When terrorists attempt politics: an evaluation of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s pursuit of political transformation

Julian Droogan, Khuram Iqbal and Syed Adnan Bukhari

Small Wars and Insurgencies, 2025, vol. 36, issue 2, 299-326

Abstract: In recent years, the United Nations (UN) designated terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a group with links to the Pakistani security establishment, has been pursuing a strategy of political transition. This paper explores whether existing counter-terrorism frameworks such as the UN-led disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) and state-led de-radicalization and disengagement programs adequately explain the transition of terrorist organizations into the political arena. It is argued that a lack of organizational consensus, the failure to evolve an ideological consensus for renouncing violence and endorsing democracy, and unpromising domestic and international political environments are the strongest predictors of difficulties in achieving successful transformation.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09592318.2024.2423315 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:fswixx:v:36:y:2025:i:2:p:299-326

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/fswi20

DOI: 10.1080/09592318.2024.2423315

Access Statistics for this article

Small Wars and Insurgencies is currently edited by Paul Rich

More articles in Small Wars and Insurgencies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().