Conflict Global Terror Crack -
A crackdown that only kills or arrests will fail without disengagement mechanisms.
A “crackdown” in counter-terrorism may involve:
| Type | Measures | Typical Risks | |------|----------|----------------| | Military | Airstrikes, drones, special forces raids, artillery | Civilian casualties, displacement, revenge attacks | | Policing | Mass arrests, checkpoints, no-go zones, detention | Torture, false imprisonment, radicalization in prisons | | Financial | Sanctions on banks, charities, informal remittances | Hardship for civilians, driving finance underground | | Digital | Surveillance, encrypted messaging bans, online censorship | Privacy violations, push to darker platforms | | Ideological | Banning extremist media, counter-narratives | Potential over-reach, free speech concerns |
The paper contends that a smart crackdown is proportional, lawful, intelligence-led, and integrated with stabilization efforts.
The primary driver of the conflict global terror crack is the return of Great Power rivalry. The United States, China, Russia, and regional powers like Iran and Turkey are no longer fighting terror directly; they are using terror-adjacent militias to fight each other.
In Syria and Iraq, the defeat of the ISIS caliphate in 2019 did not end the war; it merely shattered the glass. The pieces—thousands of foreign fighters, stockpiles of advanced drones, and a doctrine of asymmetrical warfare—were scattered across the globe. Russian Wagner Group mercenaries, originally fighting in Ukraine, were redeployed to Mali and the Central African Republic, where they act as state security forces while allegedly exploiting gold mines and engaging in summary executions. This blurring of lines means that a "terrorist" today might be a sanctioned soldier tomorrow, depending on which side of the geopolitical crack you stand on.
Staniland, P. (2012). “States, Insurgents, and Wartime Political Orders.” Perspectives on Politics.
Kalyvas, S. N. (2006). The Logic of Violence in Civil War. Cambridge University Press.
ICG (2022). “The Cost of the ‘Global War on Terror’ in the Sahel.” International Crisis Group Report.