Resources

A new war on terror or a new search for peace? Learning the lessons of Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen

In 2016, in the wake of spectacular terror attacks, some Western nations have moved fast to commit to war against Islamic State (IS).

"Hammering the bread and the nail": lessons from counter-terror, stabilisation and statebuilding in Afghanistan

Will the SDSR be strategic enough about conflict prevention?

Today, the UK Government is publishing its Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR). In this article, Saferworld’s Larry Attree argues that a key test of the policy will be the extent to which it balances immediate threats with a coherent strategy for preventing conflict in the long term.

The UK and extremism: understanding the problem and owning our values

In the wake of recent comments by the UK Prime Minister, Saferworld's Larry Attree argues that a more effective approach to reducing extremist violence would be to craft a foreign policy that itself more consistently promotes the values we are claiming as ‘British’.

Building constructive China-US cooperation on peace and security in Africa

Increasingly, external actors are involving themselves in Africa – engagement which is critical to African development, but which has potential either to increase security or further destabilise some of the continent’s already fragile countries.

Evolving policy in a changing world: Examining challenges and opportunities in the new US Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review

David Alpher analyses the new Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review by the US government and explains why it offers both opportunities and challenges in terms of addressing conflict and fragility.

Counter-terrorism – time to find peacebuilding alternatives

'Terrorism' is again dominating political debate across the world. Yet to many in the peacebuilding field, the media spotlight seems as likely to feed into a security agenda that deepens the conflicts in which 'terror' has become such a prominent tactic – rather than helping resolve them. In this comment piece we explain what a peacebuilding approach to conflicts that involve ‘terrorism’ would have to offer.

Dilemmas of counter-terror, stabilisation and statebuilding

Security threats defined as stemming from ‘terrorism’ or ‘rogue regimes’ have significant public profile, and have led to responses from different branches of government.

Envisaging more constructive alternatives to the counter-terror paradigm

Most of the public conversation about terrorism has focused on conventional counter-terror efforts, which overlap with and influence stabilisation and statebuilding efforts.