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Introduction In recent decades, Western states have overdeveloped counter-terrorist structures. Policy debates on counter-terrorism (CT hereafter) are based on problem solving, anticipation and orthodox epistemologies. As programmes for countering violent extremism (CVE) globalise ( Kundnani, 2015 ), much of what is being done across countries reproduces a policy paradigm – a set of ideas and worldviews that become hegemonic to underpin political interventions ( Hall, 1993 ). While this paradigm offers a clear-cut diagnosis of problems and solutions, it also
There is little doubt that terrorism is now considered the greatest danger to western security since the threat of superpower confrontation at the height of the cold war. In May 2003 the G 8 Summit affirmed that terrorism remains a ‘pervasive and global threat’ (Pfaff 2003 ); more recently Eliza Manningham-Buller, the Director-General of MI5 stated that a
proscription regime post 9/11 has embedded an understanding of what terrorism is and who should be considered a terrorist that has deeply shaped the metanarrative around how conflicts are understood as well as how they can be resolved. Of course, vilification and dehumanisation on both sides have always played a role in conflict. But what this entailed and what was possible in terms of rhetorical shift and
Terrorism has been naturalised into a constant risk that is omnipresent out there, a sort of chaotic principle always ready to strike and create havoc, and against which society must now marshal all its resources in an unending struggle. Joseba Zulaika and William A. Douglass, Terror and Taboo , 1996 Sometimes, we should try to keep the present at a distance
: Terrorism in our country claims to win battles without weapons. Herri Batasuna accomplishes this on behalf of ETA. Herri Batasuna and ETA have benefited from the GAL trauma like no one else. The strategy of lies is clear. And it should be obvious who benefits, exclusively, from this strategy: ETA, Herri Batasuna and their collaborators of all kinds, whose machinations, and whose depraved, venal or frightened witnesses are worthless before the truth. And with the truth, the proclaimed innocence of Mr Domínguez and myself. 2
During a speech given to the Colombian army on 8 September 2003, President Álvaro Uribe used the words ‘terror’, ‘terrorism’, ‘terrorist’, ‘terrorists’ and ‘antiterrorist’ fifty-nine times to describe the threat of the armed groups in Colombia. 1 In the same speech, he proclaimed
been particularly stark following the 9/11 attacks against the United States in 2001. In many cases, laws and measures have been tightly knitted together with new national counter-terrorism strategies and policies designed to contest new and complex forms of international terrorism, including existential threats to national security. Uganda was one of the first African nations
‘securitisation’ of societal vulnerabilities has been matched by a relative ‘desecuritisation’ of the state’s traditional security role; viz., the defence of national territory from external attack. 1 Changes in technology, the consolidation and spread of transnational criminal organisations, and Muslim terrorism have accelerated this securitisation process. The fear of Muslim
Tracing the discursive origins of ‘(violent) extremism’: terrorism, radicalisation and extremism Recently, the terms terrorism , radicalisation and extremism have been utilised interchangeably by scholars, decision makers and policy practitioners to interpret the so-called ‘terrorist threat’. The tendency is to increasingly merge these terms into a sole discursive framework that is perceived to affect the modern epistemological understanding of terrorism and the subsequent practices of countering (violent) extremism in many Western countries ( Richards
have provoked and escalated Boko Haram's descent into violence and terrorism. Niger Delta The Niger Delta is home to Nigeria's oil wealth as well as several militant groups that have been carrying out insurgent activities since 2004. Some of the prominent militant groups in the Niger Delta include the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, Niger Delta Vigilante, Niger Delta Liberation Front and Niger Delta Avengers (this latter established in March 2016). The militant groups coordinate their activities under an umbrella