The UK's Executive Counter-Terrorism Measures: A Critical Analysis of Strategy and Implementation

Abstract

Since 2001, numerous national security threat developments have contributed to a significant increase in powers governing the use of coercive executive measures for use in a counter-terrorism context. The existing literature on the topic recognises the dynamic nature of the threat environment and the potential utility of executive measures but tends to focus on human rights and rule of law debates regarding the features of individual measures. This paper evaluates and critically analyses the changes in the UK's strategy behind, and implementation of, these executive measures with a specific focus on those employed to manage the terrorism-related risk of domestic individuals. Through assessment of domestic court and Strasbourg jurisprudence, strategy documents, oversight reports such as those from the Independent Reviewers of Terrorism Legislation, Parliamentary debate records, and official counter-terrorism figures, the paper analyses the ways in which the design and levels of use of the measures have been influenced by legal, political, and security-related factors. It argues that the along with the normalisation of these measures there has been accompanying policies to both restrict and extend them, resulting in a system which is strategically unclear and operationally insufficient. The research...