Journal for Deradicalization
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Principles for Community Development Programming to Address Violent and Hateful Extremism
Full text linkThis article outlines five principles for community development (primary level) programming to address violent and hateful extremism: focus on the local; strengthen capability; enhance inclusivity; foster connection; and monitor, evaluate, and learn. These principles were identified through a systematic review of programs for preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) facilitated by civil society organisations (CSOs). Findings from the systematic review are presented in this article to outline a framework, which is then examined in action—using an Indonesian community P/CVE program as an example—to assess the principles’ applicability and relevance in practice. The purpose of this article is to present a list of evidence-based practice principles to support design and evaluation of community development programming that seeks to address violent and hateful extremism. The article probes the question: Do these principles adequately serve their intended purpose (to support evidence-based design and evaluation) in the context of P/CVE initiatives? This inquiry is intended to enrich the dialogue among practitioners, policymakers, and scholars engaged in formulating and executing strategies to combat violent and hateful extremism. By anchoring its analysis in tangible community experiences and perspectives, the paper offers a pragmatic, evidence-informed framework for CSOs operating in the sphere of P/CVE, thereby contributing to both academic discourse and practical implementation strategies.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Universitas Indonesia and the Wahid Foundation for their support facilitating the fieldwork for this article
The Working Alliance in Practice: Navigating Effective Engagement with Violent Extremist Offenders
Full text linkEstablishing trust and building a strong Working Alliance are crucial challenges when working with violent extremist offenders (VEOs). Extensive literature highlights the significance of these elements for effective interventions with this group. However, research has not yet approached the specific steps involved in creating a Working Alliance. This article fills this gap by drawing on in-depth interviews conducted with eight professionals from six European jurisdictions. The article also contrasts insights from practical work with academic state of the art. By offering these insights, the article aims to facilitate the creation of effective Working Alliances and contribute to the academic debates on the disengagement of VEOs.
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to Willem van der Brugge – former Secretary General of CEP – and Robert Örell – co-leader of RAN – for their help in conducting this piece of research.
This article was written as part of the EU funded project EUTEx: Developing a European framework for disengagement and reintegration of extremist offenders and radicalised individuals in prison, including returning foreign terrorist fighters and their families, project ID: 101035851
Participatory Theatre for Preventing Violent Extremism Through Education - Reflections on Prospects and Preconditions
Full text linkAs the search for new ways of preventing violent extremism through education (PVE-E) continues, the question arises as to what the creative arts can offer. This paper argues that Forum Theatre inspired by Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, is a useful strengths-based approach to PVE-E. By allowing students to intervene and change the plot in a re-run of a play on radicalisation, Forum Theatre supports students in understanding the complexity of radicalisation and reflecting on protective factors as well as intervention possibilities. It offers opportunities to take on different perspectives and experiment with, question and explore the consequences of behavioural decisions in certain contexts. However, there are some conditions for Forum Theatre to fully exploit its potential for PVE-E. Among others, the creative intervention requires a safe environment where students’ learning is not impaired by self-censorship. It should also be noted that while Forum Theatre can empower students to take preventative action themselves, its sole purpose should not be to turn students into prevention actors. Adequate training for teachers and external artistic professionals as well as preparation and follow-up for students are also indispensable. Now, it is time to expand the evidence base for such a participatory education method to assess whether it lives up to the theoretical expectations and whether such conditions are met in practice
Talking about violent extremism: Experiences of Canadian secondary school teachers in four metropolitan areas
Full text linkThis study explores the perspectives and experiences of Canadian secondary school teachers around violent extremism through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with 30 (n=30) teachers from Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver. The findings reveal unanimous eagerness among participants to engage with controversial subjects, yet almost all of them exhibit discomfort in addressing violent extremism, primarily due to perceived deficiencies in their expertise and training in this area. Some teachers show reluctance to address these topics to avoid excluding or marginalizing specific student groups, notably Muslims. Interestingly, a minority of teachers suggest that white students are immune to radicalization. They also expose unconscious biases concerning radicalization among religious minority students, especially Muslims, reflecting dominant discourses around radicalization and Islam. Moreover, there exists dissent regarding the necessity of addressing radicalization in schools that seemingly lack youth radicalization, mirroring a reactive discourse in preventing/countering violent extremism (P/CVE). Alarmingly, some participants report Islamophobia among their colleagues, highlighting an urgent issue that needs attention. Drawing from these insights, the study advocates for comprehensive teacher training on violent extremism and emphasizes the importance of collaboration between schools, parents, and local education ministries. It also criticizes Canada’s National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence for its shortcomings and calls for a more robust and inclusive approach to P/CVE. Ultimately, the study underscores the need to integrate an ethic of care into educational practices, fostering an inclusive environment where all students feel valued and supported
Could the Futility of Terrorism Inspire Deradicalization? Narrative Strategies Arising from Case Studies of Far-Right Lone-Actor Terrorism
Full text linkDespite a growing body of research on deradicalization, research has not yet established which specific counter-narratives are most effective at achieving ideological or behavioral deradicalization. One potential narrative strategy concerns the futility of most terrorism—its lack of effectiveness in achieving political objectives. Previous research argues that idiosyncratic strategic thinking, or perpetrators’ bizarre and extremely unrealistic expectations about the effects of their attacks, is common among terrorists, but this needs further empirical confirmation and has not been explored as a deradicalization strategy. This article thus analyzes the idiosyncratic strategic thinking behind a sample (n=8) of far-right lone-actor terrorist attacks, including the 2011 Norway and 2018 New Zealand massacres and subsequent copycat attacks, and drawing from this analysis, develops eight narrative deradicalization strategies. The article concludes by proposing a study testing the effect of various interventions, including futility-focused counter-narratives as well as others, on individuals’ likelihood of engaging in extremist violence
Radicalization Pathways among Women in U.S. Far-Right Extremist Networks and Implications for Deradicalization
Full text linkRadicalization of women within far-right extremist networks is a timely issue. Evidence suggests women’s participation in terrorist activity is likely to grow in the next few years, as extremists continue to find new ways to recruit women. Women’s involvement in far-right extremist networks is greater than frequently thought, yet the underlying radicalization pathways are often understudied. At times, radicalization pathways of women are stereotyped; or women are dismissed due to the perceived complexity of understanding their support for extreme misogynistic networks. Exploring these radicalization pathways is important in understanding deradicalization and preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) practices. Existing research often regards radicalized women as anomalies, deviating from traditional gender norms, meaning policy considerations relating to deradicalization are still based on outdated stereotypes. Far-right extremism is one of the most significant domestic threats currently facing the United States. Leveraging the extant literature on gender and radicalization, this paper provides an overview of women’s presence and radicalization pathways within the contemporary American far right. I present case studies of two women, who have participated in contemporary American far-right extremist networks, providing an in-depth content analysis of their personal social media accounts and secondary sources. I find that these women are motivated by, and radicalized through, perceived threats to their status. Such threats need not be real and can be derived from real political and cultural events, or conspiracy theories. I conclude by arguing that this evidence provides avenues for our understanding of deradicalization pathways
Approaching P/CVE through building trust and meaningful relationships with Muslim communities
Full text linkThis paper examines the level of trust among Muslims in Australia towards the Government and its institutions. It places particular emphasis on the government’s approach to countering violent extremism programs and examines whether a lack of trust negatively impacts cooperation and engagement with the government and P/CVE programs. There is limited research exploring the issue of trust from the perspective of Muslims and how this impacts cooperation and engagement with the government. A survey of Australian Muslims (N= 505) that incorporated both quantitative and qualitative components was used. Inferential statistics (correlations) and thematic analysis were utilised to assess the data. Research suggests that trust is crucial to assisting in the success of P/CVE programs and counter-terrorism efforts. The findings show high levels of distrust towards the government and its institutions, which has flow-on effects, particularly in countering violent extremism. This strongly suggests that P/CVE programs should be approached from a trust-based and relationship-building perspective. Recommendations are made at the end of this paper on how to engage the Muslim community on the basis of building trust and meaningful relationships
Where Are They Now?: The Costs and Benefits of Doxxing Far-Right Extremists
Full text linkResearch on far-right extremism has grown substantially over the last decade, owing to the rise of Trump, attacks such as the one in Christchurch and Buffalo, as well as the mainstreaming of hate speech and polarization. In addition to research, there have been antifascist activists who have been engaged in doxxing members of the far right who are part of our schools, our militaries, and governments. Releasing the private information of members of far-right movements to the public has created interesting policy and law enforcement dilemmas. With respect to law enforcement, can doxxing be used as a tool to force individuals to disengage from groups? For social media companies, doxxing violates their terms of service, but should an exception be made in these instances since it purportedly serves a public interest? For this paper, we interviewed 10 former members of the far right who have experienced doxxing over the last several years. The paper explores what happened, the immediate and long-term effects of doxxing on their lives, and ongoing challenges of being exposed against their will. We conclude with some policy recommendations related to the costs and benefits of doxxing on these individuals but also society at large
The Evolution of Estimated Time of Arrival: The City of Toronto’s CVE Program
Full text linkThe Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) field is evolving in Canada, with CVE teams offering psychosocial disengagement interventions in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Quebec. This article is written as a case study to detail the evolution of the city of Toronto’s CVE program, called Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA), housed in the community mental health centre Yorktown Family Services (“Yorktown”). Toronto – the largest Canadian city, provincial capital of Ontario, and one of the most multicultural cities in the world – has seen several high-profile cases of violent extremism and terrorism over the past few years. For example, there were two “Incel” attacks that together killed eleven people, including nine women, in 2018 and 2020. In 2022, hate crime occurrences reported to the Toronto Police Service were 74% higher than pre-pandemic levels, and 40% higher than the 10-year average. Clearly, there was a need for a structured and multi-sectoral response which led to the inception of ETA in 2020. Against this backdrop, this paper outlines ETA’s program components and operational design. Various data points such as client age range, ideological affiliation, and services rendered are provided to demonstrate trends for the period of April 2022 to March 2023. As this paper will demonstrate, ETA’s services are grounded in engagement, outreach, case management (multi-agency service delivery), psychotherapy, religious counselling, peer support and forensic consultation, which is reflected in the evolving CVE literature and evidence-base
Influences of Discrimination and Stigmatization on Secondary and Tertiary Level P/CVE Efforts – Insights from German Practitioners into Countering Islamist Extremism
Full text linkThis article uses a qualitative analysis of 25 interviews with experts from German secondary and tertiary level P/CVE programs countering Islamist Extremism to examine the influences of discrimination and stigmatization on deradicalization and disengagement efforts. Drawing on the experiential and interpretative knowledge of the interviewees, we found that both discrimination and stigmatization may have an obstructing influence on the clients’ social and socio-economic stabilization. Discrimination, whether manifested in labor market disadvantages, within the education system, or individual racist acts of devaluation, can impede progress in deradicalization and disengagement processes. Further, stigmatization due to a prior association with Islamist groups and ideologies may result in similar experiences of rejection and devaluation across various areas of social life. In this context, most interviewees warn of the consequences of security authority investigations and caution against the dangers of disclosure and exposure to the public, particularly the press. Our findings show that P/CVE programs strive to address the issues of discrimination and stigmatization with multi-layered interventions designed to prevent setbacks in deradicalization and disengagement processes. Common strategies are to raise awareness in the personal reference system as well as on an institutional level to reduce discriminatory and stigmatizing actions. Client-centered approaches encompass counseling methods on the one hand aiming to overcome prejudices against state institutions and respective actors, and on the other hand empowerment measures and help in dealing with challenging situations, such as social grievances that potentially derive from discrimination and stigmatization. Further to this, the article discusses our findings against the backdrop of empirical studies, evaluation reports, and gray literature and analyzes the P/CVE strategies within theoretic process models of deradicalization and disengagement.
Acknowledgements
This project has received funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the program “Societal Causes and Effects of Radical Islam in Germany and Europe”. This publication reflects only the views of the author(s); the BMBF is not responsible for any information it contains