INTRODUCTION – Trans-disciplinary Dialogue on New Zealand’s Counter Terrorism Approach: A Call to Action for Researchers

Author: Jackson, Richard & Rogers, Damien1 

Published in National Security Journal, 19 March 2023

DOI: 10.36878/nsj20230319.01 

Download full PDF version – Trans-disciplinary Dialogue on New Zealand’s Counter Terrorism Approach: A Call to Action for Researchers (394 KB)

INTRODUCTION

In this introduction we set the scene for the eight articles that follow. We begin by evaluating recent academic literature on preventing and countering violent extremism (PCVE) produced overseas before signalling why this literature matters to New Zealand security professionals today. We then situate this special issue in relation to New Zealand’s ongoing counterterrorism efforts. Taking seriously Recommendation 14 of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch terrorist attack on 15 March 2019, which called for the Government to establish a programme to fund independent New Zealand-specific research on the causes of, and measures to prevent, violent extremism and terrorism, we highlight the recent contributions academics have made to improving our understanding of the phenomenon of terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation from a New Zealand perspective. We close out this introduction by signalling worthwhile academic contributions that remain to be realised.

______________________
1 Richard Jackson holds the Leading Thinker Chair in Peace Studies at the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago, Dunedin. Damien Rogers is Associate Professor of International Relations and Security Studies at Massey University, Auckland.