Comparative Perspectives on the Use of Lethal Force Against Hijacked Aircraft: Recent Developments in Europe and Australia

Abstract

Since 9/11, a general trend in counterterrorism policy has emerged favouring legislative authorisation of earlier and earlier forms of intervention - from preventive, to pre-emptive and now increasingly precautionary models of intervention. The precautionary model suggests that it is no longer risk management guiding legal policy and decision-making (a process which involves weighing known or calculable risks of harm and consequences of actions). Rather, it is managing uncertainty (where risks of terrorism are unknowable or incalculable) that is increasingly a feature of counter-terrorism law and policy.