When faced with a major terrorist threat, states seem to reach instinctively for the coercive tools in their policy toolkits, thereby exacerbating the security situation by sanctioning the abuse of human rights, polarizing society, and undermining the positive values of their own systems. This policy response seems to be driven in part by frustration, a lack of understanding of the nature of the threat, an exaggerated faith in coercive action, and a lack of faith that democratic values are sufficiently flexible to allow for an effective counter-terrorism response. Why Right is Might addresses...