Civil society, aid, and security post-9/11

Following President Bush's declaration of a "war on terror" in 2001, governments around the world introduced a range of counter-terrorist legislation, policies, and practices. These included first-order measures aimed specifically at suspected terrorists, such as counter-terrorist and money laundering legislation, enhanced surveillance, renditions, and passenger profiling, and second-order measures that are built into other policies such as official aid assistance, refugee and asylum practices, education, and community-engagement initiatives. When Barack Obama became US President in early 2009, one of his first moves was to distance himself from the language of the "war on terror," a phrase that has become irrevocably associated with President Bush. In this spirit he committed his administration to closing the Guantanamo detention facility in Cuba and banning the use of torture.