This webpage brings together research efforts of the Middle East team of Clingendael’s Conflict Research Unit (CRU) that focused on the rise and role of hybrid coercive organisations in Syria and Iraq between 2017 and 2021.

The feeling of dread and fear all Pakistanis are familiar with returned when a bomb blast ripped through a Shia mosque in Peshawar on March 4, 2022. Three days later, another suicide attack targeting a cultural festival killed five Frontier Constabulary paramilitary personnel in Sibi, Balochistan. Scores of people dying…

On January 6, 2021, a small portion (approx. 10-20) of the individuals present at the U.S. Capitol “wore near-identical lower-face masks depicting skeletal jaws contorted into…a ‘vicious Cheshire grin.’” These face coverings — known as Siege masks (named after James Mason’s book) — were first popularized by the neo-Nazi Atomwaffen…

This project, from the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, draws on a global network of subject matter experts and locally-based researchers to monitor Islamic State and al-Qaida affiliates across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, as well as their support and enabling networks in the West. The group…

This desk report explores how West African community-based armed groups (CBAGs) facilitate women’s engagement with politics, create avenues for female expressions of anger, commitment to community values and national identity, and enable women to push for change in their communities by opening spaces for female participation. Assessing the formal and…

Foreign terrorist fighters (FTF who traveled the battlefields of Iraq and/or Syria and have since returned to European soil, be it voluntarily or involuntarily – as well as the facilitators and recruiters of FTFs – pose a grave threat to society. Although the North Macedonian legal system imposes significant sanctions…

A brief look at some of the key findings in the latest Global Terrorism Index 2022 report from Vision of Humanity and the Institute for Economics and Peace. Vision of Humanity is brought to you by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), by staff in its global offices in…

Over the past decade, the digital sphere has become a growing vector for radicalisation. Much of extremists’ ability to influence public discourse and recruit new members has been due to their adoption of practices and customs of the digital sphere related to gaming culture, social media campaigns and the usage…

What role can traditional authorities and religious leaders play to improve the resilience of their communities against violent extremism? Sahel, Burkina Faso’s northern region, is a key region in which to probe into this question for two reasons. First, it has been the region in Burkina Faso most affected by…

The RESOLVE Network’s multiyear research on Community-Based Armed Groups (CBAGs) has established critical findings for the international community on how to engage, manage and transform violent actors in conflict-affected states. While mitigation efforts tend to target anti-state extremist organizations, understanding the behavior of CBAGs is essential for comprehending complex conflict…

Governments, social media companies and the general public are becoming increasingly concerned about the threat of those who are radicalised online and turn to violent extremism. However, the evidence base for this concern is not fully formed. For instance, it is not yet clear if those who are being radicalised…

The re-emergence of Australia’s far-right in the mid-2010s saw an unprecedented level of online mobilisation and a wave of street protests across the country which were often met with counter-protests by anti-racist and anti-fascist networks, most of them associated with far-left groups. This often resulted in clashes, sometimes violent, between…