The emergence of Islamic State has created new security concerns for Western nations, particularly those which have experienced a recent upsurge in domestic terrorist activities inspired by the organisation. Whilst the nature of the terrorist threat might have changed since the early days after 9/11, domestic responses to that threat—in the form of new anti-terrorism laws—have not demonstrated a significant evolution in thinking about counter-terrorism. Many of the measures introduced in Australia and the UK since the emergence of the foreign fighters crisis have simply updated pre-existing regimes, such as control orders in Australia and Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures in the UK. Others have been more innovative, such as the Australian offence of entering a declared terrorist zone. What all the responses have in common, however, is that they think inside the proverbial box; that is, the Australian and UK Parliaments continue to be of the view that enacting new and increasingly intrusive legislation is the best way of resolving the threat of terrorism.
Anti-Terrorism Law and Foreign Terrorist Fighters evaluates whether the new legislation introduced in Australia and the UK is, in fact, necessary, appropriate, or effective at dealing with the foreign fighters phenomenon. It will be of value to academics and students who teach, research, and study the ever-evolving area of anti-terrorism law and counter-terrorism policy, and of interest to scholars in a number of fields including law, comparative politics and government, and terrorism and security studies.