ABSTRACT
This chapter elaborates on the key concepts that run across the entire book. It isolates and offers conceptual clarifications that are key to understanding the discourses on terrorism and counter-terrorism. These include the contested terminologies such as radicalization, violent extremism and insurgency. These terminologies are then contextualized and debated across several African regions, with emphasis on East Africa and West Africa using the cases of Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab extremists. The chapter notes that how these concepts are framed and securitized by respective states has implications for counter-terrorism initiatives. These include the need to embrace soft power approaches as informed by the changing dynamics in the war against terrorism that poses an existential threat to fragile African states.
