Terrorism_Reading Memo

I would like to mention here the approach of the authors to the searching of solutions or the right government response to the terrorists´ violence that is occuring inside of Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya or also other African countries. All the authors agree that the military response can be probably effective to some extent however cannot really solve the whole problem and definitelly is not the best answer to terrorists´ violent attacks.

All of them suggest that there are better ways of responses. They name for example the need to negotiate with terrorist which is an answer that most of the governments do not take into account at all. They also argue that it is important to solve the problem from the very basics of it and not just the outcome which military responses do. Another problematic feature of the military response is the fact that it supports the victimhood of terrorists which in effect can actually help them to gain public support for their actions or even to recruit new members. Therefore the authors highlight the importance of economic, political and social reforms that would lower or even better cease entirely the marginalisation of various groups inside of the countries and the even the economic differences amongst them.

While I definitelly agree with the socio-economic and political reforms as a great solution to this problem, even though it takes a lot of time to show results, I am not really sure about the negotiation – solution. I don´t believe that members of terrorist groups actually want to negotiate. Since their actions are usually coming in hand with an ideology I don´t think that some negotiation would stop them doing what they are doing. Even though I admit that there might be exceptions but the question is if Boko Haram or Al-Shabaab could be one of them.

Other point I would like to notice is the decrease in violent activity of Boko Haram. Caitriona Dowd and Adam Drury in their article Marginalisation, insurgency and civilian insecurity: Boko Haram and the Lord´s Resistance Army talk about the possible future concerning the Boko Haram and they suggest that there might come a decline in their activity however this article was written in 2017 and the charts made by Uppsala Conflict Data Programme (UCDP, 2017) that maps violent activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria show that the decline has already happened with its peak being in around 2013 and 2014. So they are correct about that fact however a bit late I think.