Counterterrorism Grand Strategy - Essay Example

? Counterterrorism Grand Strategy Counter Terrorism Strategy Counter terrorism has become one of the top priorities of many countries since the attacks that took place at the World Trade Centre. No one can deny the presence of terrorism but in defining terrorism, there are many differences.1 Countries have tried to strike a balance in ensuring that citizens have the right of security while maintaining the rights of all human beings while trying to combat terrorism. Terrorism poses serious threats to the national security and, therefore, many countries have opted to adopt various legislative measures and policies that will be able to protect all the citizens. For instance, EU adopted counter terrorism strategy and action plan, which has enhanced cooperation between the police, judicial and other government organs. Counter terrorism strategy has four main pillars with a framework for a comprehensive response to terrorism at an international level. The pillars are preventing individuals from becoming terrorists, protecting civilians and infrastructure by ensuring there is reduced vulnerability to attacks, disrupting support networks for terrorists, managing and minimizing the consequences that may arise in case of a terror attack. Therefore, this strategy requires working at an international level and despite the fact that these measures are a step forward in combating terrorism, countering terrorism still remains a problem due to lack of clearly defined policies. Public Policy Perspective of Counterterrorism Much counterterrorism policies are expressed in prevention terms and not as a precautionary measure.2 Moreover, counter terrorism efforts will constitute all the necessary actions taken by a government in trying to hinder attacks; hence, its formulated policies should try to reflect the goals and missions of the government. Therefore, having a future measure can consist of actions such as the distinguishing of practices that involve counter terrorism. There are three main aims that governments have during the outlining of a government’s goal in trying to counter the terrorist attacks, which include preventing the escalation of terror attacks, eliminating terrorism and minimizing the damages that might be caused in case of a terror attack. Eliminating terrorist involves destruction of terrorist organizations while actions involved in minimizing damage that may occur in case of an attack include trying to reduce possible future attacks or preventing suicide bombings. The acts of avoiding the spread of both scope of terror attacks and conflicts are key prevention measures for terrorism. In enhancing these policies, most governments preclude organizations from being able to gain certain political achievements such as receiving support from a foreign country. The new legislations that we rely on have legal solutions that rely on judgment placed on judges’ hands.3 The policies should be made based on actions that are accepted in the society. This error requires overspecialization of counterterrorism officers in order to diminish impaired judgments against them.4 One of the democratic measures that a government can take is understanding the various factors that motivate and process radicalization; hence, it is important to acknowledge the fact that acknowledging the difficulty of eliminating a threat is the first step in developing strategies for combating terrorism. International Relation Perspective of Counterterrorism grand Strategy The states have a variety of ways in which they can tackle terrorism on an international system. For instance, EU member states have tried to put measures that will combat terrorism in their EU level. Moreover, governments face a number of challenges within the strategies they use for combating terrorism. The EU coordinators have a setback, which are unable to coordinate complex areas of counterterrorism due to diverse structures.5 For instance, Europe had a surge in the national terrorism when it combined with other groups such as IRA from Ireland, and ETA from Spain, which were driven by their territorial objectives that were tied to one single state. The situation changed when groups such as Al-Qaeda emerged and had aspirations that were not bound to one territory. Therefore, with the emergence of these groups, the policies that were useful in handling national terror organizations were not useful in handling terrorism at transnational level. The difference lies in the geographical scope of the organization, utilization of the world stage in order to achieve objectives, etc. No strategy is ambiguously superior compared to another, and all have a drawback hence come with serious risks.6 Carrying out negotiations, deterrence, sanctions and ensuring there is a decrease in the value of a terror group is a good strategy for countering terrorism. It is difficult to root out terrorism that has been built based on transnational ideas. The best strategy for managing terrorist in this scenario is for the countries to keep the terrorists off-balance and enter into a counterterrorism coalition that is rich in international diversity. Countries should not rely on policies that are not suited for countering threats transnational because they may be counterproductive. It is important to have a counter terrorism strategy that highlights importance of having allies and rejecting unilateralism policies that are able to alienate allies or undermine cooperation that is required in countering terrorist attacks. In addition, EU should assist member states in preventing terror attacks as well as responding to terror attacks. The ability of EU to tackle terrorism has been limited by the union not being a national government. There has also been a difficulty in coordinating between the various member states. The governments should have a mix of police, judicial, political, diplomatic and military means in providing long-term effort in eradicating countering terrorism. Therefore, a strategy should be built around integration, insulation and investigation to be able to contribute to isolation of terrorists from the people who support them through offering supplies and targets. Therefore, in order to attain a standard that has strategic approach require officers, analysts and all stakeholders with similar interests and understandings.7 Hard Power verses Soft power of counterterrorism grand strategy This option has proved to be an ineffective instrument because it creates a cycle of vengeance as seen from the US’ attack ; however, despite the air attacks made by US to these countries, terrorism continued, and the gravest example being the unwavering determination by Al-Qaeda’s continued terrorist attack on US. People who support the use of soft power neglect the idea that good acts influences leaders to change the assessment of a country’s interest.8 Conciliation strategy of counterterrorism symbolizes weakness and the main factors affecting its success are the inability to imperatively clarify context that needs discussion, having a rhetoric assumption in differentiating terror attacks from other forms of violence that are used during political struggles, and dismissing negotiation and compromise in the fight against terrorism. The best strategy is to employ diplomacy in order to isolate an opponent from its potential allies.9 It is inappropriate to judge negotiation and conciliation as an idealized strategy, but instead they should be considered as a real world occurrence. Many articles and reports ascertain the threat of Islamic groups growing.10 Having a long-term concession is able to transform the contestants although it is mainly determined by the personality of the terrorist. A terrorist who is motivated based on religion will view the struggle as being totalistic while a terrorist who is motivated based on secular motions has conciliation as the best strategy that will offer transformation. Operational fronts that conduct counterterrorism operations should have an orientation on where terror activities take place.11 Conciliation strategy offers a broad range of response and the strategy will depend on the government’s view of terror attacks. If the government considers terrorism as warfare, it will respond in a repressive manner. In contrast to this, a government that will view terrorism as a crime will support the use of legal actions such as conciliation. Communication Perspective of counterterrorism grand strategy Effective counter terrorism strategy can be built based on a large framework of communication, which will involve considering the stories that terrorists tell; understand its origins, how it grew to maturity, and how the terror organization transformed. This offers a better option to strategize based on the narratives and be able to deter and defeat the terror group. Narration will follow a general pattern from the beginning; problem presentation to the end and all these involves an agent who will strive to achieve the goals set. Belief is self-evident to people and people speak and think and talk in terms of beliefs.12 Telling a story structures those thoughts of human beings because stories contain metaphors and analogies making humans base their attitudes towards the world. Most of the causes of terrorism pertain to the psychology of human beings and the creation of a myth is one of the perpetrators of narrative conducts to terrorism activities. A counter terror specialist should use narratives in the fight against terrorism by creating alternate examples that advocate peace. Mass media can also be used to promote peace just as terrorists use it in advocating their cause. The way media is used in fighting poverty and diseases, they should be used in a similar way to fight terrorism. Economic Perspective of counterterrorism grand strategy Links between grans strategy and economy has become strong and attacks from enemies have occurred against the economy13. Applying economic analysis in policy formulations enables nations to have economic methods that are capable of providing policy insights through having a strategic interaction. The price that terrorist take when employing their tactics is different based on the security measures put in place by a government. The calculations of Al-Qaeda’s effects of 9/11 attacks overstated various matters but captured the completely organizational strategy14. The rule of replacing men and guns with the rule of law is often seen as an economic development challenge15. It is advisable for governments to make substitutes for terrorists to be a less harmful event, look for the terrorists’ substitute endowments and target wide terrorism models of attacking. The price of terror attacks will become analogous and their resources will decrease. It is important to explore various collective action dilemmas that usually confront nations that try to address terror threats. Some proactive measures have the potential to downsize terror activities making terrorists to substitute the mode of attack to another. Bibliography Biddle Stephen D. American Grand Strategy. 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