The preoccupation with the challenges posed by violent actors has long existed for many states, whether such actors are characterized as terrorists or insurgents, nonstate or paramilitary actors. The events of September 11, 2001, brought a new urgency and vibrancy to state action in the realm of counterterrorism, illustrated by…
This paper investigates pragmatic acts in the discourse of tweeters and online feedback comments on the activities of Boko Haram, a terrorist group in Nigeria. The tweets and comments illustrate acts used to express revolutionary feelings and reflect what people say and imply in times of crisis. Tweets about Boko…
To draw on the lessons and good practices that have emerged from activities related to countering violent extremism and similar fields, the Government of Canada, as part of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) Working Group on Countering Violent Extremism, hosted a two-day international symposium on measuring the effectiveness of CVE…
Improving the long-term life outcomes of disadvantaged youth remains a top policy priority in the United States, although identifying successful interventions for adolescents – particularly males – has proven challenging. This paper reports results from a large randomized controlled trial of an intervention for disadvantaged male youth grades 7-10 from…
The most important thing to know about theories of change is that they are intended to be helpful and practical. They are not an academic exercise to make your work more difficult, but instead, a tool to improve the design, implementation and assessment of your programs. This guide is to…
Debate continues about the relationship between schools divided on ethno-religious lines and their implications for social cohesion. One argument against the existence of separate schools is that they limit opportunities for children from different groups to engage with each other, promoting intergroup suspicion and sectarianism. Using intergroup contact theory we…
This article provides the argument that political and security interventions (such as CVE interventions) risk shifting the aims of religous education to the aims and purposes of political and security interest. In other words, the author provides an argument as to why interventions in religious education for the purposes of…
This article reports on an intervention designed to prevent violent extremism in young UK Muslims, and provides an empirical assessment of its effectiveness. The course was designed to expose participants to the multiplicity of value priorities that influential Muslims embody, and to structure group activities that allow participants to explore…
Theis study investigates the perspectives of British Muslims on drivers of radicalization in the UK. With regards to socio-economic inequalities, young British Muslims thought that lack of education and poverty as well as poor parenting were some of the factors that led to radicalization and recruitment. As a result, the…
This article identifies themes and issues that seem to cause doubt, leading to exit. It then provides an overview of the literature on disengagement, which has increased in recent times, identifying research findings into voluntary exit from violent extremism: losing faith in the militant ideology, group and leadership failure, and…
In this collection, senior experts explore all aspects of extreme right wing political violence, from the nature of the threat, processes of engagement, and ideology to the lessons that can be drawn from exiting such engagement. Further, right wing activism and political violence are compared with Jihadi violence and engagement….
President Obama and his critics agree that North Africa has become a hot spot for terrorism. In a region awash with weapons, human and drug trafficking and political unrest, al-Qaeda’s local affiliates, especially al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), are flourishing. Throw into the mix the violent separatist Polisario Front,…
