Counter-terrorism review is the retrospective consideration of counter-terrorism laws and measures to assess their lawfulness, propriety, impacts, effectiveness and appropriateness by reference to core principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Its core functions are to hold the government to account, challenge excessive state counter-terrorism policy, ensure state counter-terrorism practices are transparent – to the extent possible in a field often determined by secrecy – and ‘feed forward’ into the refinement of counter-terrorism. In this way, it contributes to the safeguarding of human rights in the face of security measures.

This project addressed the existing knowledge gaps about counter-terrorism review in the UK, explored the implications and impacts for rights of how counter-terrorism review currently works, and proposed reforms based on the findings of an empirically-informed, cross-disciplinary, and intellectually rigorous programme of research.

The project completed in late 2019, culminating in a major monograph entitled Accountability and Review in the Counter-Terrorist State, which was published by Bristol University Press.