Empirical research on terrorism has tended to overlook the heterogeneity of the radicalized population, and how, in its heterogeneity, it differs from the general population. This study first asks how radicalized individuals, irrespective of the activities they participated in during their trajectory, differ from the general population. It then divides…

In the aftermath of 9/11 security agencies augmented their counterterrorism (CT) apparatuses with advanced analytics, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve their ability to identify and neutralize terrorists. Under this regime, humans remained the central actors, tasked with understanding information and crafting a response. The advent of…

This article explores the diverse forms of women’s participation in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) initiatives in the Philippines. While most literature on P/CVE primarily emphasises women’s roles as mothers, this paper highlights other roles women undertake within P/CVE efforts. These participatory forms stem from the contextual conditions driving…

Each year, the goal of Hedayah’s Annual International Research Conference is to gather leading experts to share new research, methodologies, best practices, and findings for the benefit of the broader community of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in fields related to countering extremism and violent extremism. In 2023, the Research Conference…

To what extent can climate change adaptation be incorporated into counterterrorism strategies in the Lake Chad Basin (LCB) region? As part of the Lake Chad region counterterrorism strategy, we explore how climate change adaptation can be used to prevent local population recruitment into violent extremism. Over the years, the Lake…

This policy brief seeks to identify recommendations for governments, regulators and other international policymaking entities to design effective policies for preventing and countering violent extremism policies in gaming spaces, to enforce standards, and to support the development of capacity to moderate online harms.

In an increasingly digital world, gaming and gaming-adjacent platforms have emerged as vital social spaces, attracting more than 3 billion active users globally. These platforms, which range from immersive video games to forums and livestreaming sites, offer unique opportunities to build communities, foster creativity and promote education. However, they also…

After more than 20 years of research, it is well established that states used counter-terrorism measures (CTMs) to close civic spaces for civil society under the pretext of curbing terrorism. However, the specific mechanisms by which these occur, or the responses of civil society organizations (CSOs), remain hard to grasp….

This article considers how ideology motivates lone actor terrorists to use violence. A significant body of literature in terrorism studies sees ideology as a much less important driver of terrorist action than other phenomena such as personal crisis and status seeking. Yet these studies often reach this conclusion without first…

Vigilantism is not a new phenomenon in Nigeria. As a state with various “alternatively governed” spaces the country has leant on vigilantes of differing forms as a source of authority where the state has been ineffective. Albeit proving controversial, their successes cannot be unrecognized. This article explores the public’s perception…