Countering Violent Extremism

Right-wing violence and terrorism have slowly gained more academic and public attention in recent years, with an increase in anti-immigration and anti-government organised violence from the extreme right in most Western countries. Some evidence exists that right-wing extremists have attempted to infiltrate the military in their home countries to gain access to tactical training, weapons, and to recruit highly skilled new members. Research about the extent and impact of extreme right-wing links to the military is, however, scarce. In addition to the lack of insight into potential right-wing (or other forms of) extremism problems in the military, most armed forces have not developed effective countering violent extremism (CVE) tools. In this way, the incorporation of CVE in the military lags far behind the use of CVE in other aspects of counter-terrorism in the West. As the military, next to the police and intelligence, is a critical part of a country’s security infrastructure, it must also include specially designed mechanisms to protect it from infiltration and abuse from violent extremists and those planning terrorist activities. This Policy Brief will discuss available knowledge about extreme right-wing links to the military in Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. It will conclude by formulating concrete recommendations for handling this potential threat.

Efforts at Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) online have become an important focus for social networks. CVE targets extremist ideologies, tackling them through alternate narratives that focus on peace-building. It is an invaluable tool to supplement counterterrorism strategies worldwide. To identify effective counter-speech on Facebook, ORF conducted a study analysing posts and comments on prominent public pages posting in India. A counter-narrative that emerged and needs to be encouraged was one that appealed to a sense of common decency and humanity. Among the report’s recommendations is that through Facebook’s own messaging and content, users can be encouraged to become a part of an ecosystem that promotes dialogue and community.

Chapter Four of my just released book 'The New Demagogues: Religion, Masculinity and the Populist Epoch' (Routledge 2021). This chapter explores the spectrum of male supremacism, its utility in the new populist movements, different conceptions of anti-women violence and makes the case that male supremacism must be considered a new form of violent extremism that targets women on the basis of gender.

This article reviews the civil war and terrorism literature and then explores the international communities' responses to both. Both the academic literature and the international community tend to approach terrorism and civil war along separate tracks. A key question is whether or not this approach needs to be re-evaluated given the blurring of the distinction between what goes on inside and outside the state when it comes to political violence. If the goal of analysts and the international community is to maintain order, then treating civil wars and terrorism separately may be appropriate. If, however, the goal is to devise more effective means to deal with political violence generally, then the causes of civil war and terrorism must be investigated more closely and the two phenomena must be approached together rather than separately.

The questionnaire VEAS allows to evaluate a probability of accepting radical ideology as well a probability of violent behavior against some social groups. The questionnaire can be applied for diagnose of the personal dispositions (general attitudes) to different types of extremism: nationalistic or racial, religious, political, football hooliganism etc. There are 11 scales, each of which contributes into the total scale of propensity to extremist behavior.

Mark Curtis is an outspoken British journalist unafraid of the disquiets of the establishment as he embarks on his goal to expose the fallacies of British foreign policy in the Middle East, especially during the twentieth century and beyond. This review essay explores these issues as identified and studied in his 2018 book, Secret Affairs.

Violent extremism has become the global concern especially after the beginning of 21st Century. Therefore, understanding the various aspects of violent extremism particularly multifaceted communication strategies which will be fit to handle the modern challenges has become imperative. On incidences of terrorism and violent extremism, Pakistan has lost on socio, economic, cultural and educational grounds. Meanwhile, there are contending positions that the incessant attacks are due to the gap in proper Communication between security apparatus, government and the extremist groups. In view of this, the article examines the roles of strategic communication in the countering of violent extremism and its influence on Pakistani society. The paper also brought to the open, some of the critical context and drivers of violent extremism. Based on this, the paper proffers a model which captured the contemporary communication strategies for countering violent extremism. It also argues that strategic communication can be assimilated into policies and actions of the major stakeholders as a strategic measure to handle the radicalized and violent extremism. Moreover, with the help of few judicious approaches/strategies, a balance and a moderate society can be established. Further to this are the ideal practices being recommended in line with the theory of strategic communication planning format that will not only help in tackling extremism but also bringing peace.

Dieser Band stellt die gegenwärtige Entwicklung, Merkmale und Praxisbeispiele evidenzorientierter Kriminalprävention vor. Er umfasst die Beiträge von 76 renommierten Experten und vermittelt dadurch einen umfassenden Eindruck von der Präventionswissenschaft in Deutschland. Dabei kommen Kritiker und Befürworter der evidenzorientierten Prävention von Kriminalität zu Wort, um dem Leser ein ausgewogenes Gesamtbild über deren Möglichkeiten und Grenzen zu vermitteln. Darauf aufbauend benennt der Band 70 Handlungsempfehlungen u.a. für die Kriminalitäts- und Präventionsbereiche: Behandlung von Sexualstraftätern, Extremismusprävention, (De-)radikalisierung im Strafvollzug, Wohnungseinbruchdiebstahl, Menschenhandel und Einsatz der elektronischen Fußfessel. Der Band schließt an den aktuellen Stand der Forschung und der politischen Diskussion an und füllt eine bestehende Lücke innerhalb der deutschsprachigen Literatur.

This report focuses on Bulgaria’s national structural and contextual approaches and strategies towards radicalisation and violent extremism. The report offers an overview of these phenomena in the country, reviews what the scientific and academic research has produced so far about the particular drivers for radicalisation, and identifies the actors and initiatives deploying Countering/Preventing Violent Extremism (C/PVE) strategies in the country. It assesses the weight of socio-political drivers in current approaches to radicalisation and violent extremism in the country, particularly towards young people. And it also explores how a socially-rooted approach might fit into the current dominant paradigm of P/CVE.

Bulgaria has taken important steps to address these issues though the focus is primarily on Islamist radicalisation, despite the fact that far-right extremism is also a significant challenge. Тhere’s a need to develop a more comprehensive understanding and evidence-based knowledge of radicalisation in order to better prevent and counter violent extremism. An effort where the engagement of key non-state actors such as civil society and religious communities should be enhanced.

Counter-extremism has become an important tool for the authoritarian government of Tajikistan to consolidate its position. In this article, we argue that counter-extremism is not purely about destructive acts, such as banning groups or arresting individuals: it is productive, too. Using a Foucauldian understanding of disciplinary power and biopower, we argue that counter-extremism in Tajikistan is an attempt to produce secular, docile citizen subjects who are resistant to extremist ideas. Using ethnography and discourse analysis, we focus on the way in which these practices are gendered, targeting the bodies of those deemed ‘dangerous’. Counter-extremism, we argue, is exercised not only by the state but also by citizens, who monitor themselves and others for signs of radicalization. Although some support state secularism, most merely accept it. A smaller group resist practices that target certain forms of religious belief and practice. We explore these everyday forms of resistance against disciplinary power and biopower.

This chapter has two-fold objectives. First, it aims to investigate the process of constructing BIMSTEC as a security community with a special focus on collaborative counter-terrorism (CT) endeavours of its member states. Second, it underscores the significance of the transformation of CT approach to preventing/countering violent extremism (P/CVE) approach as an effective means of trans-regional security cooperation model in Asia. On this backdrop, there are two major research questions in this chapter. First, how has the BIMSTEC moved forward forming a trans-regional security order based on CT? Second, this is a policy-focused question: what conditions and factors would be instrumental for the trans-regional security community to transform its approach from CT to P/CVE?

With the new and enhanced roles that women are playing in ISIS, female returnees and deportees may pose a security risk to their home countries such as Indonesia-a country with a history of waves of Islamic violent extremism. What has the Government of Indonesia (GOI) done to mitigate these risks? With an impending new influx of female ISIS returnees that may still be committed to the ideology, how can the GOI and U.S. Government (USG) strengthen GOI capabilities? Based on field research in Indonesia, this paper explores opportunities for the GOI and USG to adapt their strategies and strengthen GOI capabilities to counter the threat from female ISIS supporters whether they are returnees, deportees or home-grown.

This paper contends that in the aftermath of the Marawi siege, suicide terrorism has become the most favored means of attack by pro-IS fighters in the Philippines, particularly those associated with the ASG.  This paper presents historical factors that give rise to suicide terrorism in the Philippines.  It also examines the emergence of suicide terrorism in the Philippines culminating in the 2020 Jolo twin bombings.  This paper also describes the persistent threats of suicide terrorism in the Philippines that can be addressed by innovative measures like countering and preventing violent extremism (CPVE).

The proliferation of religion-related violence has increased the risk for destabilization and mass destruction in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, with consequences for all regions of the world. Governmental, religious, and civil society agencies have failed to produce successful procedures for diagnosing and preventing the rapid spread of religion-related violent conflict worldwide. UVA's Initiative on Religion, Politics, and Conflict (RPC) investigates how to recognize and remediate religion-related violence where and when it occurs. We advance faculty and student research on methods to prevent and reduce the destruction of communities and heritage in the name of religion. We offer a trans-disciplinary program of research and teaching grounded in the College of Arts and Sciences, extended by several schools within the University—including law, business, nursing, public policy, engineering, and data science; and strengthened by international academic partnerships. RPC will produce cutting-edge research on the nature, causes, and solutions to religion-related conflicts, and will propose novel strategies of intervention and resolution. By drawing on a diverse range of disciplines in the sciences and humanities, from systems engineering and quantum logic to literature and religion, RPC will train students in quantitative and qualitative methods applied to real-world crises. Universities across the United States and Europe have developed centers and institutes of excellence specializing in qualitative research on conflict and peace studies. The UVA Initiative differentiates itself from these centers—many of which are producing excellent research—in three significant ways: (a) by developing cross-disciplinary methods of original research that identify religion-specific elements of conflict that remain undetected within current single-discipline approaches. (RPC has nurtured a method for identifying phenomena that are invisible to any single line of inquiry but are made visible through comparative studies of the results of several lines of inquiry); (b) by employing both quantitative and qualitative methods of research to identify emergent, religion-related violent conflicts and to examine both the religion-specific features of those conflicts and their broader historical, political, and economic settings; and (c) by evaluating the efficacy of methods to remediate violent conflict and to propose preventive action that promotes community stability, safety, and resilience.

Memes that are destructive to the cohesion of a complex social system should be defined as pathogenic memes. As a result, it is my belief that a cognitive prophylaxis model is necessary, and feasible, when it comes to preventing a pathogenic meme outbreak.

Preoccupation with the effort to fight extremist propaganda in an increasingly complex information environment has produced an overwhelming amount of literature from professors, practitioners, policymakers, and pundits. The problem of terrorist messaging is easily defined; solutions, in the form of effective counter-narrative strategies and the tools to disseminate them, are much harder to come by. Kurt Braddock's "Weaponized Words: The Strategic Role of Persuasion in Violent Radicalization and Counter-Radicalization" takes this on, providing well-researched and relatively jargon-free guidelines to the development of persuasive counter-narratives and the use of emerging communications technologies to fight back.

This research provides a preliminary evidence base to understand the extent to which violent extremist narratives have a wider resonance with men in Victoria, Australia. It identifies key sites and points at which the construction of masculinity in men intersect with, and challenge, extremist conceptions. It consequently provides an insight into where the potential appeal of extremist narratives can be challenged most effectively.

Terrorism, radicalization and violent extremism dominate sociological, political and cultural concerns in today's polarized social and political world. However, the role of governments and issues relating to state terrorism and the counter-terror state remain important considerations. This book presents an understanding of the concept of Countering Violent Extremism from a critical terrorism studies perspective using case studies from different countries while examining the issues it raises. Extremism and violence do not emerge in a vacuum – nor do the policies that counter these concerns. There are no simple solutions to violent extremism but the fixation on ideology can do more harm than good.

Adoptée le 9 décembre 2015, la résolution 2250 du Conseil de Sécurité des nations Unies sur les jeunes et la paix reconnaît l'importance de la jeunesse pour la construction de la paix, et donc la prévention du terrorisme. A ce titre, le Conseil appelle fortement, entre autres,  à augmenter la participation et l'accès à la participation de la jeunesse dans les processus de décision et dans les opérations de rétablissement de la paix.
Cette présentation fait une analyse détaillée de la résolution à l'intention des jeunes et de celles et ceux qui travaillent avec eux, ou de toutes personnes intéressées.

THE AFTERMATH of any major terrorist event brings with it blanket media coverage. The immediate questions address who might be responsible and which targets might be next. After a few days, the intensity of the coverage wavers, and with it, different kinds of inter- viewees are consulted. National security pundits and terrorism analysts welcome the reprieve, and are temporarily replaced by psychologists and other social scientists approached for a different kind of perspective. For these experts, the questions are as predictable as they are deceptive in their simplicity: ‘Why do you think they did it’ or ‘What causes someone to become a terrorist?’ Faced with what appears......

The alternative narrative is one of several “soft” approaches to preventing and suppressing radicalisation to violence. In this way, it is informed by perspectives that view “the narrative” as a pillar of radicalisation, one that facilitates the maladaptive cognitive restructuring necessary for radicalisation to occur. Distinct from its sister strategy, the counter-narrative, an alternative narrative is not intended to directly challenge the content of violent extremist rhetoric. Instead, it serves to undermine its “predominant assumptions”. Ultimately, an alternative narrative tells a different story, focusing on what society is “for” rather than “against”, whilst remaining completely distinct from the “discourse and influence” of a dominant, problematic narrative. The aim of this paper is to take stock of the work on alternative narrative campaigns by the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) and others in recent years, noting new developments and considerations that need to be taken into account, before presenting concrete lessons learned and recommendations for practice.

The United States is an outlier in its legal protection for what is commonly termed "hate speech." Proponents of bringing American jurisprudence closer to the international norm often argue that hate speech causes violence, particularly political violence. However, such claims largely rest on assumptions which are inconsistent with social scientists' understanding of the causes of political violence, including that ethnic identity and ideological salience are more often the result of violence than a cause thereof; that violence during conflict is generally unrelated to the conflict's ostensible central cleavage; and that violence is generally instrumental and elite-driven, rather than spontaneous and "bottom-up." Therefore, censorship of hate speech cannot be justified by the argument that such censorship is necessary to prevent or forestall political violence.

The paper introduces the field of social diagnostics and three selected instruments and tools that offer potential benefits for P/CVE. The tools presented here are the Inclusion-Chart 4 (IC4), Network Mapping, and the Biographical Timeline. Tools and approaches like these can form the basis for further development of P/CVE-specific social diagnostics in the future – and may act as a steppingstone to the often -discussed resilience assessment.

This report looks at Indonesia's policy toward the men, women and children deported from Turkey after trying and failing to join ISIS in Syria. It looks at the numbers, the variety of motivations for leaving, and the high proportion of families. It argues for a more comprehensive strategy for reintegrating deportees in communities.

Extremism is an ideology that is considered to be far outside mainstream attitude of society. Usually it is an attack on values’ system. We can see political, religious and ideological forms (some of them can interlace each other). I would like to discuss one page 'a kind of theory', "Where extremism can turn into the violent form?" (for instance Daesh/so-called Islamic State is the group where we can see a violent ideological approach driven by will of political changes, and inspired by fundamental beliefs).

Please comment and share your thoughts.

'John Horgan’s contribution is immense …This is a must-read book for any person who wishes to understand the complex psychological processes that influence terrorists behavior and especially what makes terrorists relinquish violence.’ - Ariel Merari, Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University

'Walking Away from Terrorism presents a thoughtfully argued and carefully documented examination of why individuals decide to leave radical and extremist movements—an issue that has been largely neglected by researchers.' - Gary LaFree, Director, START Center, University of Maryland

'Why do individuals stop being terrorists?  Drawing from fascinating personal interviews, psychologist John Horgan answers this question, demolishing myths and replacing them with real stories about real people...A superb book, packed with welcome insights.’ - Audrey Cronin, US National War College

‘John Horgan`s meticulous research breaks new ground . His acute understanding of the complex factors that can lead to disillusion and withdrawal from terrorism makes this book an indispensable source for academics and the security professionals.’ - Paul Wilkinson, University of St Andrews

"An important overview of how and why individuals are likely to leave terrorist movements, as well as the lessons and implications that emerge from this process." - Joshua Sinai, ‘Terrorism Bookshelf: Top 150 Books on Terrorism and Counterterrorism’, Perspectives on Terrorism, Vol. 6, No. 2 (2012)

The questionnaire YES allows to evaluate a probability of accepting radical ideology as well a probability of violent behavior against some social groups. Conceptually, this technique is based on the psychological characteristics of youth, the authoritarian personality theory T.Adorno and the concept of right-wing authoritarianism  B.Altmayer. There are 11 scales, each of which contributes into the total scale of propensity to extremist behavior.

ETA forma parte de la memoria colectiva de las españolas y españoles que han cohabitado en sus diversas generaciones en los últimos setenta años. La investigación científica sobre esta organización, su práctica de la violencia y el terror, su sustrato sociológico y su influencia en la política española es ingente y este libro demuestra que sigue en construcción. Durante décadas esta organización terrorista fue contemplada como virtualmente imbatible, en un curso de estrategias terroristas y contraterroristas cambiantes y en un contexto en el que su violencia afectó extraordinariamente la convivencia política en España y, muy especialmente, en el País Vasco. Sin embargo, ETA fue derrotada policialmente y en la actualidad el debate público se centra en definir su curso histórico, las razones de su derrota y la naturaleza de su recuerdo colectivo.

ETA. Terror y terrorismo es un libro que tiene pocos precedentes en su ambición por abordar buena parte de las variables que caracterizaron a esta organización y a su historia. Este libro, escrito por reconocidos especialistas en la violencia política en el País Vasco procedentes de diversas disciplinas, constituye un esfuerzo colectivo por interpretar la ingente producción científica y el estado actual del debate sobre una de las organizaciones terroristas más influyentes y letales de la Europa del tiempo reciente.

In 1968 a Mennonite pastor and peace worker named Edgar Metzler published a short booklet in the popular “Focal Pamphlet” series published by Herald Press – a series that includes other more widely read works by Mennonite historians and theologians like Harold S. Bender and J. Lawrence Burkholder. The brief preface on the inside cover gives some indication of its purpose and audience in the context of the American Mennonite experience during the late 1960s:

"This pamphlet is prepared to stimulate the Christian’s peace testimony. Christians need constantly to return to the Bible to discover the message of the gospel. This message must be translated into living terms by every generation. The S. F. Coffman Peace Lectures are sponsored by the Committee on Peace and Social Concerns of the Mennonite Church. They are financed by an individual who has an interest in the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ as it relates to the social needs and the international tensions of the world in which we live."

Metzler’s text is situated amidst the international tensions alluded to above, particularly racial tensions and violence in the United States during the Vietnam War era. The pamphlet is titled Let’s Talk About Extremism, but what the author means by the term “extremism” calls for explanation, some of which the author provides in the first section of the text below.

Although other pamphlets in the series were more widely read, Let’s Talk About Extremism has only been cited a few times since it was published – most recently in a survey of definitions of radicalism and extremism. The lack of scholarly or public engagement with the text in the years since it was published is a problem that I hope to remedy in this edition.

In short, the argument of the pamphlet is that how we think about the relationship between extreme or opposed positions – whether they are political, religious, social, or a combination of all three – matters deeply. For Metzler, ways of thinking and knowing, or what scholars call “epistemologies,” are just as important for the Christian peace witness as more visible manifestations of violence like killing or war. Whereas Metzler refers to “extremism,” today we tend to refer to the problems he addresses by using the term “polarization.” In response to these problems, Metzler calls his readers to consider how hard oppositions between liberals and conservatives are clarified when we think about not only what we think, but also how we think, and how we express what we think.

But rather than staying within the bounds of the liberal-conservative opposition, Metzler enjoins his readers to reframe their vision of extreme positions by measuring ways of thinking against a different standard, asking: “Is this way of thinking closed or open?” Drawing attention to the presence of closed-mindedness at all points on the political spectrum (a pattern recently explored by Francois Cusset), Metzler advocates for openness. Against racist, nationalist, and religious prejudices, Metzler values a kind of open-mindedness that is able to listen to the other, take in new information, and charitably engage with “extreme” perspectives. By contrast, the closed mind is reactive, reliant on questionable second-hand sources, and unable to be moved. This is not to say, however, that Metzler advocates for a kind of passive middle way that sits between extremes and attempts to remain neutral on matters of justice. Rather, Metzler helps his readers to avoid the pitfalls of both polarization and neutrality.

One further benefit of how Metzler frames his argument for openness is that he leaves open the question of how this openness is authorized or validated. For Metzler himself, it is the peaceful figure of Jesus Christ who is the model for a more open epistemology. But Metzler leaves open the possibility of taking on his perspective without confessing Christian faith. Metzler’s resistance to oversimplification, selectivity, black and white thinking, appeals to fear, authoritarianism, and so forth, are critical values that can resonate with the priorities of Christians and religious ‘nones,’ secular and confessional Mennonites, and anyone who is concerned with the problems of our shared world. For this reason, perhaps anachronistically, I would characterize Metzler’s work as “postsecular” – where “postsecular” names a way of thinking that challenges the claims to superiority made by both religions and secularities.

One final point that makes Metzler’s work important today is his critique of conspiratorial thinking. His conversation with an alienated congregation member, as described in the final pages of the pamphlet, is a model for how to openly and critically engage with those who are given to conspiratorial thinking, while seeing through the content of such arguments to the narratives of rejection and victimhood that lie beneath. In a time when conspiracy theories are becoming more influential, concomitant with a decline in public trust and trust in expertise, I think it is essential to consider Metzler’s reminder that beneath the “extreme” positions of those who believe in conspiracy theories is often a common human desire to be heard and recognized. Again, this is not to say that Metzler’s work is a resource for those who would, in the name of ‘free speech,’ give an open platform for hate (for example, the conspiracism and violence of far-right groups). Instead, his concluding comments point to the deeper social roots of present political problems, and provide practical ways of challenging violent ways of thinking.

The following report is an interim report of an ongoing study, with the current results based on 50 in-depth psychosocial interviews of white supremacists in five countries (the U.S., Canada, Germany, UK and New Zealand) collected over the time period of October 2020 to October 2021. The interviews focused on the subjects’ childhood histories, exposures to white supremacism, recruitment and joining processes, experiences in the group including ideological indoctrination and with violence and if disillusioned their disengagement and deradicalization experiences. All of the interviews were conducted over Zoom and video recorded with most participants agreeing to have their interview used to produce a short counter narrative video for use in disrupting white supremacist online and face-to-face recruitment.

The report’s important findings include:

• This particular sample of white supremacists had a much higher level of adverse childhood experiences than to be expected in the general population and were as a result more vulnerable to groups that gave out the expectation of belonging or familial relations and who conferred on new members a sense of purpose and significance. If this result bears out in larger samples, it shows that addressing childhood abuse and neglect is an important measure for preventing recruitment to white supremacism.
• Individuals in this sample who joined white supremacist groups generally were much more motivated by a need for belonging, purpose, dignity, and significance rather than from outright hate or even bad experiences with minority and ethnic groups but many over time took on the hateful ideology, supported and took part in violence as well.
• The white supremacists ideologies tend to focus on Jews as the ultimate enemy, posit white replacement/white genocide as a Jewish backed plot to replace/eliminate whites from their claimed rightful position in society and many embrace the idea of kicking off racial holy war, i.e. RAHOWA and the Day of the Rope which is when Jews, liberals and race traitors will be hung and minorities either killed or relocated.
• Ideological indoctrination and embracing antisemitism occurred by means of a process labeled Directed Hate in which new members were made to feel they belong, are significant and have a purpose based on their whiteness which they then had to maintain by isolating themselves from minorities, supporting the groups ideology and at times supporting and engaging with their violent actions as well (Speckhard, Ellenberg, & Garret, 2022). Through this process members learned to shift blame for their failures and channel their anger about any number of grievances toward minorities, and above all Jews. Most interviewees in the present sample had never met a Jewish person but learned to hate and blame them for the ills of the world.
• For some interviewees who later realized that they were members of the LGBTQ community, joining groups with internalized and violent misogyny and homophobia allowed for projection and splitting, wherein they were able to separate themselves from their closeted identity which they felt they needed to reject.  We have labeled this phenomenon Projected Hate.
• Many were only peripherally racist or had been raised in systemic versus overtly angry racism, especially those who grew up in the American South, which made it easier to buy into white supremacist ideology over time.
• Like cults, white supremacist groups demand ideological and behavioral loyalty from their members and begin to isolate them from dissenting opinions as well as from members of the hated minority groups making it hard for them to have any positive exposures. As isolation and the echo chambers of hate increase, fusion with the ideology and buy-in to conspiracy theories sets in. This underlies the usefulness of measures designed to create positive interactions and dialogue across racial, ethnic, and religious divides.
• Individuals in white supremacist groups often see themselves while active in their groups as heroic race warriors acting in self-defense of their white ingroup.
• Some white supremacist recruiters and leaders use religion and pseudo-religion, such as Christian Identity, Creativity, and Arastú/Odinism, to portray their mission as religious and morally sanctioned by God.
• As was also shown in the Capitol Hill riots, some white supremacist groups recruit from both active duty and retired members of the military and police hoping to benefit from their weaponry knowledge and skills which can be imparted to the group, possible access to weapons and for their already developed sense of discipline.
• Similarly, both active duty and retired military and police recruits serve to lend an air of prestige and legitimacy to such groups, reinforce the idea that the groups are patriotic in nature and these members are also good recruiters as a result.
• As with most violent extremists and terrorist groups, females generally played support roles, were seen as “breeders” and did not hold leadership positions, with some exceptions occurring in the NSM, and there were far fewer women reported upon than men among the ranks of all the groups studied.
• Youth are more easily recruited by white supremacist groups who actively prey upon youth from broken homes and chaotic and painful childhood experiences by offering them a sense of a substitute family, personal significance and positive identity based upon their “whiteness.”
• Recruitment occurs through leafleting and literature as well as face-to-face interactions, but also increasingly relies on Internet-based exposures and online recruitment interactions which now with the advent of social media, video chat and texting contain the possibilities of increased intimacy.
• White supremacist groups capitalize on using the mainstream media to sensationalize their demonstrations and egregious actions, which widens their recruitment exposure via the media.
• Gang and prison-based white extremist groups were the most violent and, in some cases, follow a “blood in, blood out” recruitment strategy meaning one can expect to only exit the group by dying.
• Tattooing permanent markers of white supremacy on one’s body is common and makes it more difficult to re-enter society as these marks of hatred are feared and reviled by others.  Hence tattoo removal may be an integral part of rehabilitation and reentry.
• Of those white supremacists who turned to psychotherapy for help exiting and rehabilitating from white supremacy groups, some found their therapists afraid of them and lacking relevant knowledge. Others deeply benefitted from addressing both the adverse traumatic experiences that had led them to being vulnerable to join in the first place as well as those they encountered in the group.
• Reciprocal radicalization plays an important role in further radicalizing white supremacists and keeping them involved in their groups. Many referenced violent interactions with Antifa as further radicalizing events that influenced them.
• Doxxing has a serous effect on white supremacists causing some to leave their groups for fear of losing jobs, being arrested, etc. Likewise, the effect of significant others threatening to or actually leaving their white supremacists partners caused some to reevaluate the worth of staying with their group.
• Spontaneous deradicalization occurs in some when they have positive interactions with members of groups they were taught to hate, thereby causing them cognitive dissonance that for some results in questioning what they were taught.
• Given the isolation and echo chambers that characterize white supremacist groups, disengaging from a hate group often means losing one’s entire group of friends.
• Ebbs and flows of engagement are common as individuals exit and again revert to their groups or move among various groups. Assistance for exiting is an important feature of a successful walking away from white supremacist groups and was mentioned only in some cases as being available.

“In 25 years of experience as a government officer deploying to zones of communal conflict, I have found that most of our interventionist academic preparation had been of little value. First, we failed to account for differences in psychological organisation, sociological construction, emotional conjugation and cognitive imprinting based on geography, geology, climate or historical narrative (Stein, 1984). Second, encouraged by political science and international relations theory, we found ourselves reducing entire large group identities to the status of individual actors operating with independent agency.
Thereafter, we were easily able to assign motive and intent in violent conflict to rational utilitarian goals of the sort elucidated by political scientists operating from distant frames of alien reference. On arriving in the conflict zones, however, we learned that what really matters are the psychosocial constructions of trauma, terror, starvation, alienation, shame, rage, hopelessness and grief as experienced by the surviving population. We learn that compassion is not sympathy, but rather the deeply emotional sharing of physical and psychological pain that we are often unprepared, or even unwilling, to participate in (Burton, 1987). We find that human dignity cannot survive in the massive refugee camps where the movement of dysentery-laden bowels is equally as public and victimising as one’s inability to save their beloved children from starvation, thirst or hopelessness. Most importantly, we found that the quantitative research that drove our plans and programming were based on the logic of rational actor theories of political science and international relations in complete defiance of the realities we now faced in these open conflict zones.”

В работе на основе результатов социологического исследования
представлен комплексный анализ общественного мнения по проблемам секьюритизации терроризма и религиозного экстремизма в современных Казахстане и Кыргызстане. Работа выполнена в рамках проекта Корпоративного фонда «Международный благотворительный фонд «Altyn Kyran» и Казахстанского института стратегических исследований (КИСИ) при Президенте Республики Казахстан по поддержке молодых исследователей «Казахстан в Центральной Азии».
Издание адресовано исследователям, преподавателям и студентам социально-гуманитарных факультетов, специализирующимся в области международных отношений, политологии, социологии, религиоведения, а также служащим госучреждений, работающим в соответствующих сферах.

This paper, published by the UK's Commission for Countering Extremism, provides an analysis of ‘participationist’ or mainstream Islamism in Britain, including a brief history of the main groups, and a nuanced account of their goals, beliefs and values informed by some original research. The paper also regards some of the conflicts and controversies in which mainstream Islamists have become involved in recent years, focusing on the field of education. The paper concludes with some remarks on some of their successes and setbacks.

Abstract:
Following the introduction of the UK government’s Prevent strategy in 2002/3 (repealed) and then reintroduced in 2011, classrooms which were supposed to be ‘safe spaces’ for students of all backgrounds, have become places where Muslim students are simultaneously treated as at risk, and as a risk (Ramsay, 2017: 153). The classroom has become a place where extremist sentiment is thought to thrive, rather than an arena for constructive debate and students’ intellectual and critical development. Given the role of teachers as influential and authoritative classroom figures, teacher-student relationships are crucial in impacting academic and social outcomes. Therefore, studying the effect of Prevent on this relationship is essential. 
Through employment of qualitative research methods analysed under an interpretivist paradigm, this study seeks to answer three primary questions: has Prevent influenced teacher-student relationships, if so, how? How does this affect how both parties view each other? What does this tell us about the effectiveness of Prevent as a counter-extremism policy? The overarching objective of the research is to understand how educators engage with the Prevent policy and how they believe policy influences their pedagogical practice and relationship with students. 
This small-scale study offers a modest yet detailed insight into the effectiveness of British counter-radicalisation policies. It concludes by arguing that the importance of teacher-student relationships cannot be ignored, and any policy that negatively impacts this dynamic needs to be revisited and readjusted. The research found that teachers saw a stifling of debate within their classrooms, with students attributing this to Prevent. There was also a clear impact on relationships as teachers began to see students as prone to radicalisation, and students began to view teachers through a more securitised lens. A distinction was also made between the arts/humanities, and STEM subjects and the questions that arose in different classrooms. Participants were worried that Muslim students were feeling targeted, and concurred each other in their initial opposition to the policy. The issue of evolving language and the power processes born out of this also came to the fore. 
It is acknowledged that reworking policy is not so simple, and in the meantime an actionable alternative is required. It is therefore recommended that educators use their position as influential classroom figures to spearhead academic values of
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discussion and maintain free speech within their respective domains. By doing so, they are able to identify and challenge radical thought, and prevent it from festering and manifesting as something far more problematic.