ABSTRACT
This chapter reveals how the employment of counterterrorism discourse as an excuse to vanquish dissenters, silence critics, and to justify repressive and merciless practices against opposition groups is no longer limited to draconian governments such as Egypt, but has become a global narrative. Democratic and non-democratic, rich and poor countries alike have begun to use this discourse as a “Trojan horse” to get rid of their opponents and critics based on an imaginary narrative. Recent global and local developments (e.g., populism, the COVID-19 pandemic, popular intifadas, etc.) have not prevented governments from persisting in their efforts to consolidate the powers of the state and restrict the power of opposition and civil society organisations on the one hand, and most importantly, on the other hand, squander the rights of their citizens in the name of the “war on terror” and/or “protecting the herd”.
