occur, the victim must be seen as subhuman by the torturer.' Torture supported by the French state was rationalized as a regrettably necessary tactic during the Algerian War. Questions of French politics superseded questions of French law. There is not another book on North Africa that addresses the problem of torture from an ideological perspective. In this day of emphasis on human rights throughout the world, Maran's book will be a valuable addition to both undergraduate and graduate libraries.-Choice
Maran's treatment of French torture in Algeria is entirely relevant to people in the United States today.-The Nation
The scope and impact of this work is almost belied by its subtitle. This is far more than another book on a trendy subject (and alas a commonly accepted practice) viewed in the context of a long ago war. Dr. Maran is a human rights activist' who is unusually well equipped by training and experience to take a balanced and dispassionate view of this aspect of the Algerian War. . . . This is a beautifully crafted, carefully researched and throrughly documented work framed around a refreshingly non-legal methodology, a social scientist's approach that is no less valid and effective for its being an alternative approach. . . . This work, a study on the ideological institutionalization of torture as an accepted if submerged part of war, and especially "civil" war, has much to say about present-day international society.-International Journal of Legal Information
This book is one result of [Maran's] scholarly work. . . . This book is an examination of the French civilizing mission and its contradictions with respect to torture tactics used in the French-Algerian War . . . The strength of the book is in its attempt to link the ideology of the civilizing mission and notions of international law and morality to the actualities of the combat environment in Algeria. . . . this book adds to the literature on tactics an behavior in revolutionary wars. . . .-Perspectives on Political Science
"This book is one result of Maran's scholarly work. . . . This book is an examination of the French civilizing mission and its contradictions with respect to torture tactics used in the French-Algerian War . . . The strength of the book is in its attempt to link the ideology of the civilizing mission and notions of international law and morality to the actualities of the combat environment in Algeria. . . . this book adds to the literature on tactics an behavior in revolutionary wars. . . ."-Perspectives on Political Science
"Maran's treatment of French torture in Algeria is entirely relevant to people in the United States today."-The Nation
"The scope and impact of this work is almost belied by its subtitle. This is far more than another book on a trendy subject (and alas a commonly accepted practice) viewed in the context of a long ago war. Dr. Maran is a human rights activist' who is unusually well equipped by training and experience to take a balanced and dispassionate view of this aspect of the Algerian War. . . . This is a beautifully crafted, carefully researched and throrughly documented work framed around a refreshingly non-legal methodology, a social scientist's approach that is no less valid and effective for its being an alternative approach. . . . This work, a study on the ideological institutionalization of torture as an accepted if submerged part of war, and especially "civil" war, has much to say about present-day international society."-International Journal of Legal Information
"This book is one result of [Maran's] scholarly work. . . . This book is an examination of the French civilizing mission and its contradictions with respect to torture tactics used in the French-Algerian War . . . The strength of the book is in its attempt to link the ideology of the civilizing mission and notions of international law and morality to the actualities of the combat environment in Algeria. . . . this book adds to the literature on tactics an behavior in revolutionary wars. . . ."-Perspectives on Political Science
"From the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789, through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, and the European Convention on Human Rights 1950, France has subscribed to the right of an individual to be protected from torture. How, then, did France condone the use of torture in the Algerian War Maran's well-researched study describes the reasons for torture and the tension that accompanied this change in French ideology. The French mission civilisatrice to Algeria was badly damaged when French national law failed to protect the right to be secure from torture. For torture to occur, the victim must be seen as subhuman by the torturer.' Torture supported by the French state was rationalized as a regrettably necessary tactic during the Algerian War. Questions of French politics superseded questions of French law. There is not another book on North Africa that addresses the problem of torture from an ideological perspective. In this day of emphasis on human rights throughout the world, Maran's book will be a valuable addition to both undergraduate and graduate libraries."-Choice

Author Bio

RITA MARAN writes on torture as a violation of international law on human rights. She is a founding member and member of the Board of Directors of Human Rights Advocates, a California-based organization accredited to the United Nations. She organizes public forums and brings the subject of torture into public discussion on radio and television in England, Europe and Africa, and the United States. Her Ph.D. in international human rights law is from the University of California. She is completing another book on torture as a political tool for governing.