Strategies for Preventing Terrorism

This innovative new book aims to put society's fight against terrorism into a comprehensive crime prevention perspective with a clear, understandable theoretical foundation, developing a general model for the prevention of crime which is, in this book, applied to terrorism.

Traditionally, both the police and other social and political agencies have tended to think of the prevention of terrorism and responses to terrorism as two separate tracks or activities. The holistic model presented in this book goes beyond this division by integrating criminal justice sanctions, harm reduction and several approaches to crime prevention into one unified model.

This model, which identifies nine key preventive mechanisms, provides a powerful tool for thinking systematically about how to reduce terrorism and other crime problems. It will appeal to scholars and students in criminology, terrorism and security studies and also to police officers and other practitioners.

Tore Bjørgo is Professor of Police Science at the Norwegian Police University College and Adjunct Research Professor at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. He has authored and edited eleven books, including Terror from the Extreme Right (1995); Root Causes of Terrorism (2005); and Leaving Terrorism Behind (2009).

Foreword; Alex P. Schmid
Preface
Part I: A Theory for Practice
1. Introduction
- Definitions of concepts and analytical approaches
- Models of crime prevention
- Theoretical considerations on preventive mechanisms
- Nine generic mechanisms for preventing crime
- From model to strategy
Part II: The Preventive Mechanisms Applied
2. Norm setting against violence and terrorism
3. Reducing the emergence of terrorism and violent radicalisation
4. Deterring involvement in terrorism
5. Disrupting planned terrorist attacks
6. Protecting vulnerable targets
7. Reducing the harmful consequences of terrorist attacks
8. Reducing the rewards from acts of terrorism
9. Incapacitation – eliminating the capacity of (potential) terrorists to cause harm
10. Disengagement from terrorism and violent extremism
11. Conclusion