Journal for Deradicalization
Not a member yet
320 research outputs found
Sort by
Sampling and the Curse of the Case Study
Full text linkRegardless of how the outcomes of a given P/CVE program are measured or evaluated, a fundamental, implicit (if not explicit) research question is: to what extent can obtained results apply to others within a given population. In short, to what extent can the results apply to others, in general; what is the so-called generalizability of the findings? In other words, the outcomes of a given P/CVE program are relatively useless unless they can be replicated, and the likelihood of replication is synonymous with generalizability. Therefore, it is virtually impossible to overstate the importance of generalizability with respect to P/CVE research and evaluation, and generalizability is fundamentally a function of how well sampling is performed. Therefore, it is also virtually impossible to overstate the importance of sampling with respect to an evidence-based approach to P/CVE. This research methods brief describes fundamental issues (including potential pitfalls and means to avoid them) with respect to sampling in the context of P/CVE program design and evaluation: including issues related to sampling online “Big Data,” and “nested” (multi-level/hierarchical) program/research designs
An Evidence Review of Strategies Targeting Youth Who Have Radicalised to Violent Extremism
Full text linkThis paper reviews strategies and approaches aimed as assisting and rehabilitating youth who have been imprisoned for terrorist offences or identified as at risk of radicalisation, due to their behaviours and associations. The paper reports results from a review of evidence across radicalisation studies, the CVE academic and grey literature, and data collected from a small number of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), who work in youth CVE. The aim was to identify effective approaches, as well as issues and challenges that need to be considered in the design, implementation and evaluation of programs aimed at countering violent extremism (CVE) amongst youth. While it was found that evidence around youth CVE is limited in scope in relation to identifying what works, there were some consistent and overlapping findings across the sources of evidence in relation to youth intervention design and delivery. This included the importance placed on family involvement and participation in an intervention; that rapport building with youth and youth work approaches are essential when engaging radicalised youth; that interventions must be trauma informed and develop empathy and perspective taking; that interventions must be developmentally appropriate and include informal forms of engagement involving non-clinical and non-vocational/educational activities; that interventions must be transparent in how they operate and rely on multi-agency responses; that the evaluation of youth interventions need to focus on measuring a variety of cognitive and behavioural outcomes, including outcomes not necessarily related to reductions in specific offending/problematic behaviours; and that program evaluation of youth interventions need to assess change relating to psychopathology deficits and risks that have an impact on problematic behaviour.
This research was funded by the New South Wales (NSW) Government’s Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Program 2022. The content of this publication is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the State government of New South Wales, Australia
Book Review: Whitney Hatton (2020) Extremism and the Prison System. A Handbook for Practitioners Countering Islamist radicalisation, 83 pp
Full text linkThis article reviews Whitney Hatton's (2020) "Extremism and the Prison System. A Handbook for Practitioners Countering Islamist radicalisation"
Breaking up the Bubble: Improving critical thinking skills and tolerance of ambiguity in deradicalization mentoring.
Full text linkIn response to a complex world, radicalized individuals tend to retract into black-and-white thinking, preference for easy solutions for complicated problems, or belief in conspiracy theories. These individuals are often characterized by low cognitive complexity, lack in ability for perspective taking, as well as intolerance of ambiguity. Hence, it stands to reason that successful deradicalization processes might require addressing such patterns of thinking, ideally resulting in improved critical thinking skills. With this goal, a governmental deradicalization program in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg in Germany (Competence Centre Against Extremism, konex), is field testing innovative cell phone application-based methods since June 2021. The utilized tool is a news aggregation application that presents different perspectives on current (socio-) political topics based on editorial curation. Since deradicalization work is recommended to be tailored to individual needs, the application allows for context specific discussions and creative interventions (e.g., storytelling) based on the featured topics. This article presents the theoretical framework and underlying theories of change for the application’s implementation in day-to-day deradicalization work, especially focused on the improvement of critical thinking skills, tolerance of ambiguity, and perspective taking. Furthermore, the tool is being used to address existential uncertainties, conspiracy beliefs, as well as a lack of media literacy skills
“If Abortions Aren’t Safe, Neither Are You:” A Mixed-Method Study of Jane’s Revenge and Other Post-Dobbs Militancy
Full text linkDue to the US Supreme Court’s important policymaking role, landmark decisions can contribute to processes of radicalization or deradicalization. This article focuses on the impact of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision on radicalization at the individual- or small group-level. In overturning Roe v. Wade, Dobbs held there is no constitutional right to abortion, thus permitting states to heavily restrict or ban the procedure. In the decades after Roe, anti-abortion terrorists killed at least eleven people in the US, including four physicians, and committed numerous bombings and assaults. In the months after a draft of Dobbs was leaked in May 2022, dozens of pro-life pregnancy centers and Catholic churches were targeted in arsons or vandalism attacks. An anonymous group calling itself Jane’s Revenge released communiqués claiming responsibility for some attacks and calling for “increasingly extreme tactics.” This article presents a mixed-method study of this new phenomenon. This includes building and analyzing a database (n=152) of post-Dobbs criminal incidents motivated by support for abortion rights, and examining communiqués authored by Jane’s Revenge or other militant pro-choice groups or individuals (n=20). Results are analyzed in light of radicalization theory, and prospects for future radicalization or deradicalization on both sides are discussed
Investigating the role of religious institutions in the prevention of violent extremism in Nineveh province, Iraq
Full text linkThis article investigates the role of religious institutions in the countering and prevention of violent extremism (C/PVE) in Nineveh province, Iraq. It addresses a major gap in the literature that offers largely descriptive accounts of C/PVE policies, without considering the different stakeholders involved in their implementation and the complex network of relationships among them. The actions and legitimacy of religious institutions are analysed against the background of the post-2003 Iraqi state apparatus. The hybridity of the new political system of the second republic (2005-present) justifies the focus on the initiatives of both formal and informal religious institutions towards key C/PVE sectors such as education and peace-building. Building on 59 interviews conducted in Hamdaniyyah and Tel Afar four years after the official victory over the Islamic State, this paper introduces new data and innovative insights into the relationships between religious institutions, state apparatus and civil society. The findings suggest that i) while the legitimacy of religious institutions is contested across Nineveh province, there is a consensus on the need for these institutions to be involved in C/PVE; ii) interactions between religious institutions, political systems, and civil society have increased but remain limited; and iii) the fragmentation of the state apparatus is reflected in uncoordinated and unregulated C/PVE strategies. The importance of religious institutions in fostering community resilience to violent extremism in Nineveh province should not overlook the need for a transversal and inclusive approach to healing the scars left by two decades of rampant conflicts.
AcknowledgementsThe findings presented in this paper are the result of research undertaken under the Preventing and Addressing Violent Extremism Through Community Resilience (PAVE) project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870769. The publication of this paper has been supported by the Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform (PeaceRep), funded by UK Aid from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) for the benefit of developing countries. The information and views set out in this publication are those of the authors
Evaluating an Interactive Film on the Prevention of Political Radicalization
Full text linkThe functionality of social media permits (and maybe fosters) an increase in political radicalization, which causes immense social harm. In response, authorities have started using social media for prevention but empirical evidence on the effectiveness is scarce The present study evaluates the effects of an interactive film distributed in social media that aims to reduce the individual level of radicalism in attitudes and radicalization intentions. During the film, viewers have to express their opinion on increasingly radical statements by clicking popup buttons. Depending on their opinions, the plot of the film takes a different route. For identification of causal effects, the evaluation uses a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a two-week follow-up. The empirical results show that the film immediately reduces the level of radicalism in attitudes by 12% and radicalization intentions by 15% of a standard deviation. After two weeks, these effects are still persistent but fade out a little in the general population. There are stronger and more persistent effects among the subgroups of 18-24 year-olds, women, and people on the left of the political spectrum. Because these subgroups resemble the characteristics of the protagonists, we speculate that social identification enhanced treatment effects. Cognitive dissonance, on the other hand, may explain why people on the right of the spectrum did not react to the film. The findings demonstrate the importance of target-group oriented design and early prevention
Reintegrating Ex-Combatants: An Assessment of Operation Safe Corridor
Full text linkThis paper presents the findings of an assessment of a government-run deradicalization program called Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC) in northeast Nigeria. OPSC is a restricted custodial program through which 900 ex-combatants have passed since 2015. The major aim of OPSC is the deradicalization, rehabilitation, and reintegration of repentant ex-combatants in the war-ravaged zone. Using a qualitative research framework, primary data were collected through Key Informant Interviews (KII) and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) with stakeholders across Borno, Adamawa, and Gombe, Nigeria. Using purposive sampling, a sample of 122 was drawn from the population of the study. which includes ex-combatants in holding, graduates of the OPSC, staff of the OPSC, community members, government officials, and representatives from the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF). A total of 50 KIIs and 6 FGDs were conducted with 72 participants across the three selected states. This was supplemented by a literature review. The findings show that while the OPSC has been lauded in terms of receptivity, deradicalization, and reintegration of ex-combatants, the program is challenged by issues of credibility and acceptance in the wider community. This paper documents the challenges associated with the rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-terrorists in the context of ongoing terrorist attacks by their former group, particularly in communities that have been or continue to be affected by terrorism. It presents recommendations to address resentment and grievances in the affected communities, support community participation, and improve communications to combat popular resistance to OPSC
Fundamentalism and the search for meaning in digital media among Gen Y and Gen Z
Full text linkReligious fundamentalists have a common fear that modernity, digital mass media, and popular culture may corrupt young adults and undermine sacred values and moral codes. However, some young adults do not abandon their religion; conversely, they submit to fundamentalist religious authority and are willing to become martyrs. This paper seeks to provide a theoretical understanding of the relationship between religious fundamentalism and Gen Y and Gen Z’s search for meaning in the digital media ecology. The purpose of this article is to synthesize the theoretical perspectives of religious fundamentalism, imagined communities, sacred values, terror-management-theory and digital media theories to generate new insights on countering online radicalization. However rather than recommending more online counterpropaganda dampening violent extremism targeting communities, this article builds on the view that an integrated approach on digital citizenship, off-line interfaith communication, and religious face-to-face encounters with ‘the other’ to share sacred and secular values in the pedagogical environment will help understand the social reality of ‘the other’ and can offer effective insights to prevent home-grown extremism, social insularity and reduce in-group biases at an early age.
Clyde Anieldath Missier’s work on this article was made possible by contributing, as an external PhD candidate, to Rik Peels’ project EXTREME (Extreme Beliefs: The Epistemology and Ethics of Fundamentalism), which has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant agreement No. 851613) and from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Conference Note: Offline Exclusion, Online Inclusion?
Full text linkOn April 14, 2022, the DRIVE project (Determining multilevel-led causes and testing intervention designs to reduce radicalisation, extremism and political violence in North-Western Europe through social inclusion) workshop was an opportunity for academics specialising in violent extremism to discuss the role of online spaces, such as social media platforms, in radicalisation towards extremist attitudes. Academics Dr Bharath Ganesh (University of Groningen), Dr Ashton Kingdon (University of Southampton), and Dr Eviane Leidig (Tilburg University) shared their insights during this workshop. These three scholars explored questions about the disconnect between online and offline worlds in relation to questions on extremism. The consideration of what exclusion in the offline world means for inclusion in the online world is particularly important, as it allows us to track how issues in the offline world can create impacts in the online world, such as violence – and vice versa. Therefore, this conference note explores the relationship between offline and online experiences of exclusion, and how these interact. This conference note sums up the key takeaways of this workshop for researchers and practitioners who work within the fields of radicalisation and violent extremism.
The DRIVE project has received its funding from the European Union’s H2020 Research and Innovation Actions programme under grant agreement No 959200