Countering violent extremism (CVE) plays a prominent role in the second Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), the State Department’s policy roadmap, released April 28 by Secretary of State John Kerry. While the CVE strategy, as outlined in the report, emphasizes the importance of a free and functioning civil society, it echoes the rhetoric from the February White House Summit on CVE and the September 2014 presidential memorandum, which focuses on restrictions imposed by foreigh governments and does not address the global impact of U.S. restrictions on civil society. Despite this the report presents yet another potential opening to create dialogue around this issue.
The new QDDR, which builds upon the first QDDR, released in 2010, makes countering violent extremism (CVE) one of its four strategic priorities, along with promoting open, resilient and democratic societies; advancing inclusive economic growth; and mitigating and adapting to climate change. Prevention will be the cornerstone of CVE, the report states, as the State Department tackles the drivers of violent extremism through education, economic opportunity, good governance, and security solutions, along with communications.
The State Department is the lead agency implementing the action agenda agreed to at the recent White House Summit. The QDDR states that it will use analytics to identify the specific conditions that are conducive to violent extremism, but did not go into specifics on the types of data or analyses to be used. The Department will then tailor its approaches to empowering national and local governments; youth and women; religious, cultural and education leaders; and other concerned civil society actors, as well as the private sector, while weakening support for armed groups by using counter-extremist messages and narratives in both traditional and social media.
USAID will play a bigger role in CVE as it partners with donors to implement Civil Society Innovation Initiatives, which were announced in 2014 as part of the administration’s Stand with Civil Society agenda. The goal is to establish up to six networked regional innovation hubs worldwide over the next two years. In addition, a new Secretariat on CVE within USAID will support analysis, program design and lessons learned.
In outlining its strategies for both CVE as well as promoting open and democratic societies, the QDDR emphasizes the importance of supporting civil society and “push[ing] back against expanding restraints on freedom of association and assembly.” While this is a laudable goal, it does not entirely address the problems that civil society organizations face, as it is clear that the U.S. views the problem as stemming from foreign actors rather than our own laws and policy: “We will apply diplomatic pressure to encourage governments and institutions to respect fundamental freedoms and remove restrictions on civil society, while also undertaking programs supporting civil society,” the report states. For the U.S. to effectively take global leadership on the issue of strengthening civil society, it must first address its own restrictions that are inconsistent with the fundamental rights of expression, peaceful assembly and association, as well as international humanitarian law, particularly in the area of national security law. U.S. civil society has spelled out a variety of ways this can be achieved, from helping to draft pending legislation to recommending regulatory changes. The QDDR presents another opportunity to discuss those solutions.