Towards Transnational Counter-Terrorism Legislation?

Abstract

After more than 50 years of suppression conventions on counter-terrorism, intense preoccupation by the Security Council in the last decade and a vast array of soft law instruments on the topic, it is time for a stocktaking of principles underlying the making of global counter-terrorism law. The article argues that global counter-terrorism law can best be explained as an emerging ‘transnational legislation’. ‘Transnational legislation’ refers to abstract-general norms on the conduct of individuals with cross-border application or effect.The article addresses global counter-terrorism law both from a doctrinal as well as from a socio-legal perspective. On a doctrinal level, the key features of transnational counter-terrorism norms are analyzed (their regulatory nature and depth as well as their potential for ‘self-execution’ or ‘direct effect’). Then, a socio-legal analysis sheds light upon the reasons why and how transnational actors make counter-terrorism legislation.