Journal for Deradicalization
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Systematic Review on the Outcomes of Tertiary Prevention Programs in the Field of Violent Radicalization
Full text linkIn the last decade, growing concerns about radicalized violence have led governments to make important efforts and invest significant sums of money in developing programs to prevent violent extremism (PVE). Despite these efforts, current knowledge regarding best practices in prevention remains disparate, and the effectiveness of practices used at present has not yet been clearly established. This is especially true for tertiary prevention programs, i.e., those that aim to “deradicalize” and/or disengage individuals from extremist groups and reintegrate them into society. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a systematic review of the literature published up to 2019 to identify “what works” in tertiary PVE programming. Of the 11,836 studies generated from the searches in this review, 17 were eligible, as they included a sufficiently robust empirical evaluation of a tertiary prevention initiative using primary data. Narrative synthesis of the reviewed studies suggested that deradicalization interventions were harder to implement and less effective on average than disengagement/social reintegration interventions. This was echoed in the intervention modules that were most often described as successful: education, vocational training, and socialization components were preferred to religious education modules or online interventions purposed to challenge violent radical ideologies. The delivery of programs was facilitated by following the risk, needs, and responsivity principles of effective correctional intervention, as well as adequate training of practitioners, cooperation between the staff, good therapeutic alliance, complementary psychological counseling, and involving prosocial family members in the intervention. However, these conclusions rely on studies with substantial methodological limitations that hinder one’s confidence in their results. A screening of studies published between 2020 and 2024 was conducted and largely replicated the conclusions reported herein.
Acknowledgments
This publication was funded by Public Safety Canada’s Community Resilience Fund. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Public Safety Canada. The Canadian Practitioners Network for the Prevention of Extremist Violence (CPN-PREV) authorizes publication of this content in the Journal for Deradicalization. The authors declare no conflicts of interest
Violent Radicalisation Prevention in Northern Nigeria: The Socio-Economic Roles of Religious Leaders
Full text linkViolent extremism remains one of the biggest security challenges in northern Nigeria. This study takes a grassroots approach, particularly investigating how religious leaders address the socio-economic factors that render people vulnerable to violent radicalisation in that region. Data for the study were generated from ten qualitative interviews with Christian and Muslim leaders across five locations in the region. Thematic analysis was then applied to identify and interpret key themes within the perspectives and experiences shared by the participants. It pioneers the application of the faith-based humanitarianism (FBH) concept to the study of violent radicalisation prevention and argues that religious leaders are more than just theological authorities; they are also practical socio-economic agents of prevent. It finds that they use their influence and network to facilitate individual and communal resilience, critical thinking, and social and economic empowerment in vulnerable communities. It concludes by suggesting that their contributions may play an important role in the prevention of violent radicalisation, especially in Nigeria’s northern region, where issues of poverty, unemployment, and lack of education increase radicalisation risks
Preventing Violent Extremism through Mentoring? Outcomes and Insights from a Quebec-Based Program
Full text linkAlthough research on the tertiary prevention of violent extremism has increased over the past decade, clear benchmarks for best practices remain scarce. Existing studies often suffer from methodological and ethical limitations and seldom incorporate the perspectives of those most directly affected—namely, the individuals targeted by these programs. Nevertheless, a growing body of literature highlights the promise of social rehabilitation approaches, such as mentoring programs. This article examines a mentoring program developed by a Quebec-based clinical team specializing in the prevention of extremism and violent radicalization. It explores the program’s impact from the perspectives of mentees, mentors, and clinicians. Based on a qualitative analysis of 15 individual semi-structured interviews and 2 focus groups, the study identifies the program’s strengths and limitations. Overall, participants viewed the mentoring program positively. Among the positive effects was the creation of a secure relational space that enabled some mentees to break out of isolation through meaningful interpersonal engagement. However, the mentoring relationship also presented challenges, including the potential for mentees to reproduce or reinforce past negative relational experiences. Robust clinical support is therefore essential to mitigate these risks and to safeguard the well-being of both mentees and mentors
Examining the Impacts of a Gamified Media Literacy Intervention in Indonesia
Full text linkIntegrating popular messaging applications and gamified approaches is an emerging strategy to deploy media literacy interventions at-scale. The present study examines the impacts of a WhatsApp-styled intervention in prebunking mis- and dis-information among an age and gender stratified sample of 504 Indonesian adults. Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior, the intervention aimed to inoculate participants to common disinformation tactics and arguments through interactive elements simulating group chats with loved ones around three major topic areas (health, news and finance). Data were collected on participants' attitudes, subjective norms, self-efficacy, intentions, and ability to detect disinformation before and after the intervention. Following the intervention, participants reported a statistically significant increase in motivation to detect fake information, perception that it is normal to identify disinformation online, and greater motivation to combat misinformation. These impacts were sustained two weeks after the intervention. While self-efficacy increased immediately after the intervention, it returned to baseline levels at the two-week follow-up, despite this initial increase. Findings provide valuable insights into the potential of gamified interventions to effectively influence key behavioral determinants related to disinformation consumption and sharing, particularly motivation and perceived norms
Importance of Dialogicality in Professional Development of Social and Health Care Workers: A Case of Preventing Radicalization
Full text linkAddressing global challenges such as violent radicalization and extremism requires cross-sector collaboration among different authorities and professionals, which is essential in developing sustainable solutions that promote violence prevention. However, there is a lack of knowledge on how multi-professional dialogue can be facilitated among the stakeholders involved in preventing radicalization and violent extremism (PVE). This study aimed to explore the meanings that social and healthcare professionals attribute to the prevention of violent radicalization after completing an online course on the subject. Data were collected through semi-structured, individually conducted interviews (n = 12), and the data analysis employed an inductive thematic content approach. The results showed that social and healthcare professionals emphasized the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration in preventing violent radicalization, valuing it for enhancing work efficacy, client support, and professional development. Participants highlighted the need for cross-organizational discussions, locally guided practices, and service pathways involving experts by experience as key to advancing future prevention efforts. The results of this study can inform training interventions for social and healthcare workers, highlighting the importance of preventing violent radicalization in these sectors. We suggest that the development of local operational models could be part of the training
Preventing Radicalization at the Local Level: Municipal Perspectives on State-Civil Society Collaboration in Germany
Full text linkCollaboration between civil society and state authorities in preventing radicalization has often been met with scepticism in academic debates, particularly due to concerns about power asymmetries, structural inequalities, and the risk of co-optation. While existing literature offers critical insights into national institutional frameworks and their implications for civil society, it frequently overlooks the local dynamics that shape prevention practices on the ground. The paper addresses this gap by examining cooperation between municipal officials and civil society organizations (CSOs) in local preventive efforts, focusing on the relatively understudied case of Germany. Specifically, this pilot study centres on the perspectives of municipal actors rather than directly capturing CSO voices. Drawing on 14 semi-structured interviews with municipal officers in Germany, it explores how collaboration is influenced not only by their formal mandates, but also by individual professional trajectories and locally embedded networks. The findings show that local cooperation in the prevention field is more contingent and negotiated than commonly acknowledged. Enabling factors and persistent challenges - such as lack of trust, divergent expectations, and the limited capacities of smaller CSOs - affect the quality and sustainability of these partnerships. By foregrounding lived experience and first-person perspectives of municipal officials, the paper advances a more grounded and relational understanding of state-civil society collaboration, one that accounts for the hybrid arrangements and interpersonal dynamics through which preventive efforts unfold at the local level.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). The opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of BAMF or the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI). I am grateful to the Vereinigung Pestalozzi / LEGATO Verbund for the opportunity to work as a research consultant in their project Kommunale Fachberatung: Prävention und gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt. The data collected during this work provided the basis for the present study. My deepest thanks go to the municipal officials who generously shared their time, insights, and experiences. 
Designing Multicultural-Based Islamic Education to Counteract Student Radicalization in Indonesia
Full text linkStudent radicalization is a serious threat in Indonesia, especially within public universities. Data from the Indonesian State Intelligence Agency indicates that 39% of the students in public universities are exposed to radicalism. One way to prevent religion from becoming an entry point for radicalism and extremism is introducing changes to the religious education curriculum at the higher education level. However, a standardized religious education curriculum is currently not available at this level. Preventive measures against student radicalization are essential. One way they can be implemented is by providing Islamic Religious Education that incorporates multicultural insights. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of preventing student radicalization through Islamic Religious Education with multicultural perspectives. The research employs a Solomon four-group experiment involving 80 university students in East Java. For this purpose, a radicalization scale developed from adaptations based on deradicalization theory and Moghaddam's staircase model of terrorism was used in this study. The data were analyzed using ANCOVA with SPSS software. The results indicate that the provision of Islamic Religious Education with multicultural insights significantly affects the levels of radicalization on the ground, first, second, and fourth floors, as outlined in Moghaddam's staircase model, while showing no effect on the third and fifth floors. This research has implications for understanding and providing empirical evidence that multicultural Islamic Religious Education can serve as an alternative to traditional Islamic Religious Education in universities, particularly in the following material: Islam and religion, Islamic law, Islamic politics, conflict and harmony, and civil society, as a means to prevent dimensions of student radicalization. It underscores that the prevention of radicalization follows a pattern where the higher is the level of radicalization, the more the prevention program must focus on self-concept
Countering Religious Radicalism: A Systematic Review Of Faith-Based Institutional Strategies And Challenges
Full text linkReligious-based radicalism has intensified globally, threatening social cohesion and exploiting doctrinal ambiguities across diverse faith traditions. Although faith-based institutions (FBI's) are increasingly recognized as important actors in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE), existing studies remain fragmented and context-specific, limiting cross-regional and comparative understanding of their institutional roles and mechanisms. Results reveal that six major domains employed by FBIs, moderation-oriented education, interfaith engagement, social and humanitarian services, internal institutional regulation, policy advocacy, and media-based counter-narratives. However, their effectiveness varies depending on institutional legitimacy, organizational capacity, partnership dynamics, and broader sociopolitical contexts. FBIs play a vital and multifaceted role in preventing religious radicalism across diverse contexts
On the Role of Formers in Violent Extremism Tertiary Prevention Programs
Full text linkThe question of what roles, if any, former extremists can or should play in PVE efforts is one that has received increased attention in recent years. This article contributes to that conversation by collecting input from preventing violent extremism (PVE) experts we brought together in June 2023 for a full-day workshop. More specifically, our research team recruited a group of 12 US-based PVE experts—all of whom had some experience working with Formers extremists—to participate in a structured discussion about the protection, supervision, and use of formers in PVE work. The issues raised by the experts fell into four broad categories: the roles that formers have played in US PVE, the qualifications and training formers should have, the effectiveness of formers in facilitating PVE, and the ethics of their involvement. Broadly speaking, we find that PVE practitioners’ support for the involvement of formers in PVE activities is heavily caveated by a range of concerns related to qualifications, training, and scope of work. Additionally, a review of the literature finds minimal support for the involvement of formers in PVE, and raises a range of ethical issues that the field has not yet fully addressed.
Acknowledgements
This project was made possible by funding and support from the National Institute of Justice (Evaluability assessment and development of psychological and behavioral health approaches to prevent terrorism and facilitate reintegration of violent extremists; Award Number 15PNIJ-21-GG-02727-DOMR). The content of this manuscript as well as the views expressed therein are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIJ, nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. government
‘The Guilt Complex’: Assessing How Perceptions of Guilt Impact Reintegration Experiences of Young Returnees from the FARC Across Colombia
Full text linkThis paper examines the first-hand narratives of young people who were former combatants of the FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo) in Colombia and demobilised after signing the 2016 Peace Agreement. It seeks to understand how perceptions of guilt among young returnees at institutional, individual and social levels shape their reintegration experiences. Through case studies undertaken across four cities in Colombia - Valledupar (Cesar), Medellín (Antioquia), Arauca and Bogotá - this paper contends that unresolved individual and socially inflicted guilt can impede positive reintegration into communities. Nearly a decade since the peace agreement, reintegration experiences of young returnees, including their perceptions of guilt, are conditioned by the specific context within Colombia that they originated from, as well as the environment to which they returned. Additionally, youth who were formerly a member of the FARC continue to hold the values and ideologies of the group post release. Such acquired value systems influence young people’s justifications not only for their past actions but also their present dispositions and understanding of the return and reintegration process itself.
Correction Note:
Two co-authors have been edited to this manuscript post publication. The modification in authorship is reflective of their substantial academic contribution and guidance in developing this research article, which is part of a PhD thesis project supervised by them