CIAO DATE: 07/2010
March 2010
Center for Strategic and International Studies
It is far easier to talk about international cooperation in fighting terrorism than it is to achieve it. The world has made real progress in recent years – at both the formal and informal levels. At the same time, national differences still pose serious limits to what can be achieved and the threat is changing. Even if one only focuses on the “greater Middle East,” the threat now involves far more than terrorism per se and non-state actors. Cooperation in counter terrorism must deal with these changes and with the fact that there are no clear boundaries between terrorism and insurgency, and that terrorism is only a symptom of a far broader ideological struggle. There are no perfect solutions to international cooperation, or to dealing with the changes in the threat. In the real world, there will never be a true national consensus as to who is a “terrorist,” the priorities in dealing with given threats, and over what actions to take. Nations must do what they can to advance formal international cooperation in counterterrorism at a global or regional level, within the differing limits of national interests and priorities, but they, must also strengthen formal and informal cooperation at the bilateral and multilateral level. Moreover, nations must adapt to the changing threat, and must look at counterterrorism as only one part of an integrated approach to dealing both terrorism and a far wider range of national and regional threats.
Resource link: International Cooperation in Counterterrorism: Redefining the Threat and the Requirement [PDF] - 1.9M