This chapter explores the role of trauma in violent extremism research, offering insights on its effects on the research process, providing insights on the radicalization process of individual cases, and informing reintegration prospects of returning foreign fighters and their family members. The chapter focuses on war-related trauma as a widespread…
This study aims to better understand the plight of families associated with ISIL, including those who remain displaced or imprisoned, to identify opportunities for rehabilitation and sustainable reintegration through gender-responsive recommendations. Mostly women and children, families perceived to be affiliated with ISIL require mental and psychosocial care, livelihoods support, and…
The Shared Endeavour Fund is a civil society funding scheme that supports initiatives designed to build Londoners’ resilience to radicalisation and extremist recruitment, as well as reduce intolerance, hate and extremism in the capital. Launched in 2020, the first round of the Fund awarded £800,000 to 31 civil society and…
He was credited with having compiled the “Lonely Planet guide” to joining ISIS, yet little is known of the remarkable stories told in Zafirr Golamaully’s series of blogs called ‘Dusty Feet’. In this research paper we retell these stories, of an individual’s journey to join, dwell with and fight for…
This research report applies the Attitudes-Behaviors Corrective (ABC) Model of Violent Extremism to map personal journeys in and out of al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda affiliate operating in Somalia and the wider Horn of Africa. The ABC Model provides a framework through which to analyze individual trajectories in relation to sympathy for…
The research builds on a context-specific analytical framework to improve the impact of national PVE strategies. 34 drivers of violent extremism are analyzed through two levels of analysis: at a societal level, research findings inform strategies that aim at enhancing the resilience of the State and society, while the individual…
As gaming and gamification play an increasingly important role in recruitment processes and radicalisation, there is an urgent need for evidence-based research in this field. One aspect is the use of games and gamification in prevention work. The article presents a project in which an online-game against extremism was developed…
Today, drug abuse has become a threat that poses a significant challenge to the physical and mental well-being of societies. Territories with a history of state neglect, low service delivery, cross-border management and control, and different sources of tensions represent havens for drug traffickers. In addition, despite the ideal of…
The next part of the process evaluation consisted of qualitative semi-structured interviews with participants of the MAW structures. The original intention was to include three cities per country and five interviews per city (3*15) in order to achieve a representative sample. Due to staff turnover involving our contacts in one…
This report highlights the networks, supporters, and the platforms of Islamic State disinformation disseminators, focusing on popular social media platforms as well as encrypted messaging applications. These disinformation networks are creating self-branded media outlets with followers in the tens of thousands, and often with innocuous names like “Global Happenings,” “DRIL”…
Collaborative research between the Institute for Security Studies and the Judicial Training Institute of Mozambique revealed that people in Cabo Delgado see the discovery and poor governance of natural resources as a cause of the insurgency. The study also found few links between the insurgency and organised crime, and that…
This report explores the three strategic goals of decentralized, unofficial pro-IS networks: create, connect, and deceive. The paper provides a historical overview of the changing strategies employed by such pro-IS supporters online, in response to the changing online environment and stricter content moderation policies, as well as explores each of…
