THE VIOLENT TOLL OF KINETIC COUNTERTERRORISM: REVITALIZING NON-KINETIC COUNTERTERRORISM MODEL

Abstract

The world has been witnessing various waves of terrorism and violent extremism for more than last 2000 years. The modern wave of terrorism has its roots in the post-Cold War era, with rigorous transformation since the incident of 9/11 in 2001. The consequent Global War on Terror, which manifested an unparalleled global kinetic response, has now again instigated a revitalized inquiry into how terrorism and violent extremism ends. This question is in fact twofold. On one hand, it asks the underlying causes to be explored, that result in individuals commencing terrorist activities. On the other hand, this has motivated and stimulated implantation of some innovative ‘soft’ and ‘non-kinetic’ counterterrorism approaches, largely by and in Muslim majority countries. These alternative approaches were then also imported by many Western societies to tackle the challenges left unanswered and even sometimes caused by the kinetic counterterrorism approaches. This paper discusses the violent toll of counterterrorism strategies under the kinetic approach of Global War on Terror and how it has negatively contributed in the management of terrorism and violent extremism. The paper further highlights the global shift from kinetic counterterrorism strategies to non-kinetic approaches while furthering the debate to suggest a successful strategy based on some common factors in the successful counterterrorism approaches around the world.