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End of Chapter Question Pointers
Chapter 23 – Foreign Policy and Countering Terrorism
Rashmi Singh
- How can you characterize the relationship between foreign policy and countering terrorism?
- Which policy instrument is best suited to counter the threat of transnational terrorism and why?
- Can soft power be an effective component of countering terrorism strategy? Discuss.
- What types of roles can the military play in the fight against terrorism? Discuss with examples.
- What is coercive diplomacy and how can this be used in countering terrorism strategy?
This question essentially asks you to think about the ways in which foreign policy and countering terrorism overlap. Here you will need to first understand and explain that both foreign policy and countering terrorism are processes. What does this mean? What are the core instruments of foreign policy and countering terrorism? What are some of the myriad ways in which they intersect and overlap? Using examples and/or a case study will help you illustrate your argument.
On the face of it this question requires you to critically assess different policy instruments available for countering terrorism. What are some of the very specific challenges posed by the threat of transnational terrorism (as opposed to international or domestic terrorism)? How do these challenges impact existing strategies to countering terrorism? Can you compare and contrast the costs and benefits of each policy instrument outlined in the chapter?
The use of examples would help illustrate your argument and make your point more clearly. Finally, on the basis of this critical assessment, choose a policy instrument you think best counters the threat of transnational terrorism and explain how and why it trumps others.
At its core this question is asking you to identify the multiple forms of soft power that can be leveraged in countering terrorism strategy before assessing their utility as part of an effective countering terrorism strategy. As such, this question also involves engaging more profoundly with the concept, effectiveness, and utility of soft power. What are the pros and cons of soft power and its usage? Which instruments of foreign policy and countering terrorism is soft power ostensibly a part of?
The second part of this question requires you to engage more rigorously with the different models of countering terrorism and how capable these models are of incorporating (or not) the concept of soft power. What are the multiple ways in which hard and soft power interact and intersect in each model of countering terrorism?
This question requires you to outline the many ways in which military pressure or force can be leveraged in the fight against terrorism. For this you will need to understand and illustrate the difference between military defence and deterrence. What are the different mechanisms that can be included under military defence and deterrence? Do defence and deterrence have the capacity to impact one another? If so, how? If not, why not? Critically assess the pros and cons of each kind of military action taken to fight terrorism.
This question requires you to understand how policy instrument of diplomacy can also incorporate the threat of the use of force. How do the policy instruments of diplomacy and culture overlap with those of the military arm? How do the boundaries of soft and hard power blur when it comes to the issue of coercive diplomacy? Do you think that engaging with the concept of coercive diplomacy is a way to facilitate a more rigorous assessment of the traditional distinction made in the literature between hard and soft power? How does this blurring impact our understanding of the role of coercive diplomacy in the difference models of countering terrorism?