Confronting Terrorism and Violent Extremism in Eastern Africa

Abstract

This chapter takes a critical retrospective-evaluative approach to examine the wickedness—complexity, interdependence of variables and intractability of violent extremism and terrorism in Eastern Africa—and how they have been confronted. Doing so assesses the background of terror activities in the region, the repertoires of extremism therein, and how various policy actors in Eastern Africa have confronted the problem. The chapter further assesses the gains and challenges and teases out the conceptual, theoretical and policy debates around countering and preventing violent extremism and terrorism in the Eastern Africa region since the beginning of the twenty-first century. Here, the political economy of terrorism and counter-terrorism in the sub-region is put under systematic scrutiny by zeroing in on the wickedness of counter-terrorism policies—intricacies and challenges of preventive action at various levels, including the regional, national, local and community contexts of the same, over time and space. In the final analysis, while making a solid case for a holistic governance-centred multifaceted approach, the chapter proffers pertinent policy directions concerning the threat of terrorism in the region while informing future political actions.