Public Communication to Stop Terrorism: An Examination of Zero-Sum Counterterrorism Assumptions

• In Event: Terrorism and Beyond

Abstract

Terrorism by its nature is political, encompassing more than salient attacks that threaten life and infrastructure. Terrorists seek to control the public discourse by rallying support for their movement through speech tactics that range from public talks to online publications. The clear importance of public discourse suggests that governments might be able to more strategically use it to stop terrorism. Thus far, the criminological literature has focused primarily on physical tactics to make terrorism harder to commit. This deterrence-based strategy is based on the zero-sum assumption that any losses for a terrorist group will result in gains for a government. Seeking to evaluate this assumption, this research examines whether public communications can serve as a relatively inexpensive, readily available, and less oppressive means to reduce terrorism. Mixed methods are used to combine evidence from a series of semi-structured interviews with counter-terrorism personnel from Israel and Canada with quantitative data that were systematically collected and coded to capture government speech actions from the same two countries.

Author

• Daren Fisher, University of Maryland