Counter-Terrorism from Within: Assessing Saudi Arabia’s Religious Rehabilitation and Disengagement Programme

{
  "authors": [
    "Christopher Boucek"
  ],
  "type": "legacyinthemedia",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
  ],
  "collections": [],
  "englishNewsletterAll": "menaTransitions",
  "nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
  "programAffiliation": "MEP",
  "programs": [
    "Middle East"
  ],
  "projects": [],
  "regions": [
    "Saudi Arabia"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Political Reform",
    "Security"
  ]
}

In The Media

Counter-Terrorism from Within: Assessing Saudi Arabia’s Religious Rehabilitation and Disengagement Programme

By Christopher Boucek

Published on Dec 19, 2008

Source: RUSI

Following a series of deadly domestic terrorist attacks in 2003, the government of Saudi Arabia began an ambitious and wide-ranging counterterrorism effort. In addition to traditional security and law enforcement efforts to kill and capture terrorists, a parallel strategy was launched to combat the ideological justifications for violent extremism within the kingdom. This ‘soft’ counter-terrorism strategy is made up of three components: prevention programmes to deter people from getting involved with violent extremism, rehabilitation programmes designed to encourage supporters and sympathisers to renounce violence, and aftercare programmes to prevent recidivism and to reintegrate people back into Saudi society.

About the Author

Christopher Boucek

Former Associate, Middle East Program

Boucek was an associate in the Carnegie Middle East Program where his research focused on security challenges in the Arabian Peninsula and Northern Africa.

Recent Work

Q&A
Yemen After Saleh’s Return and Awlaki’s Exit
- Christopher Boucek
Q&A
Rivals—Iran vs. Saudi Arabia
- Christopher Boucek, Karim Sadjadpour

Political Reform Security Saudi Arabia

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Carnegie China

Commentary
China’s Mediation Offer in the Thailand-Cambodia Border Dispute Sheds Light on Beijing’s Security Role in Southeast Asia
The Thai-Cambodian conflict highlights the limits to China's peacemaker ambition and the significance of this role on Southeast Asia’s balance of power.
Pongphisoot (Paul) Busbarat
Commentary
Emissary
China Is Determined to Hold Firm Against Trump’s Pressure
Beijing believes that Washington is overestimating its own leverage and its ability to handle the trade war’s impacts.
Rick Waters, Sheena Chestnut Greitens
Commentary
A Second Trump Term: Will Southeast Asia Tilt Toward China?
Tapping our network of China experts in the region, Carnegie China offers this latest “China Through a Southeast Asian Lens” report to offer preliminary assessments of whether the U.S. effort to reshape the global trading order will lead countries in the region to tilt toward Beijing.
+6
Selina Ho, Khin Khin Kyaw Kyee, Joseph Ching Velasco, …
Research
China Through a Southeast Asian Lens
Because strategic, economic, and ideological perceptions of China contain multiple, sometimes contradictory facets in Southeast Asia, receptions of and responses to Beijing diverge across and within state lines.
Evan A. Feigenbaum, Chong Ja Ian, Elina Noor
Article
Northeast Asia Is for Deterrence and Southeast Asia Is (Mostly) for Freeriding: Appreciating Divergent East Asian Approaches to Order, Uncertainty, and Contestation
Most Southeast Asian states behave as if the actions of their Northeast Asian neighbors and the Philippines will be sufficient to maintain a regional status quo from which they can benefit.
Chong Ja Ian

Counter-Terrorism from Within: Assessing Saudi Arabia’s Religious Rehabilitation and Disengagement Programme

More Work from Carnegie China

Commentary

China’s Mediation Offer in the Thailand-Cambodia Border Dispute Sheds Light on Beijing’s Security Role in Southeast Asia

The Thai-Cambodian conflict highlights the limits to China's peacemaker ambition and the significance of this role on Southeast Asia’s balance of power.

Pongphisoot (Paul) Busbarat

Commentary

Emissary

China Is Determined to Hold Firm Against Trump’s Pressure

Beijing believes that Washington is overestimating its own leverage and its ability to handle the trade war’s impacts.

Rick Waters, Sheena Chestnut Greitens

Commentary

A Second Trump Term: Will Southeast Asia Tilt Toward China?

Tapping our network of China experts in the region, Carnegie China offers this latest “China Through a Southeast Asian Lens” report to offer preliminary assessments of whether the U.S. effort to reshape the global trading order will lead countries in the region to tilt toward Beijing.

- +6
Selina Ho, Khin Khin Kyaw Kyee, Joseph Ching Velasco, …

Research

China Through a Southeast Asian Lens

Because strategic, economic, and ideological perceptions of China contain multiple, sometimes contradictory facets in Southeast Asia, receptions of and responses to Beijing diverge across and within state lines.

Evan A. Feigenbaum, Chong Ja Ian, Elina Noor

Article

Northeast Asia Is for Deterrence and Southeast Asia Is (Mostly) for Freeriding: Appreciating Divergent East Asian Approaches to Order, Uncertainty, and Contestation

Most Southeast Asian states behave as if the actions of their Northeast Asian neighbors and the Philippines will be sufficient to maintain a regional status quo from which they can benefit.

Chong Ja Ian