ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview and assessment of soft counter-terrorism strategies in Australia and highlights the conceptual understanding driving the policy response. It argues that such responses are informed by a flawed assumption that individuals or communities are more vulnerable to extremist violence because they are politically and socially marginalised from the broader society. The chapter calls for a re-conceptualisation of the Resilience approach through a focus on the emergence of radicalising settings and the broader conditions that promote violent extremism rather than an emphasis on assumed vulnerability. The Building Community Resilience (BCR) Grants Program, which has succeeded the National Action Plan (NAP), 'aims to support community projects across Australia that build resilience to violent extremism. The political construction of terrorism as a problem in Australia relied on a historical tradition that allowed the Australian government to conflate historical sources of anxiety with the threat of terrorism.
