Episode 9: Preventing Violent Extremism with Resilience and Social Cohesion
Release Date: 04/17/2023
Episode 12: Looking to the Future of Countering Extremism and Terrorism
Decoding Counterterrorism
In Episode 12, the final episode in this season of RUSI’s Decoding Counterterrorism, hosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Thomas Renard and Emily Winterbotham to discuss what counterterrorism might look like in the future. In an environment of shifting national security priorities, great power competition seems to be taking the top billing away from counterterrorism. However, it is important to not lose sight of the evolving threats of extremism and terrorism, both globally and in various domestic contexts. Across Europe and North America, concern has largely shifted away...
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Episode 11: The Importance of Communication to Terrorism and Counterterrorism
Decoding Counterterrorism
In Episode 11 of RUSI’s Decoding Counterterrorism, hosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Jared Shurin and Michael Jones to discuss the essential nature of communication to both terrorism itself and to efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism and terrorism. The fields of strategic communication and marketing have been developing a knowledge base for decades on the most effective techniques to reach the maximum number of people with messages that resonate enough to change attitudes and behaviours. Much can be learned from these fields about how to design and deliver...
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Episode 10: The Role of Youth in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism
Decoding Counterterrorism
In Episode 10 of RUSI’s Decoding Counterterrorism, hosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Saji Prelis and Claudia Wallner to discuss the role youth have in preventing and countering violent extremism. Youth, often loosely seen as those aged somewhere between 15 and 35, have long been the target of efforts to prevent violent extremism and are often seen as the population most ‘at risk’ to radicalisation and recruitment. However, research of these types of interventions shows how common assumptions about youth are often not grounded in the reality that ‘youth’ itself...
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Episode 9: Preventing Violent Extremism with Resilience and Social Cohesion
Decoding Counterterrorism
Hosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Gayatri Sahgal and Stijn Sieckelinck to discuss resilience in the context of preventing violent extremism, or what it means to try to ensure that individuals and communities can effectively resist radicalisation and recruitment or have the capacity to rebuild following these events. While ‘resilience’ is often referred to as a goal of these types of interventions, it remains a very opaque term and can equally be used to refer to a process or an outcome. This can be due to the fact that resilience is often used in contexts where there...
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Episode 8: Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Using Mentorship
Decoding Counterterrorism
Hosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Emily Winterbotham and Martine Zeuthen to discuss how and why mentorship efforts, often including a variety of supportive elements such as psycho-social or vocational mentorship, are one of the types of preventing and countering violent extremism approaches that maintain a positive track record for effectiveness and impact. The research evidence base and Martine’s practical implementation experience in Kenya suggest that interventions need to be kept small, tailored and targeted at those who are most at-risk of radicalisation or...
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Episode 7: The Role of Law Enforcement in Preventing Violent Extremism
Decoding Counterterrorism
Hosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Martin Innes and Christopher Hockey to discuss the role police have in preventing and countering violent extremism. In this episode, we survey the two different contexts of the UK and Kenya, comparing the role of police in counterterrorism across the Global North and South. While police play an important and primary role in the investigation and arrest of terrorism suspects, evidence shows that when policing powers are abused and human rights are violated, this can drive violent extremism. Thus, it is important to build capacity within...
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Episode 6: The Role of Public Health and its Model in Counterterrorism
Decoding Counterterrorism
Hosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Jonathan Metzl and Michael Jones to discuss how the public health model – an epidemiological approach attempting to prevent or reduce a particular illness or social problem in a population by identifying risk indicators – has been applied in preventing and countering violent extremism. Michael highlights how this model provides a way to organise preventative interventions for the wider range of potential drivers of violent extremism. We also discuss the opportunities and challenges around engaging healthcare professionals in the goal...
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Episode 5: Deradicalisation, Disengagement, Rehabilitation and Reintegration
Decoding Counterterrorism
Hosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Martine Zeuthen and James Khalil to talk about the types of countering violent extremism interventions addressed at people who have already been involved with violent extremism. Martine and James have a wealth of experience in supporting such efforts in the Global South, where countries grapple with the challenges of developing effective rehabilitation interventions for large groups of individuals. How can these types of deradicalisation and disengagement interventions be designed to work towards successfully rehabilitating and...
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Episode 4: Connections Between Development and Preventing Violent Extremism
Decoding Counterterrorism
Hosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Simon Finley and Emily Winterbotham to discuss the opportunities and challenges where development efforts and preventing and countering violent extremism meet. The development field offers a range of interventions designed to respond to ongoing structural problems, such as systemic poverty and lack of educational or vocational opportunities, as well as encouraging social and economic development. This field often has a much wider base of resources than the more limited budgets and time allocations of interventions designed to prevent and...
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Episode 3: The Role of Education and Teachers in Preventing Violent Extremism
Decoding Counterterrorism
Hosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Claudia Wallner and Paul Thomas to explore efforts aimed at preventing and countering violent extremism within public education environments. Education systems offer an existing environment where tools that can be useful in preventing violent extremism are taught, such as critical thinking, digital literacy and civic values. However, asking teachers to assess or report on security concerns among their students – such as signs of radicalisation to violent extremism – can sometimes be counterproductive or even destructive by breaking...
info_outlineHosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Gayatri Sahgal and Stijn Sieckelinck to discuss resilience in the context of preventing violent extremism, or what it means to try to ensure that individuals and communities can effectively resist radicalisation and recruitment or have the capacity to rebuild following these events. While ‘resilience’ is often referred to as a goal of these types of interventions, it remains a very opaque term and can equally be used to refer to a process or an outcome. This can be due to the fact that resilience is often used in contexts where there is a high degree of complexity, such as multiple intersecting drivers of violent extremism. For example, there might be poor governance and lack of education; the violent extremist group might be offering a salary; and an individual might be more vulnerable because they are seeking opportunities for a better future.
‘Social cohesion’, a concept often used in conjunction with resilience, can sometimes be mistakenly seen as part of the same process. However, Stijn and Gayatri describe how this term is quite distinct, as a measure of cohesiveness between different social groups. What, therefore, are the best ways to encourage resilience to violent extremism within individuals and communities?