The Third Sector, Human Security, and Anti-Terrorism: The United States and Beyond

This paper, a revised version of the keynote address to the Seventh International Conference of the International Society for Third Sector Research (Bangkok, July 2006), explores the increasing tendency of governments to view the third sector as a source of human insecurity and uncivil society in the wake of terrorist attacks. The paper discusses the means governments use to control third sector activity that they view as potentially linked to terrorism, the need for comparative analysis of these measures, and the role of the third sector and scholars in recognizing the responsibilities of governments to prevent third sector organizations being used in terrorism while preserving the independence and vitality of the third sector.