The Portuguese counter-terrorism prevention case: an analysis of the P/CVE strategy and planning

• Autor(a) principal: Sampaio, Augusto Xavier Magalhães
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/23434
• topic: Portugal; Counter-terrorism; Prevention; Radicalization; Contra-terrorismo; Prevenção; Radicalização; Entrevistas elite

A counter-terrorism preventative strategy is a must in any nation and such strategies became of even greater importance with the events of 9/11. A properly defined strategy allows not only for a nation to defend itself but to prevent the grounds that may lead to the radicalization of citizens towards violent extremist ideals. Many academics look at these preventative frameworks from a critical perspective and it is the opinion of many that, as it stands, counter-terrorism prevention strategies are not effective, and may actually be at the origin of discriminatory practices. The purpose of this research is not only to understand how a prevention framework is developed but its own effectiveness. This will be ascertained by using the Portuguese case as an example of a nation that has been mostly unaffected by this phenomenon since 9/11 but has nonetheless to deliver its own counter-terrorism strategy due to its placement within the European Union. Portugal was chosen due to the gap of literature on the Portuguese example and the overall lack of knowledge of how counter-terrorism works within the nation. This goal is achieved by conducting interviews with experts on this field and analyzing these results through the Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) whose framework will allow to determine how the Portuguese preventative strategy compares against the strategies presented by other nations in their preventative activities. Determining what is this preventative framework, how it is aligned with European standards and if it works in successfully preventing the Islamic extremism which was observed in the past years and more recently the rise in far-right extremism observed throughout Europe will be key goals throughout this research.