The Role of Civil Society in the Whole-of-Society Approach in Countering Global Terrorism and Radicalization
Shaharia Afrin
Associate Professor, Department of Criminology, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Abstract
In the wake of global terrorism after 9/11, the US-led Western forces adopted various counterterrorism policies across West Asia. The prolonged war against terrorism surfaced the question of the effectiveness of hard power use. Evidence indicated that the conventional hard power and government-led punitive policies fail to address the societal and contextual root of terrorism. A call for alternative approaches and solutions emerged. Several programs illustrated that working with local communities is effective not only in unearthing the root causes of terrorism-related activities but also in exploring the interactivity, network, and social factorization that led to radicalism. After UNGA’s 2006 strategy, most member countries adopted soft approaches to include civil society organizations to be more effective in outreaching, communicating, motivating, educating, and all softer social approaches. This paper reviews this whole-of-society approach in counterterrorism and examines the role of civil society in it. The review indicates that civil society organizations can be more compelling given that the policy framework is woven in consideration of sincere approaches to community engagement, mutual trust, and support among stakeholders. Success depends on many factors, especially understanding local cultural, political, and monitoring needs.
Keywords: Terrorism, Counterterrorism, Civil Society, Radicalization, Prevention, Whole-of-society approach.
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