ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the aims behind Prevent strategies, a key aim being to help individuals before they get too involved in terrorist activity at a pre-criminal level. The objective contained in Prevent strategies is to support states when responding to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat they face from those promoting it. In terms of countering terrorism, prevent strategies are a relatively recent introduction by states to deal with terrorist activity. The US 2003 strategy for combating terrorism has a goal of diminishing the conditions that terrorists seek to exploit. Resilience is designed to prevent the growth of home-grown terrorism with programmes and activities focusing largely on social harmony, the promotion of Australian democratic values and the integration of 'suspect' communities into broader Australian society. The 2015 Counter-Extremism Strategy provides examples of 'non-violent' extremism that the UK government sees as promoting or justifying actions that are contrary to UK values.
