Response to Terrorism: Global Policies and Country-Specific Approaches

Running head: RESPONSE TO TERRORISM
RESPONSE TO TERRORISM
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2RESPONSE TO TERRORISM
Introduction:
The growing menace of terrorism around the world has led to a new crisis that the world
needs to address effectivelyin order to maintain global peace.The forms of terrorism have
diversified from time to time across borders and have never been confined to any certain region.
Terrorism has always been an extremist form of politics intended at influencing international
decisions among nations by inflicting damage or harm to life and property.Terrorism is a direct
threat to the modern world and is a not only a matter of concern for security personnel but is
equally harmful for the common people. The most important aspect of countering terrorism
includes combined effort among nations and active response from the political leadership. The
combined forces such as NATO play a pivotal role in combating terror elements across the globe
and provide assistance and aid to countries that are in a state of terror and instability (Nato.int.
2019).The fight against terrorism doesnot necessarilyinvolve of combat activities only, but also
include relief and rehabilitation programme, increasing awareness regarding terrorism,
enhancing cooperation to provide a permanent solution to terrorism. Countering terrorism also
involves joint cooperation among the nations most affected by the acts of terrorism in the
country.The paper will review the response procedures of states against terrorism and will
evaluate the response mechanism with respect to the context of terrorism (Counter Terrorism.
2019). The following section will discuss in brief the background to terror activities, the reasons
behind increasing terrorism and terrorist ideas, the funding that promotes terrorism and the
theories that can prevent such heinous acts of crime. The response to terror activities has to be
dealt with adequate policies that are inclusive of internal and the external drivers that promote
acts of terror.The response to terrorism is a long term initiative and would require the political

3RESPONSE TO TERRORISM
will combined with active and immediate effort on a joint platform to curb the promoters of
terror.
Background
The ‘war on terror’ gained a global attention with the attacks of the 9/11 by the Al Qaeda
and the following years saw an increasein terror activities across the globe. The tussle between
the authorities and the terror networks intensified with the terror attacks and counter attacks the
war in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Syria continued with response to terror. The United Nations
General Assembly initiated an effort to counter terrorism and adopted the Global Counter
Terrorism (GCT) Strategy on 8th of September, 2006. The strategy was framed to address the
global concern about terror activities and became instrumental in encouraging cooperation
among national, international and regional spheres. The United Nations with the GCT strategy
ensures that the member states have a common strategic approach while delivering response to
terrorism. The strategy also ensures that no amount of leniency is shown to the terror elements
and that a constructive approach is adopted to resolve issues and conflicts apart from combating
terror (Un.org. 2019). The strategy provides a framework that outlines the procedures that are to
be followed when terror elements are encountered. The strategy also includes an array of
measures that include strengthening state competency and capacity, internal implementation of
anti-terrorism policies and execution of the UN goals to align with the global framework of the
GCT Strategy.Post 9/11 saw a massive change in attitude and Terrorism became one of the
majorcontexts of global discussion.With more discussions and actions, the response to terrorism
became more organized and a need to regulate it within a legal framework to deliver justice
complied with a permanent solution (Karlsrud 2017). The most important aspect of response to
terrorism includes implementation within the process of liberal democracy. Terrorism is an