The focus of international and national strategies for countering terrorism in the past decade has shifted from using hard security measures alone to combat terrorism, to a more multi-sectoral, comprehensive approach, which also includes more preventive strategies known as countering violent extremism (CVE). For example, multilateral organizations such as the…
In late February, 31 men, mostly from the Shiite Hazara minority, were kidnapped in Afghanistan, and remain held hostage. This week, five Hazara men were beheaded in the remote eastern district of Malestan, and 36 civilians were killed and 125 wounded in a suicide bombing outside a bank in the…
This manifesto is a call to action to help empower the very group of people who have the potential to be some of the most influential in the lives of our young people and to help them truly prevent violent extremism. As it is impossible for schools to solve the…
The June 26 terror attacks in Tunisia and Kuwait that killed 62 people, and possibly the attack in France, represent a new terror tactic combining lower-level coordination with higher-level inspiration. The Islamic State has managed to think globally while acting locally, resulting in plots that are exceedingly difficult for law…
Singapore has been shaken by news that two teenagers have been lured by the ISIS narrative to engage in terrorist acts. The Singaporean community has an important role in meeting this challenge to national security.
The RAN Education (EDU) Working Group1 was set up in 2015 and kicked-off on 25 and 26 November in Prague (CZ). This Working Group focuses on better equipping teachers and the school system so they can play a crucial role in preventing radicalisation. The aim is to raise awareness of…
ISIS has brought terrorist propaganda to a new level, targeting its main audiences in nearly two dozen languages with up to 90,000 tweets every day. Governments have generally been at a loss as how to counter the ISIS narrative with persuasive counter-arguments to reduce its attraction for rebellious Muslim youths…
In contemporary Norway, the mere referral to the term racism has for all practical purposes become taboo in the public sphere. This is both the result of a strategic far-right distancing from classical forms of racism and a conscious effort by numerous Norwegian academics and public intellectuals to restrict its…
Azerbaijan has emerged relatively recently from the Soviet system and sits in a politically sensitive neighbourhood. Regional powers have in the past co-operated with and supported local groups often seeking to destabilise the country in order to promote their own agendas. In such an environment, a delicate balancing act continues…
This essay examines the involvement of ethnic Albanian foreign fighters in the conflict in Syria and Iraq with a particular focus on Kosovo Albanians, given their higher participation rate in the conflict. It explores regional historical and contextual conditions conducive to religious radicalization among ethnic Albanians, assesses the scale of…
Lying at the crossroads between East and West and South and North, the South Caucasus is situated at the intersection of Eurasia’s major energy and transport corridors. An important geostrategic region, for centuries it has been the theatre of competition between regional powers, including the Persian, Russian, and Ottoman Empires….
The following report will present an in-depth analysis of violent extremism and religious radicalization as a national and international phenomenon. A comparative approach will be adopted in assessing the international and regional dynamics of this phenomenon. In turn, this report will provide a comprehensive understanding of the socio-economic, ideological and…
