Editorial Note

Abstract

Rethinking Security Beyond the Bullet

The Journal of Terrorism and Defence Studies inaugurates this issue with a bracing premise: that security is not merely a tactical problem but a philosophical one. The five articles collected here, spanning Nigerian poverty dynamics, West African coups, and the axiology of peacebuilding, collectively argue that the defence community must move beyond kinetic metrics toward structural and ethical diagnostics.

Taken together, these five articles move terrorism and defence studies away from exclusive focus on insurgent tactics and toward the deeper question: what makes a political order worth defending? The answer emerging here; value-based governance, security literacy, empowered peace institutions, and regionally anchored conflict prevention is not soft. It is hard in a more demanding way.