ABSTRACT
In liberal democracies, the political narratives used to justify torture portray torture as an individual act motivated by moral values. This individualized narrative shapes the moral framework through which the public, policy-makers, and individual torturers view torture, and masks the institutional nature of torture perpetration. This interaction between the individualized torture narrative and the moral framework of torture that is what distinguishes democratic torture perpetrators from non-democratic perpetrators. Yet, there is little difference between the implementation of a torture program in a democratic state and that in a non-democratic state. In both cases, torture is an institutionalized practice given moral and political meaning through social and political narratives. This chapter uses the post-9/11 US torture program as a case study of a democratic perpetrator to explore the interaction of narratives of torture, state implementation of torture, and the moral psychology of individual torturers. This permits an analysis of torture perpetration beyond the focus on torture as an individual act and to the interaction and mutual reinforcement of different forms of torture perpetration. This analysis also offers a starting point from which to consider strategies of resistance to torture narratives that sustain democratic torture, a question explored in the chapter’s conclusion.
