News

New Policy Brief on Anti-terror Legislation

We are pleased to announce that the second Berghof Policy Brief, ‘Anti-terrorism Legislation: Impediments to Conflict Transformation’ is now available online. Authored by our senior researcher Dr Veronique Dudouet, the paper reviews the ambivalent impact of terrorist ‘blacklisting’ regimes on peace processes with non-state armed groups, and argues that when applied unwisely, they might interfere with efforts to find a political solution to asymmetric intra-state conflicts. Indeed, the political nature and inconsistent application of terrorist proscription tends to blur the distinction between legal and unlawful political activism, encourage state repression of unarmed dissidents, and fuel radicalism. Anti-terrorist policies also shrink the space for international peace facilitation in intra-state conflicts by criminalising third-party mediation and negotiation support, and impeding confidence-building with listed actors and ‘insider mediators’. The paper concludes by offering a range of reform options to improve the capacity of anti-terrorist policies to foster armed groups’ shifts from violent to non-violent strategies.

To access the series, see here .