Guest Lecture: David Cortright on Peacebuilding and Terrorism

October 19, 2010
4:00 a.m. EDT

David Cortwright of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies explores the application peacebuilding principles to current threats posed by terrorist organizations. Drawing on a career in public activism, military service, and scholarship, he emphasizes the fact that terrorist campaigns overwhelmingly end because of negotiation or good police work in prevention, not military action or clear victory. Counterterrorism strategists acknowledge that policymakers must address conditions conducive to terrorism, particularly the lack of economic opportunities for young males. A key goal in such policymaking must be to differentiate between core terrorist networks and the surrounding communities, and to drive these communities away from the terrorist core. At a basic level, counterterrorism strategy must understand Pope Paul VI’s famous exhortation: “If you want peace, work for justice.” The enlistment of local religious communities can often contribute to the success of peacebuilding efforts in practice.

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