David Cortright, Associate Director of Programs and Policy Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame has published a blog for the Global Observatory that asks a question that does not get enough attention: Could new laws to fight terrorism actually help fuel it?

Noting the wave of new counterterrorism laws passed since the emergence of ISIS, Cortright says, “While these laws have a purported purpose of improving national security, there is a risk that punitive measures that widen police and intelligence powers will have limited utility and narrow the political freedoms and human rights protections that many in these societies consider essential. More significantly, they could prove counterproductive to fighting terrorism by increasing the marginalization of communities.”

The blog also notes the counterproductive impact on civil society and the role it migt otherwise be able to play in building human security. Cortrights says,“Restrictive measures adopted in the name of counterterrorism can have the effect of hindering civil society efforts to overcome the conditions that give rise to terrorism…Yet restrictions on charitable funding, barriers to dialogue with radicalized communities, and the weakening of human rights protections make this work more difficult, as noted in the Friend not Foe report for the Dutch development agency Cordaid.”