The The Role of Clan Elders and Local Justice in Building Resilience against Extremist Ideologies in Pakistan

Abstract

Terrorism studies for the past two decades have been reliant on an insistent Euro
centrism that consistently overlooks indigenous resilience capabilities and resilience
opportunities in the Global South. This article examines the role of traditional
governance and justice mechanisms (clan elders, jirga justice and community based
processes) in Pakistan in relation to how they shape responses to extremist ideologies.
It combines decolonial theory and primary data from North Waziristan, Dir Valley,
Khyber District and urban students to demonstrate key features of localized
mechanisms that allow for family and community resilience against extremist
ideologies. The results indicate that traditional authority, alongside youth
mobilization, religious authority and state-led P/CVE agendas can provide
communities with significant capacity to enact Preventing/Countering Violent
Extremism (P/CVE). Resilience mechanisms are simultaneously mobilizing resources
that create social cohesion and challenge extremists narratives to form a multi-layered
resilience model. There are some limitations to resilience mechanisms such as the
impacts of gendered biases, hierarchical abuses and elite capture that lessen
inclusiveness and sustainability. Unlike previous studies that primarily focus on state
led counterterrorism or Western theoretical models, this article introduces a decolonial
and community-centered framework that foregrounds indigenous justice systems—
such as jirgas and clan elders—as viable mechanisms of resilience against extremist
ideologies in Pakistan. It fills a major gap in terrorism studies by systematically
connecting decolonial theory with empirical insights from Pakistan’s tribal and urban
contexts.