High public fear of terrorism globally has led governments to make counter-terrorism, and its affable cousin, countering violent extremism (CVE), top priorities. On both domestic and international fronts, the idea is that every government department, public servant, NGO, university or media outlet needs to do its part. On the face of it, this is a reasonable and straightforward requirement: everyone should do what they can to stop violence against innocent people, right? Yet many people who work to tackle poverty, provide relief, promote human rights or build peace will hesitate before answering this question. Ultimately, their answer to this particular question should always be ‘yes’ – however, they would be wise to pose a follow up question: are CVE approaches really capable of ending the violence in a just and lasting way, or do we actually need to prioritise a different approach?