This article critiques the six tenets of Saudi Arabia’s terrorism risk reduction initiative using two social psychology theories: identity theory and frame alignment theory. The search for personal identity is considered one of the motivations most likely to render detainees susceptible to new belief systems and may work either in…
This article uses Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish to examine how de-radicalization programmes in the War on Terror transform power–knowledge relations, mental discipline and punishment by attempting to instil self-governance through non-violence. By asking questions on the nature of knowledge, practice, state involvement and recidivism of de-radicalization, it contends that…
American rhetoric has repeatedly painted Canada as a conduit for terrorists to enter the USA. But what actually happens at Canada’s borders? This article analyses open-source, cross-sectional data on Canadians convicted of terrorism offences between 1999 and 2011., It applies social network analysis (SNA) – investigating stochastic networks by means…
An examination into the historical background and ideological profile of the right-wing in Bulgaria, using case studies of the far-right in action, and their electoral results of the last decade, to highlight the scale and threat of right-wing extremism in the country.
MyJihad aims to derive a more moderate understanding of the term ‘jihad’. Designed to reclaim the concept from extremist constituencies, the initiative aims to counter misinformation surrounding Islam and to share the proper meaning of Jihad as believed and practiced by the majority of Muslims.
A digital communications agency which specialises in youth engagement, Bold Creative launched its Digital Disruption programme in 2008. The project aims to empower young people to become more resilient online, teaching them to engage critically with extremist content and building capacity in vulnerable communities.
An online platform designed to disseminate a 500-page fatwa issued by prominent scholar Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri to undermine the religious justifications for violent extremism.
This document is a product of the Clean IT project and was published in January 2013. It reflects the combined views of the participants as a whole on how to reduce terrorist use of the Internet. Individual participants or the organizations they represent do not necessarily agree with all parts…
The RecoRa programme emerged from an EU-funded project ‘Recognising and Responding to Radicalisation’ which explored the factors that restrict front line workers from proactively engaging in work to prevent violent extremism, and aims to embed expertise on recognising and responding to ideologically based violence within and across government agencies and…
The Oslo Conference on Right-wing Extremism and Hate Crime: Minorities under Pressure in Europe and Beyond was held on May 14-15 2013 under the auspices of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Against a background of rising concern about xenophobic trends, exclusivist ideologies, and crimes committed against minorities, the conference…
It is now accepted that talks with the Taliban will form some part of the ISAF/NATO strategy for bringing down troop levels in Afghanistan. It is unclear, however, about what that means in practice. Much has been written about the issue of ‘talking to terrorists’ and there are numerous examples…
While the use of the internet and social media as a tool for extremists and terrorists has been well documented, understanding the mechanisms at work has been much more elusive. This paper begins with a grounded theory approach guided by a new theoretical approach to power that utilizes both terrorism…
