The 2022 Annual Threat Assessment presented by the entirety of the intelligence community references domestic terrorism, homegrown terrorists, and extremism as larger threats to national security than any other form of terrorism.
For the purpose of this study, terrorism is defined as, “the violent act of an individual group that aims to promote a political purpose or change society in any one way.”
CVE is the abbreviation for Countering Violent Extremism, and PVE is the abbreviation for Preventing Violent Extremism. In 2015, these terms came to the scene in the political landscape on a larger platform when President Barack Obama held a CVE summit. The terms C/PVE are used interchangeably.
I am interested in discovering how, and if, C/PVE programs could be implemented in the United States without infringing on individual liberties through a comparative case study of Germany, the United States, and Switzerland.
To establish discrepancies in the number of terrorist attacks between the U.S., Germany, and Switzerland, a dataset is used from the University of Maryland’s Global Terrorism Database.
This data is sorted by year, only including data from 1985 until 2020. This data includes domestic terrorist attacks from Switzerland, Germany, and America. Incidents counted include only domestic attacks.
Germany has seen a significant decrease in the number of terrorist attacks, as shown by the data provided. The larger number in the year 1998 can best be explained as a result of federal counterterrorism practices being written into law. Switzerland has had relatively low rates of domestic terrorist attacks in the timeframe of the study. Illustrated in the line chart, the United States has experienced higher rates of domestic terrorism as compared to Germany and Switzerland.
Germany has taken progressive action to ensure that domestic terror groups do not enact violence. Holocaust denial, incitement to hatred, dissemination of instructions on how to commit crimes and dissemination of graphic descriptions of violence/glorification of violence in Germany are crimes punishable with up to three years in prison.
In addition to early education programs, the German government published the Strategy of the Federal Government on Extremism Prevention and Promotion of Democracy in 2016. This document was produced with the purpose of creating a C/PVE strategy that would address the battle between individual liberty and national security by framing it as promoting individualism and democracy and placing those values at the core.
In 2015 Switzerland implemented its first national counterterrorism strategy. Switzerland’s counterterrorism comes in two separate documents, the Foreign Policy Action Plan on Preventing Violent Extremism released in 2016 and the National Action Plan to Prevent and Counter Radicalization and Violent Extremism in the year 2017, the second of these two pieces of material focuses on preventing domestic terrorism.
Switzerland’s domestic terrorism action plan focuses on preventative measures, which include identifying the factors that foster radicalization. Particularly, the plan puts an emphasis on Swiss residents having education about what radicalization and violent extremism are, the various stages of radicalization, and how to identify those characteristics in yourself and in your peers. The educational aspect of Switzerland’s counterterrorism plan entails teaching communities about the dangers of violent extremist groups. This includes bridge building specialist units, which has the task of bridging communities through educational presentations and initiatives focused on both creating a stronger sense of acceptance and identifying online and in person behaviors that may indicate that someone you know may be engaged in violent extremist activities.
The largest number of domestic terrorist groups in the United States comes from right-wing extremists. Of those right-wing extremists, ethnically and racially motivated terrorist attacks make up for the largest number of terrorist activities. Germany’s anti-Nazi C/PVE educational programs in primary school through graduation poses for a promising model for how to combat younger generations’ urge to participate in hate filled groups. Germany and Switzerland also implement programs in schools in order to prevent groupthink, as well as prevent young people from joining extremist organizations. Critical Race Theory as a method for counterterrorism is a new phenomenon, but could be incredibly helpful in the context of American history and educational systems.
The United States does not have any one definition of terrorism. Implementing one working definition across all federal agencies is imperative to ensuring that there is a space to monitor and limit the work of potential groups. Without a working definition of terrorism, it becomes difficult for government agencies to try perpetrators as terrorists.
There are limitations to C/PVE applications in America. #StopCVE is a group that strongly opposes CVE and is spreading across the nation, with the message that CVE is inherently wrong and allows for law enforcement and community leaders to legally racially profile Muslims in America. While this study established options for U.S. C/PVE, further research must be done to ensure equitable applications in the United States.
Ariel Oeffinger is graduating in May of 2023 with a Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs in Law & Public Policy and Nonprofit Management & Leadership with a minor in Homeland Security Studies. Ariel will enter law school at New York Law School in Tribeca, New York City in August 2023.
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