Global Threats: Countering Violent Extremism

September 28, 2019 – Time and time again, terrorist attacks capture the world’s attention. Whether referring to the al-Qaeda attacks on 9/11 or the so-called Islamic State’s attempt to build a caliphate in Syria or the increasingly more common murders of white-supremacists in America, one thing seems to be true: there is a war being fought, and we are still losing. The US and other countries around the world keep implementing policies in the attempt to quell violent extremism, but to no avail. Some experts, like Farah Pandith, argue that eradicating extremist propaganda is not enough, but that policymakers need a deeper understanding of the psychological appeal that extremist groups offer in order to curate counter-messages. Some wars can’t be won directly on the battlefield.