Legal aspects of combating extremism for the international community of states

Background/Objectives: In the 21st century, the world was faced with increased outbreaks of extremism and terrorism, being completely unprepared neither in terms of the practical combating these phenomena, nor in terms of their theoretical conceptualization. Methods: This article attempts to analyze comprehensively the extremism phenomenon in order to clarify the reasons of specific international focus on this phenomenon and the prospects of international rule-making in this area based on the analysis of the existing international legal acts and documents adopted by various international forums with the participation of the UN member states, and using doctrinal approaches. The study includes a broad legal framework and analysis of foreign policy initiatives in this regard. Findings: The analysis has shown that the above documents are increasingly dealing with the problem of combating extremism in the context of anti-terrorism efforts. Recently, the counter-extremism problem has been treated as a separate challenge to the international safety. The above documents are increasingly dealing with the problem of combating extremism in the context of anti-terrorism efforts. Recently, the counter-extremism problem has been treated as a separate challenge to the international safety. Moreover, the phenomenon of extremism takes various forms, primarily, the form of 'violent extremism'. Extremism is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon affecting the legal, social, political and economic elements. The uniqueness of the article is increased due to the lack of a comprehensive analysis of the 'extremism' phenomenon as a threat to the international peace and security. In this connection, it is reasonable to unify and harmonize approaches to combating extremism. Application/ Improvements: International counter-extremism cooperation and multidisciplinary studies of this phenomenon are associated with the prospects of scientific development of the 'extremism' concept and determination of its qualifying features for the entire international community to be universally accepted.