A Strategic Framework for Countering Terrorism

This chapter summarizes a qualitative analysis of seven key case studies of counterterrorist campaigns waged in Europe, Africa and Asia between the 1950s and the 1980s. In Malaya and Kenya, where Great Britain both recognized and responded to public concerns and interests, the counterterrorist campaigns were extremely successful. Many of the emergency measures were designed to allow government’s greater flexibility or severity in prosecuting and punishing both terrorists and their sympathizers than would have been possible under non-emergency legislation. The potentially counterproductive role that anti-terrorist legislation can play in the battle for public support must also be taken into consideration. Appropriate use of information, the key to any successful counterterrorism campaign, depends on three tasks: the acquisition, proper analysis and, perhaps most important, coordination and dissemination of intelligence. The value of foreign collaboration also depends on the circumstances facing a given country: it can be merely helpful, or it can be critical to the success of an entire counterterrorist campaign.