Counterterrorism in African Failed States: Challenges and Potential Solutions
Author | : |
Publisher | : DIANE Publishing |
Total Pages | : 44 |
Release | : 2006 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781428916135 |
ISBN-13 | : 142891613X |
Rating | : 4/5 (35 Downloads) |
Download or read book Counterterrorism in African Failed States: Challenges and Potential Solutions written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2006 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Failed states offer attractive venues for terrorist groups seeking to evade counterterrorism efforts of the United States and its partners in the Global War on Terror (GWOT). State failure entails, among its other features, the disintegration and criminalization of public security forces, the collapse of the state administrative structure responsible for overseeing those forces, and the erosion of infrastructure that supports their effective operation. These circumstances make identification of terrorist groups operating within failed states very difficult, and action against such groups, once identified, problematic. Terrorist groups that are the focus of the current GWOT display the characteristics of a network organization with two very different types of cells: terrorist nodes and terrorist hubs. Terrorist nodes are small, closely knit local cells that actually commit terrorist acts in the areas in which they are active. Terrorist hubs provide ideological guidance, financial support, and access to resources enabling node attacks. An examination of three failed states in Sub-Saharan Africa - Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Somalia - reveals the presence of both types of cells and furnishes a context for assessing the threat they pose to the national interests of the United States and its partners.