Avoiding The Terrorist Trap
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Avoiding The Terrorist Trap: Why Respect For Human Rights Is The Key To Defeating Terrorism
Author: Thomas David Parker
language: en
Publisher: World Scientific
Release Date: 2019-06-17
'This book makes uncomfortable reading both in its detailed analysis of terrorism and its causes, and in the critique of state responses, particularly in modern times. It is unusual to have such a defence of a 'human rights framework' from a counter-terrorism practitioner rather than from within the legal fraternity. It is this that makes the case even more persuasive. All who are involved in counter-terrorism strategy should consider carefully the arguments put forward.'Global Policy JournalFor more than 150 years, nationalist, populist, Marxist and religious terrorists have all been remarkably consistent and explicit about their aims: provoke states into over-reacting to the threat they pose, then take advantage of the divisions in society that result. Yet, state after state falls into the trap that terrorists have set for them. Faced with a major terrorist threat, governments seem to reach instinctively for the most coercive tools at their disposal and, in doing so, risk exacerbating the situation. This policy response seems to be driven in equal parts by a lack of understanding in the true nature of the threat, an exaggerated faith in the use of force, and a lack of faith that democratic values are sufficiently flexible to allow for an effective counter-terrorism response. Drawing on a wealth of data from both historical and contemporary sources, Avoiding the Terrorist Trap addresses common misconceptions underpinning flawed counter-terrorist policies, identifies the core strategies that guide terrorist operations, consolidates the latest research on the underlying drivers of terrorist violence, and then demonstrates why a counter-terrorism strategy grounded in respect for human rights and the rule of law is the most effective approach to defeating terrorism.
Avoiding the Terrorist Trap
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 these misconceptions through a comparative analysis of terrorist campaigns drawn from all 'Four Waves' of terrorist activity identified in the literature (anti-authoritarian, anti-colonial, Marxist, and religious). This approach serves to gather insights into why individuals embrace terrorist violence, to explore examples of both successful and failed state responses to terrorist threats, and to outline a series of concrete public policy initiatives that, taken as a whole, will amount to a comprehensive and coherent counter-terrorism strategy grounded in respect for human rights, international norms of behaviour, and the rule of law. Traditional human rights discourse tends to focus on condemnation and prohibition - this book seeks to proactively identify human rights-compliant counter-terrorism tools of proven effectiveness that can be deployed to prevent terrorist violence.
Influencing The Influencers: Applying Whaley's Communication And Deception Frameworks To Terrorism And Insurgent Narratives
This rare work is an unorthodox but informed approach to understanding and countering terrorism and insurgency narratives.The author's candid ethnography of communication and organizational communication in progressive Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia is examined within the communication and deception frameworks of the late American information operations scholar Barton Whaley.Nearly 20 years ago, the author shadowed progressive Muslim influencers throughout Islamic boarding school or pesantren communities, studying their communication practices. This period was marked by repeated terrorist attacks claiming hundreds of lives throughout Indonesia and dangerous fugitives responsible for those attacks hiding throughout the country. These fugitives grew up in Islamic boarding schools, in some of the very communities and regions these case studies are based in. Many were hiding near those schools while the author was there.The narratives of the progressive Muslim influencers featured in these ethnographic case studies contrast the narratives of terrorism and insurgency that we might imagine or be familiar with today. What is stark about these case studies are the largely conservative, generational audiences in these Islamic boarding school communities that welcomed many of these progressive narratives, even as more extremist narratives that we might characterize as terrorism and insurgency narratives were projected and shared in these same communities among these same audiences. This work explores how and why those communities responded positively to those influencers.The processes described in this ethnography of communication have not changed much, other than the projection of those same narratives and communication online in greater content.This book is useful for both researchers and practitioners in understanding and countering influence, in the context of terrorism and insurgency narratives.