Resilience, peacebuilding, and preventing violent extremism
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In this episode of The World Stage, NUPI Research Professor Cedric de Coning is joined by Dr. Ako Muto and Dr. Rui Saraiva to discuss their open-access book, Resilience, Peacebuilding, and Preventing Violent Extremism (Routledge). While the international community has long relied on "hard security" and military interventions to combat extremism, these methods often face limitations because they address the symptoms of violence rather than its root causes, such as marginalization of communities or governance neglect.
The guests argue for adaptive peacebuilding, which focuses on strengthening social cohesion and restoring public trust within local communities. By viewing societies as complex adaptive systems, the research highlights that sustainable solutions must be bottom-up and context-specific, allowing communities to lead their own processes of self-organization. With case studies from Mozambique, Syria, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Niger, and the Philippines, this conversation explores how empowering societies to be more resilient is the most effective way to prevent the emergence and spread of violent extremism.
Listen to the full episode here:
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