Experimentative counter-terrorism strategies after 9/11

This chapter focuses on violent extremism and seeks to identify challenges and opportunities for countering such a form of extremism. It shows that among the various strategies that have been developed and implemented, a focus on countering violent extremism offers a silver lining in the fight against terrorism. The chapter argues that the debate on violent extremism offers a larger and inclusive framework from which to address the undercutting issues of terrorism such as motivation, radicalization, and violent extremist ideologies. It explains some of the challenges and reasons why counter-terrorism strategies fail and succeed. The chapter focuses on countering violent extremism and the opportunities it presents. It deals with some lessons learned from the 16 years of counter-terrorism and countering violent extremism. Global data show increasing trends in terrorist attacks since 9/11, whereas the data for the United States of America demonstrate decreasing trends.