For most all of the second half of the last century, militancy was restricted to lines drawn on maps, an insurgent move here, a separatist agitation there. Counterterrorism strategies consequently developed by states were to militarize the periphery, secure the borders, and disrupt domestic cells. However, the nature of violent extremism has been completely changed by the twenty first century. Militancy is today one beyond geography, authority and identity. It is transnational, decentralized, enabled digitally, and these states face threats that are diffusive, adaptive, and ideologically mobile.
This new form of ISIS removed borders: its ideology is carried to lone actors in Europe, cells in Africa, and sympathizers in Southeast Asia. No longer requiring territorials, it was adequate to operate in cyberspace
No organization has been transformed more than the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). From 2014 to 2019, ISIS expanded in huge swathes of Iraq and Syria to seize control of vast territories and created a self-professed caliphate with state-like institutions, revenue and method of governance. Yet, although it defeated on the field of battle, its threat did not pass away. But instead, the group transformed into a digital movement, radicalized on message boards, encrypted messaging apps, slick propaganda clips and the virtual network of propaganda. This new form of ISIS removed borders: its ideology is carried to lone actors in Europe, cells in Africa, and sympathizers in Southeast Asia. No longer requiring territorials, it was adequate to operate in cyberspace.
Hierarchy is no longer directing violence — rather it is acting upon narratives of that violence that course freely across platforms and continents
This is the new face of militancy: flashes of fragmented, dispersed persons united through ideology and grievance. Today, groups now copy one another, usually across ideological lines. The operational blueprint of the Islamic militants in the East and far right extremists in the West include leaderless cells, manifestos, livestreamed violence and digital recruitment. They each have different grievances, yet the same means. Hierarchy is no longer directing violence — rather it is acting upon narratives of that violence that course freely across platforms and continents.
It then struggles to keep up. Sharing of intelligence isn’t fluid, legal frameworks are outdated, and global cooperation is hindered by mutual hostility, inability to adequately trust each other, or competing geopolitical interests. In fact, things have not changed, many states still respond with blunt instruments, mass surveillance, military operation and restrictive laws, and often with the end justifying the means of sacrificing civil liberties. While these measures can disturb plots they hardly focus on the environment in which extremist ideas can get entrenched.
Indeed, the roots of transnational militancy lie not only in belief, but in despair. The economic, political, stateless and identity-based exclusion create the fertile ground for radicalization. Extremism is most often not appeal by ideology at first: it is an emotion. Where society gives alienation, politics indifference, and justice nothing, it gives purpose, revenge, and belonging. And in that sense, counterterrorism is connected with social policy. You cannot drone away resentment.
Extremists fill vacuums created by discredited regimes in parts of the Sahel, Afghanistan, Somalia or northern Syria
The story here is dominated by weak and failed states. In the absence of governance or predatory governance, militant groups step in to become service providers, identity markers and authority figures. Extremists fill vacuums created by discredited regimes in parts of the Sahel, Afghanistan, Somalia or northern Syria. Though usually they don’t confine themselves within these frontiers; their influence travels through online platforms, diasporic network, and transnational funding streams.
The states will now have to re-think the architecture of security, in order to cope with this challenge. It first expands what is meant by counterterrorism beyond hard power. The terms like intelligence agencies and counterinsurgency doctrines are as much part of what constitutes security as are education, political inclusion, urban planning, and mental health. Civic resilience is hard not soft ideal and sustainable peace is only built upon resilient citizens.
And digital governance must be at centre stage of the fight against the virus in India. The platforms that provide families and communities means of engagement at its best, but also algorithmically manifest hatred and amplifies violence. Online spaces where extremists are free to operate have not been properly regulated either by governments or tech companies. It’s encryption that is vital to privacy also holds terrorists cooperation. Neither can this space be unchecked, not authoritarian, but rather principled, transparent, and rights respecting.
Not only is it more ethical, but a rights based approach to countering terrorism is more strategic
What is unforgivable is the erosion of moral authority in counterterrorism , the reason why there is a deeper issue, often unspoken. Notably, these words are only tarnished with the legitimacy of the global war on terror due to torture, extrajudicial killings, indefinite detentions, and racial profiling. Terrorism has not been eliminated by these abuses, but has, at times, been fed by them. These excesses are exploited by the extremists to justify their persecution narrative and recruit. Not only is it more ethical, but a rights based approach to countering terrorism is more strategic.
The task now is to construct a security model that is anticipatory, humane, and networked
We live in an age of militancy without borders, which is not a short phase. They hold no more of the old binaries: war and peace, internal and external, soldier and civilian. The task now is to construct a security model that is anticipatory, humane, and networked. That is part of the fight that understands the ideological and the inequalities that sustain them, and not just bombs and guns. And we’re fighting a war as much of narratives as we are a war of operations. In that war, resilience, dignity and justice are our best weapons. The question is not whether we will rid the world of every extremist or that we have never failed and will never fail but we can create societies where extremism will have no herd to feed upon.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not represent the views, beliefs, or policies of the Stratheia.
