COUNTERTERRORISM IN AFRICAN FAILED STATES: CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

Failed states—states in which government authority has
collapsed, violence has become endemic, and functional governance
has ceased—have emerged in the period since the end of the
Cold War as one of the most difficult challenges confronting the
international community, especially in the region of Sub-Saharan
Africa. Transnational terrorist groups use the chaos of failed states
to shield themselves from effective counterterrorism efforts by the
international community. The potential nexus of failed state-based
terrorism and terrorists’ access to Weapons of Mass Destruction
(WMD), especially nuclear WMD, escalates the risk that such groups
pose to the United States and to its allies in the Global War on
Terror.
In this monograph, the author finds that current counterterrorism
strategies have yielded limited results in addressing the threat posed
by terrorist groups operating in and from failed states. He argues
that the uniquely challenging conditions in such states require a new
approach to counterterrorism. By integrating the law enforcement and
military instruments of power, U.S. strategists can craft an approach
to counterterrorism that leverages the core competencies of both the
military and law enforcement communities. The author concludes
that the synergies available from an integrated approach promise to
be more effective in locating, apprehending, and bringing to justice
terrorists and suspected terrorists in failed states than either the
military or law enforcement communities operating independently.
The Strategic Studies Institute is pleased to offer this monograph
as part of the ongoing debate on global and regional security and
stability.
DOUGLAS