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The Viability of Deterrence Strategies For Terrorism
The Viability of Deterrence Strategies For Terrorism
The Viability of Deterrence Strategies For Terrorism
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policies against radical clerics, very prominent ones have left the UK
or renounced the radical overtones (Kroenig and Pavel, 2012, p.26).
However, dealing with the non-rational elements of terrorist groups
will require more than imprisonment of radical clerics. Strategic
deterrence which focuses on long-term results require more indepth engagements with terrorist actors.
Deterring terrorism by denial
I will assess two main ways by which targeted states can deny
terrorists the benefits of their action. The first one implies
preventing individual attacks from being carried and the second one
is achieving their delegitimisation as groups by denying their
political objectives. States can successfully deter terrorism by
persuading terrorists that their attacks are likely to fail (Kroenig and
Pavel, 2012, p. 29). Deterrence by denial in the operational and
tactical sphere can be successfully achieved by means of
strengthened homeland security. Based on glaring mistakes made
by domestic security authorities, the US government has been
strongly criticised in the aftermath of 9/11 for not having been able
to prevent the attack. As evidence shows, the 9/11 hijackers took
flight lessons in the US and carried tests trips on the very same
flights they later hijacked in order to check the security levels
(Knopf, 2010, p. 12). As it turned out, these procedures were
extremely lax. Had it been otherwise, they could have been
identified, arrested and the attack could have been prevented.
In the aftermath of 9/11, the US government focused on
enhancing homeland security practices such as the improvement of
domestic intelligence, hardening key targets, randomised
screening, periodic surges in security levels at key sites etc
(Kroenig and Pavel, 2012, p. 30). The main purpose of these
practices is to make terrorists renounce carrying an attack based on
the facts that strengthened defence systems will most certainly
lead to failure. As an example, in 2003 an Al-Qaeda affiliate was
planning to attack a US military base in Turkey, but as the base
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security. Strategic deterrence has also been forged with the main
aim to delegitimise their extremist interpretation, but it has yet to
be proven viable or not. A major downfall of deterrence strategies
remains the inability to accurately measure their success. However,
if proven right, long term deterrence strategies against terrorism
might in fact lead towards its very extinction. All in all, deterrence
strategies remain valid against terrorism, a vivid threat dominating
the 21st century security agenda.
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