This chapter provides readers with an overview and discussion of the manner in which the Internet and social media has facilitated movements, ranging from Aryan Nations and the various European Defence Leagues, to the Global Jihadist Movement and anarchist groups. As the phenomenon of netwar and online recruitment evolved after…

Back in the 1990s something happened in central Bosnia-Herzegovina that inspired people to this day and helps explain why that country now has more men fighting in Syria and Iraq (over 300), as a proportion of its population, than most in Europe. The formation of a “Mujahideen Battalion” in 1992,…

In June 2014 I witnessed thousands of Iraqis throng the offices of top Shia clerics in Najaf, including Grand Ayatollah Ali-al Sistani, asking for a religious injunction to proceed towards Mosul and fight the Islamic State. It was not a choreographed exercise. People were genuinely moved to make a difference….

The role of the internet in radicalizing individuals to extremist action is much discussed but remains conceptually and empirically unclear. Here we consider right-wing and jihadist use of the Internet – who posts what and where. We focus on extremist content related to radicalization to violent action, and argue that…

Al Shabaab has engaged in increasingly menacing attacks, usually against civilian soft targets, since the 2013 strike at Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, which killed 67 people. In December 2014, al Shabaab killed 36 non-Muslim Kenyan quarry laborers in the Mandera region near the Somali border; it be-headed several…

The central challenge for sub-Saharan Africa is to build accountable, capable governments that can deliver security and inclusive growth. Research into the drivers, trends and characteristics of violence in Africa may help achieve these goals. This paper firstly presents global and African trends in armed conflict since 1960, while looking…

While the Islamic State is under pressure in Syria and Iraq, the group’s crowdsourced external operations capability remains a threat inside the United States, inspiring individuals to act in its name• In the month of June alone, there have already been five arrests of individuals in the United States on…

On July 20, over 30 students were killed in a bomb attack in southern Turkey• Despite the suspicions expressed by some Kurds, the likely culprit of the bombing is the Islamic State• The attack follows a clampdown on the Islamic State in Turkey, with multiple arrests• Turkey may have decided…

This study questions whether the perspectives of security and intelligence serve educators well enough in the early stages of radicalisation. Assigned to signal deviant behaviour, educators are unwittingly drawn into a villain-victim imagery of their students. This imagery seems to impede a genuine educational outlook on radicalisation. Key notions of…

A video on education to prevent violent extremism by the United States delegation to UNESCO.

The presence of violent extremist offenders in prison can be a source of concern for prison authorities and policy officials. Not only is there fear of the spread of extremist ideologies among the inmate population, but also there is the worry that radicalized detainees will engage in extremist activities after…

The influence of terrorist groups operating on the Lebanese-Syrian border, Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria, and the increasing sense of humiliation and powerlessness amongst Sunnis since Hezbollah’s take¬over of west Beirut in 2008 is breeding concern about the radicalization of Lebanon’s Sunni community.