Assessment of Counterterrorist Strategies – A Spatial Approach

The paper traces the evolution of counter-terrorism measures both on national (on the example of the US and Western European states) and international levels from the beginnings of the XXth century till the present. This retrospective analysis is built on the assumption that counter-terrorism is in its basic nature a politics of response to terrorist threats. In this paper its development is analyzed in combination with a study of a changing nature of terrorism during the same period of time. Because it is simply impossible to present an integral vision of all dimensions of change and their influence on the respective counterterrorism practices it was chosen to analyze 'the both sides of the coin' from one particular perspective: territorial and (geo)spatial. Indeed, the question about 'territoriality' of terrorism seems to be an underdeveloped and therefore a perspective field of study. So, from 'territorial' and 'spatial' perspective many major terrorist campaigns in the first half of the XXth century were strictly bound to clearly defined territorial context. Hence, the counter-terrorist measures often were part of more broaden counterinsurgency strategies that combined 'hard' (military) and 'soft' (protection and providing aid to noncombatants, civil population) approaches. After the WWII the terrorist threat evolved rapidly. In the 1960s international terrorism with its roots in conflict zones manifested itself as a distinctive threat through numerous ‘hostages ’dramas’. At the same time Western states were challenged by domestic ideologically motivated terrorist groups that didn’t have any territorial control and were dependent on ‘social geography’ and interpersonal networks. In response to ‘extraterritorial’ terrorist violence ‘law-enforcement’ counterterrorism models were modified and further developed at national levels. But on the international level cooperation in counter-terrorism continued to be limited until the late 1990s. However, only after 9/11  terrorism was defined by the UN Security Council as a threat to international peace and security. That threat was more serious than ever before because of its ‘combined’ nature. It resulted from a symbiosis of ‘territorial’ and ‘networked’ (global and extraterritorial) forms of terrorist violence. As a response the UN Security Council reacted with a lot of resolutions that constituted modern global regime in counterterrorism security. During the 2000s it was focused on sanctions and denying terrorists an access to resources (financial, etc.). But in the 2010s it’s evolving towards more overwhelming and comprehensive regime of surveillance and ‘scanning’ terrorist threats on the ‘micro’-level.

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