ABSTRACT
The international response in the immediate aftermath of the attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001, particularly in the West, was shaped largely by a desire to strike back and to improve defences against further acts of terror; it led to the development of a range of measures that were primarily designed to suppress terrorism rather than to undermine its appeal. The period was dominated by a sense that there was a finite number of terrorists and that their capture or elimination would remove the threat of further attacks.
