Introduction: special section on post 9/11 perspectives on torture

The five articles assembled here offer some perspectives on contemporary torture that are useful in assessing the impact of post 9/11 developments on torture such as those just outlined, particularly for the region where, according to Human Rights Watch, torture is an ‘expanding scourge’.4 The five articles address a number of disciplines – sociology, international law, international relations, political theory and moral philosophy – and deal with different historical, national and political contexts, from Latin America in the 1970s and Turkey in the 1980s, to Myanmar, Australia (operating inside Afghanistan) and the us in the 21st century. Together, they urge us to focus on the underlying political purposes of torture and the different means by which state torture is enabled. They also suggest fruitful areas for future research around questions of the role different institutions of the state play in supporting torture, international law’s potential influence in cases of democratic transition such as in Myanmar, and impediments to accountability for state torture.