University of Notre Dame
Kroc Institutde for International Peace Studies

Counterterrorism

Countering Terrorism the Right Way

Countering Terrorism the Right Way

After 20 years, culminating in the collapse of the U.S.-supported government in Afghanistan, it is clear that militarized counterterrorism policies have failed. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq led to increased numbers of global terrorist attacks which remain at high...

Seven Peacebuilding Reflections on Violent Extremism

Seven Peacebuilding Reflections on Violent Extremism

What have peacebuilding experts learned from twenty years of counterterrorism? Here are seven reflections. 1. Violent extremism results from fear and frustration paired with the fantasy of a “pure” society.  Since 2001, Muslims have spoken out about the stigma they...

Gender and Counterterrorism

Gender and Counterterrorism

In the first 15 years of the United Nations’ post-9/11 counterterrorism program, gender issues were hardly mentioned. This, despite the clearly stated intention of violent extremists and terrorist groups to suppress gender equality, women’s rights, girls’ education,...

De-Ba`thification and the Rise of ISIS

De-Ba`thification and the Rise of ISIS

Aysegul Keskin Zeren As the war against ISIS unfolds, acknowledging the conditions and events that paved the way for ISIS is crucial for rethinking strategy. As a result of a decade of instability in Iraq and more than three years of civil war in Syria, ISIS had...

The Role of Diplomacy in Countering ISIS

The Role of Diplomacy in Countering ISIS

David Cortright The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a clear and present danger to international security that must be stopped. The question is how. President Obama said there are no military solutions to this crisis, but he has sent American soldiers back to...

The ISIS Stalemate: It’s the Long Game

The ISIS Stalemate: It’s the Long Game

Ebrahim Moosa With another U.S. aid worker beheaded by ISIS and unreported civilian deaths caused by U.S. airstrikes in ISIS controlled territories in Iraq and Syria, the conflict is taking on the features of a military stalemate. As long as ISIS is America’s problem,...

A Conference to Assess Drone Warfare

A Conference to Assess Drone Warfare

Chicago — The Kroc Institute recently assembled some of the world’s leading experts on counterterrorism strategy, ethics and the use of force, international law and civil and human rights for a conference (March 19-21) on “The Ethical, Strategic and Legal Implications...

“Advances” in High-Tech Killing

“Advances” in High-Tech Killing

Mary Ellen O’Connell In the wake of 9/11 the United States adopted a new approach to countering terrorism, an approach made possible by two developments: adding missiles and bombs to unmanned drones and asserting the legal right to use these weapons outside combat...

New Wars, Old Strategies

New Wars, Old Strategies

David Cortright The nature of armed conflict has changed dramatically in recent decades. Gone is the old paradigm of industrial interstate war. Instead, conflicts have risen sharply within and beyond states. In the world today there are 37 armed conflicts (as measured...

Will the U.S. Remain Global Top Dog?

Will the U.S. Remain Global Top Dog?

Andrew J. Bacevich When it comes to America’s role in the world, the 2012 presidential campaign was notable chiefly for what was left unsaid. Other than uttering platitudes or striking postures aimed at particular domestic constituencies, neither candidate had much to...

Religious Peacebuilding in Mindanao

Religious Peacebuilding in Mindanao

Scott Appleby The war being waged in mineral-rich Mindanao, the southernmost island region of the Philippines, is a perfect storm of contemporary violent conflict. It is about land and resources, religion and clan, sovereignty, governance, and corruption in high and...

Removing the Barriers to Engagement

Removing the Barriers to Engagement

Laura Weis In July 2010, in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment does not protect groups or individuals who provide “expert advice or assistance” or “training” to proscribed terrorist groups, even when they do so to...

Imperfect Actions in an Imperfect World

Imperfect Actions in an Imperfect World

George A. Lopez I disagree with my colleagues David Cortright and Mary Ellen O’Connell regarding the scope and direction of the Libyan intervention of the Security Council and NATO. The essential dilemma faced by the international community, as manifest in Security...

Reversing a Deadly Dynamic in Afghanistan

Reversing a Deadly Dynamic in Afghanistan

David Cortright As the scale of the military intervention has increased in Afghanistan, so has the armed violence and influence of the Taliban. Reversing this deadly dynamic will require an approach that pursues demilitarization through the gradual disengagement of...