It is almost certainly a clich é by now that the September 11, 2001, terrorists
attacks on the United States changed the world. These events
did so in many ways, including the launching of a multinational war
in Afghanistan against al-Qaeda. But perhaps the most significant
change was in the eroding of the traditional boundaries between
domestic policing and criminal justice and international security
concerns. In countries such as the United States, Great Britain, and
Spain, three countries that experienced terrorist attacks, political and
legal pressures were placed on the government to protect the borders,
maintain law and order, and also respect domestic and international
human rights and law.
But well before the events of 9/11 and the appearance of al-Qaeda
on the international scene, other countries faced what they considered
to be domestic terrorist or other threats that challenged the capacity of
law enforcement agencies to respond. This included Great Britain and
its effort to address violence and unrest in Northern Ireland inspired
by Republican or Loyalist forces in Belfast. How the American and
British authorities and the police responded to their threats is the subject
of Preventing Ideological Violence: Communities, Police and Case
Studies of “Success,” , edited by P. Daniel Silk, Basia Spalek, and Mary
O’Rawe.