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This book engages with different aspects of India's practice of international law. It covers a range of areas such as human rights, migration, diplomacy, extradition, environment, trade, investment, cyberspace, data protection, maritime, and intellectual property to showcase India's strong commitment to respect and observe international law.

"This book engages with different aspects of India's practice of international law. It covers a diverse range of areas such as human rights, humanitarian law, migration, diplomacy, extradition, environment, trade, investment, taxation, cyberspace, data protection, maritime, and intellectual property to showcase India's strong commitment to respect and observe international law. The volume discusses various themes which include Legal and constitutional framework; Air, space and atomic energy; Environment; Sea and maritime law; Trade, investment and taxation; Conflict of laws; IT and data protection; Human rights and humanitarian law; Issues of refugees and internally displaced persons; Extradition and diplomatic immunities; Intellectual property; International obligations. The essays in this book also establish the linkage between observance of international law and bilateral and multilateral relations between different countries. Comprehensive and analytical, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of law, international law, human rights, and foreign policy. It will also be an invaluable companion for professionals in law firms and think tanks, bureaucrats, and diplomats"--

Intro -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- Why a Book on This Topic? -- A Thing or Two about the Meaning and Origin -- A Contemporary Trend -- Style and Method -- The Chapter Scheme -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 2: The Othering -- The Basis -- The Self and the Other -- Otherling as a Construction -- Threat Perception and In-Group Consolidation -- The Nature of the Political -- The Spectre of Religion -- Eternal Othering -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 3: Severing Sovereignty -- The Offending Head! -- Islamic State and the Revenge of Sovereignty -- Severing the Sovereign Through Cunning -- Displaying the Severed Sovereignty -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 4: Soliciting the Sacred -- Beheading and the Islamic Tradition -- Decapitation and Martyrdom -- Meriah -- Decapitating the Evil -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 5: Penality -- Why Punish -- Evolution of Beheading in Jurisprudence -- Extremist Islamic Jurisprudence and Beheading -- The "Decapitating State" -- Cruelty by Some Other Name -- Decapitation as Deterrence -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 6: The Machinery -- The Weapon -- The Weapon of the Divine -- Moving Toward Mechanization -- Democratizing Decapitation -- Making Violence Mainstream -- Critiquing the Regicidal Blade -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 7: The Executioner's Heart -- Toward a Typology of Executioners -- A Pariah and a Patron -- Between Professionals and Amateurs -- On Balance -- The Anonymity Seekers -- The Communion -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 8: Performing Violence -- Performativity -- Medium Is the Message -- A Special Kind of Violence! -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 9: Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Bibliography -- Index.

Beheading is not an uncommon undertaking. As a particularized physical violence, it has been practiced by all societies and civilizations at some point in their history. In fact, for millennia public beheadings around the world were routine. In contemporary international society some states and many non-state actors regularly engage in this undertaking. This begs the obvious question: why put a human being through this unimaginable cruelty? While the idea of execution by decapitation appears visceral and horrific, it has always been grounded in cultural, religious and political contexts. If contemporary history is any proof, the enterprise of beheading a fellow human being appears to be making a comeback in certain religious and political landscapes. A question of enormous intellectual importance, the phenomenon of beheading is understudied. There have been many explanations surrounding specific forms of beheading through the ages. However, no inclusive study has engaged with it in its entirety. Primarily a philosophical reflection, On Beheading is inter-disciplinary in nature; it freely cuts across various disciplines within the broad framework of the social sciences. It uses a vast array of empirical evidence from anthropology, literature, jurisprudence and religion to build a discourse and narrative that brings this subject under one intellectual umbrella. Amalendu MISRA is Professor of International Politics at Lancaster University, UK. He is the author of several critically acclaimed monographs including: Towards a Philosophy of Narco Violence in Mexico; The Landscape of Silence: Sexual Violence Against Men in War; Politics of Civil Wars; Afghanistan The Labyrinth of Violence; and Identity and Religion.

This book explores the politics of narco-killing and public attitudes to violence and death in the Mexican Drug War. It examines questions such as the culture of human sacrifice, the religious principles that sanction egregious violence and most importantly the society's complex response strategies towards such violence. Primarily a philosophical reflection, this study nonetheless uses anthropological, architectural and sociological methods to provide an interdisciplinary explanation to the visceral, commonplace violence taking place in contemporary Mexico.