Introduction

Countering terrorism has become a Schrödinger’s conundrum in the global security space. Globally there is both a push, and apathy, toward guiding a fractured world order against one of the most persistent security challenges of our time.

The war in Gaza and Hamas’s role in the October 2023 attack on Israel have brought terrorism back to the forefront as a security crisis that can inflict large-scale damage and derail positive geopolitical trajectories. These welcome developments include the signing of the Abraham Accords in September 2020, the creation of the I2U2 (a grouping with India, Israel, the UAE and the US) in October 2021, and the announcement of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) on the sidelines of the 2023 G20 Summit in New Delhi.

Indeed, terrorism has remained a constant in global security concerns. While major attacks, such as the airline hijackings by pro-Palestine groups in the 1970s and Al Qaeda’s strikes on the United States on 11 September 2001, have been fewer, the rise and fall of the Islamic State across the Levant underscores that the threat remains consistent. Beyond ideological and kinetic violence, a wide-ranging evolution has taken place since 9/11. This includes biological warfare, cyber terrorism, technology-led approaches using drones and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and a more fluid system of terror financing enabled by cryptocurrency. In short, policy is struggling to keep pace with the contemporary imperatives of counterterrorism.

Scholarship in security studies has been central to examining how terror groups adapt and operate in the modern era, especially as they gain more space to manoeuvre. From countering extremism at the societal level to building new tools within intelligence agencies, a wide range of challenges are shaping efforts to combat terrorism and violent extremism today.

This report, envisioned as a biannual publication, has three aims. First, it seeks to elevate voices from the broader Asia region within a global security discourse still dominated by Western academia and think tanks. Second, it aims to add depth to policy narratives on countering terrorism, violent extremism, and their intersections with political violence and organised crime. Lastly, it seeks to position India at the centre of shaping international discourse on countering terrorism in the coming decades.

The report opens with Anis Izzati binti Ismail and Raja Muhammad Khairul Akhtar bin Raja Mohd Naguib’s examination of Malaysia’s extensive experience in mobilising civil society organisations as a primary tool to counter extremism. The rise of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh) in the Middle East added institutional momentum to countering violent extremism, with Southeast Asia at the forefront of several such initiatives. Building on this, Haroro J. Ingram, in the second article, analyses how the Philippines has confronted the growing threat posed by ISIS and Islamist extremism, which reached an inflection point in the 2017 Marawi siege—the country’s longest urban battle in modern history—and how long-term peace efforts have shaped a cogent response. Continuing the regional theme, Liyana Rosli Asmara, in her piece, looks into Singapore’s successful model for promoting inter-faith harmony and social cohesion in the digital age at a time when online spaces are rife with propaganda designed to disturb social fabrics and unity.

Shifting across the Indian Ocean, Mohammed Hameed draws on his vast experience in the Maldives’ security sector to show why effective intelligence-sharing across the region is imperative for adapting counterterrorism strategies. The final two articles, authored by the editors of this report, address broader debates on regional responses. Soumya Awasthi assesses how cybersecurity has become a core element of countering terrorism and extremism as online spaces turn into a primary battleground. The last chapter by Kabir Taneja examines how the politicisation of counterterrorism amid global institutional churn may end up giving more political space to militant actors than warranted.

Read the report here.

All views expressed in this publication are solely those of the authors, and do not represent the Observer Research Foundation, either in its entirety or its officials and personnel.

Kabir Taneja is Deputy Director and Middle East Fellow, Strategic Studies Programme, ORF.

Soumya Awasthi is Fellow, Centre for Security, Strategy, and Technology, ORF.

• Terrorism
• India
• south Asia
• counter terrorism strategy
• counter terrorism strategy india
• countering extremism
• countering terrorism
• global security
• global security landscape
• global terrorism

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