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Soldier patrolling in Brussels on high terror alert. 

Foto: Emanuele Cardinall. 23.02.2016. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Program

Consortium for Terrorism Research

Themes

  • Terrorism and extremism

Contact Person

Rita Augestad Knudsen
Senior Research Fellow

Events

23. Aug 2023
15:00 - 16:00
Microsoft Teams
English
WEBINAR: The Return of the Taliban: Afghanistan after the Americans left
8. Jun 2023
09:30 - 11:00
NUPI
English
Theory Seminar: Interdisciplinarity & Terrorism Studies
8. Jun 2023
14:00 - 16:00
Auditorium 2, Eilert Sundts hus, Moltke Moes vei 31, 0851 Oslo
English
Developing the evidence base for putative risk factors for violent extremist outcomes
16. Feb 2023
09:00 - 10:00
NUPI
English
Bad ideas have wings too: Understanding the resilience of jihadi ideas
25. Jan 2023
09:00 - 10:00
Seminar room 101 in Harriet Holters house. University of Oslo
English
Foreign Fighters in Ukraine – "concerned citizens of the world" or a security threat?
1. Nov 2022
14:30 - 15:30
Undervisningsrom 1 i Georg Sverdrups hus, Universitetet i Oslo
English
Minors in terrorist organizations: Radicalization and intervention
23. Aug 2022
NUPI
Norwegian
Ungdom og ekstremisme i 2021 – En studie av ungdommers vurdering av ekstremisme og forebygging av ekstremisme i Norge.
27. Apr 2022
17:00 - 18:30
Microsoft Teams
English
WEBINAR: The secrets of al-Qaeda: “The Bin Laden Papers”
2. Feb 2022
14:00 - 15:30
Microsoft Teams
English
Mental health and radicalization
16. Nov 2021
16:00 - 17:30
Microsoft Teams
English
The threat of covid 19-related extremism
29. Sep 2021
15:00 - 16:30
Microsoft Teams
English
What role does technology play in violent extremism and terrorism?
21. Sep 2021
15:00 - 16:30
Microsoft Teams
English
Living with the Taliban?
5. Aug 2021
17:00 - 18:30
Microsoft Teams
English
Gendered Radicalisation – how gender and place matter to countering violent extremism
22. Jun 2021
11:00 - 12:30
Microsoft Teams
English
Jihadist Governance in the Sahel
25. Nov 2020
10:30 - 12:00
Microsoft Teams
English
Political violence and polarization in France: the threat, the discourse and the response
28. Apr 2020
11:00 - 12:00
Webinar
English
WEBINAR: Understanding the global far right: lessons from India
21. Apr 2020
11:00 - 12:00
Webinar
English
WEBINAR: Jihad in the Sahel: Actors, developments and context
6. Nov 2019
10:00 - 12:30
NUPI
English
Radicalization behind bars: Lessons and challenges from Norway and the Netherlands
24. Oct 2019
10:00 - 11:30
NUPI
English
Is there an extremist personality? – The link between personality characteristics and violent extremism
11. Dec 2018
13:00 - 14:10
NUPI
English
Preventing terrorism through risk assessments – a UK perspective
27. Nov 2018
11:00 - 12:30
NUPI
English
Critical approaches in terrorism research: Power, pre-emption and preventing violent extremism
21. Nov 2018
15:00 - 16:30
NUPI
English
The temptations of terrorist watchlists: How the U.S. No Fly List is changing the meaning of citizenship
4. Sep 2018
13:00 - 14:30
NUPI
English
Fighting violent extremism: What can be learned from the North Caucasus?
17. Jun 2018
10:00 - 11:30
NUPI
English
How America’s partners help and hinder the war on terror
19. Apr 2018
10:30 - 12:00
NUPI
English
Violent extremism and the role of mental disorder
16. Apr 2018
11:30 - 13:00
NUPI
English
Islamist radicalisation in Europe – characteristics and drivers
18. Feb 2018
12:45 - 14:45
NUPI
English
Understanding the foreign fighter phenomenon in the Balkans: insights from Kosovo and Bosnia
14. Dec 2017
12:30 - 14:30
NUPI
English
Lunch Seminar: The Islamic State - Terrorism and Influence
12. Jun 2017
12:30 - 14:30
NUPI
Norwegian
Lunch seminar: Al-Qaida in Afghanistan - an alternative perspective
11. May 2017
11:00 - 13:00
NUPI
English
Fighting international terrorism the French way

The Consortium for Research on Terrorism and International Crime has existed since in 2002, and today consists of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), the Police University College (PHS) and the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX). The Consortium constitutes one of the most renowned research environments in Europe on these topics. It serves as an arena for research dissemination, exchange of information, and the building of expertise across institutions.

The Consortium is financed through ministries, state agencies and private organizations that wish to support Norwegian research on terrorism and international crime, and that wish to make use of the Consortium’s expertise. Consortium researchers have also supported important policy-making processes, such as the Norwegian Action plan against Violent Extremism and Radicalization, and the process leading to a white paper on security challenges in Norwegian foreign policy.

The expertise and current research focus of the Consortium researchers include the topics of violent extremism and terrorism, Islamic terrorism in Europe and the rest of the world, right-wing extremism and anti-Jihadi movements, solo-terrorism, terrorist target selection, the fight against terrorism, organized and international crime in Europe and its neighborhoods, policy-making on organized crime, organized crime and state-building, illegal economies and insurgencies in West and North Africa, piracy, societal security, threats against the transport sector, gang conflicts, crisis management and international police cooperation. 

Click here for the latest publications by the consortium researchers

 

NUPI researchers associated with the consortium: 

External researchers associated with the consortium:

  • Tore Bjørgo, (C-REX), Consortium Academic Director 

Articles

Articles
News
Articles
News

The Consortium for Research on Terrorism and International Crime in 2021

Foreign fighters in Ukraine, 20 years after 9/11 and the role of technology in violent extremism were some of the topics on the Consortium’s agenda in 2021.
  • Terrorism and extremism
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Articles
News
Articles
News

Understanding the roots of Kurdish resilience to violent extremism in Iraq

What are the reasons behind the limited impact of violent extremism and the Islamic State in the Kurdistan region of Iraq?
  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Peace, crisis and conflict
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News
News

The Consortium for research on terrorism and international crime in 2019

Prison radicalization, returning foreign fighters and accelerationist terrorism were just some of the topics on the Consortium’s agenda during the last twelve months.

  • Terrorism and extremism
Articles
News
Articles
News

Rethinking radicalisation and resilience in Mali and the Sahel

What does resilience against radicalisation and violent extremism look like in Mali and the Sahel? And which drivers are present for the spread of extremism?
  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Africa
  • Peace, crisis and conflict
News
News

Measuring the risk of radicalization – is that really possible?

Are tools for gauging the risk of radicalization used correctly?

  • Terrorism and extremism
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Articles
News
Articles
News

Bridging or dividing people?

In this podcast episode we’ll take a closer look at the relationship between the different ethnic groups in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, after the Balkan wars.
  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Europe
News
News

The frustrating nature of international counter-terrorism partnerships

Fighting terrorism requires wide-ranging cooperation between states. What does such cooperation look like in practice, and does it work?

  • Defence
  • Security policy
  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Africa
News
News

Podcast: Most people aren’t radicalized

Why are some communities more likely to experience violent extremism than others? And why do most people living in enabling environments stay clear of radicalization?

  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Europe
  • Africa
  • Asia
News
News

Exploring the Continuum of Lethality: Militant Islamists' Targeting Preferences in Europe

Doctoral Research Fellow at Politihøgskolen (The Police Academy) and Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation, Cato Hemmingby, has published an article that provides an in-depth analysis of the targeting preferences of militant Islamists operating in Western Europe.

  • Terrorism and extremism
News
News

Op-Ed: Three Myths Holding Back Afghan Peace Talks

Consortium researcher Anne Stenersen writes in IPI Global Observatory about the peace talks with the Taliban:

News
News

Lebanon on knife-edge

With Syria to the north-east, Israel in the south and faced with its own political crises, Lebanon finds itself challenged on many fronts.

  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Humanitarian issues
  • Conflict
  • Governance
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News
News

When Russia goes to war

What makes war acceptable? Julie Wilhelmsen launches her most recent book, followed by a conversation with Aftenposten commentator Helene Skjeggestad.

  • Defence
  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • Conflict
  • Human rights
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Counter-terrorism in Europe

Which questions should we ask ourselves after the terrorist acts in Europe the last few months?

  • Defence
  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Europe
  • The EU
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News
News

A Clear Division of Roles Promotes Security

A new report sheds light on how the roles should be divided between police and other security personnel in securing vulnerable objects.

  • Terrorism and extremism

New publications

Publications
Publications
Scientific article

Naturalisation through mainstreaming Counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation in UN and EU discourse

In the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, counter-terrorism was initially pursued throughout the world as a matter of exceptional ‘hard security’. International and national authorities generally position terrorism as a uniquely threatening phenomenon warranting delineated budgets, systems, and structures within the law enforcement and defence realms. However, with the growing focus on radicalisation as assumedly essential in leading to terrorism and counter-radicalisation as an ever more central part of counter-terrorism, its scope was expanded far beyond the ‘hard security’ field; counter-radicalisation enabled the growth and integration of counter-terrorism into ‘softer’ societal sectors. This chapter argues that this shift from a hard security framing of counter-terrorism to a broadening of its scope through a foregrounding of counter-radicalisation should be conceptualised as a process of ‘mainstreaming’. After explaining the concept of mainstreaming and how it captures this development, the chapter offers a brief discourse analysis of such mainstreaming through the lens of key official UN and EU counter-terrorism documents. On the basis of this investigation, the chapter finds that the discursive mainstreaming of counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation suggests their ‘naturalisation’.

  • Security policy
  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Governance
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  • Security policy
  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Governance
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Publications
Scientific article

Why Terrorism Researchers Should Care about Criminal Responsibility

Criminal responsibility is a basic principle in holding individuals to account for criminal actions. Making exemptions to criminal responsibility when individuals cannot be held responsible for their actions is equally central, and most countries have frameworks allowing for such exemptions for reasons of serious mental health problems. However, despite the recent years’ enormous interests in the possible links between individual ‘mental health’ and involvement in terrorism, the issue of criminal responsibility has apparently so far not been the subject of much interest in the field of terrorism research. This Research Note makes the simple point that criminal responsibility should be of particular interest to terrorism researchers, for two main reasons: the centrality of (political, religious, ideological) motivations for defining a crime as terrorism-related and the sometimes-difficult boundary-setting between such motivations and (psychotic) delusions; and the political nature of terrorism-related crimes.

  • Terrorism and extremism
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  • Terrorism and extremism
Publications
Publications
Policy brief
Gilad Ben-Nun, Ulf Engel

Policy brief summarising the lessons learned from assessing the EU’s measures to prevent violent extremism in a comparative perspective

Elapsing 30 months into the PREVEX consortium’s work, synchronizing results from both PREVEX-generated and external research outputs, this policy brief presents three key lessons from the analysis of the EU’s measures to prevent violent extremism (PVE) across its three regional focal areas: MENA, Maghreb/ Sahel and the Balkans. It then teases out three policy recommendations emanating from these lessons. While lesson #1 speaks to the broader framework of the EU’s PVE efforts, lessons #2 & #3 are more specifically geared toward the regions under PREVEX’ scrutiny: The Balkans (#2) and MENA and Maghreb/Sahel (#3).

  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The EU
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  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The EU
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Working paper
Gilad Ben-Nun, Ulf Engel

Working Paper on a comparison of ‘enabling environments’, drivers and occurrence/nonoccurrence of violent extremism in the Balkans and the MENA region

The following working paper presents a cross-sectional and cross-regional comparison of the findings by PREVEX project partners across their three respective regional domains: the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the Balkans, and the Maghreb-Sahel, as stemming from their studies into the question of the occurrence and non-occurrence of violent extremism (VE). PREVEX deals with both ethno-nationalist and Islamic violent extremism (IVE).

  • Terrorism and extremism
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  • Terrorism and extremism
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Report
Gilad Ben-Nun, Ulf Engel

Background study: Cross-regional comparison of ‘DOs and DON’Ts’ in the EU’s PVE Measures: Balkans, Maghreb/ Sahel & Middle East

The following report presents the research findings of a cross-societal comparison of PREVEX-related regions, with the aim of providing ideas about what has been successful and what has proven detrimental to the EU’s preventing violent extremism (PVE) efforts. As per the PREVEX consortium’s project architecture, structured comparisons serve as a central pillar for the extrapolation and generation of cross-cutting lessons and policy recommendations concerning PVE. While sporadic, intra-regional, comparative elements are already apparent within three PREVEX regional Policy Briefs – on the Balkans (D5.1), the Maghreb/Sahel (D6.1) and the Middle East (D7.1) – these documents are confined to countries within these respective regions that partly share territorial, societal, and cultural similarities. In contrast, the explicit mandate for the research to be undertaken here under Work Package 8 is to conduct cross-cutting comparisons between these radically different regions – all without losing sight of domestic-specific PVE aspects, the highlighting of which might help to generate ideas for other contexts. The conduct of such cross-regional comparisons is premised upon the methodological prerequisite of being aware, as the comparisons are being conducted, of some wide qualitative differences between the regions compared. The identification of lessons for policymaking will be considerably stronger if one can demonstrate that, despite considerable divergences, certain PVE strategies continue to perform well across the board. The consolidation of such lessons – based on validations from across different cultures, structural contexts, and radically divergent Islamic traditions – provides for an additional measure of confirmation as to their pertinence. The overt attempt of the authors of this study has been to search diligently for such ‘across-the-board’ lessons.

  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Governance
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  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Governance
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Policy brief
Gilad Ben-Nun, Ulf Engel

Policy brief comparing the EU and other stakeholders’ prevention strategy towards violent extremism in the Balkans and the broader MENA region

This policy brief offers a cross-regional comparison of PREVEX findings regarding the efficacity of the EU’s PVE efforts. Based upon an amalgamation of PREVEX partners’ policy briefs over the Balkans (D5.1), the Maghreb/Sahel (D6.1) and the Middle East (D7.1), two reports on respectively EU’s policies and instruments for PVE (D4.1) and the implementation of these (D4.2), further corroborated by an extensive validation background study (D8), we have the following recommendations to the EU: EU – ‘DOs’ -Increase cooperation with High Muslim Councils -Enhance their standing -Empower them to act against IVE EU – ‘DON’Ts’ – A, B, C -Avoid the all-out securitization of everything ‘Islamic’. -Block imported Islamic ‘Madhhab’ (Wahabism) from entering European spheres -Consult ‘elders’ and rethink funding youth projects that lack proven PVEimpact

  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Governance
  • The EU
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Policy brief
Erik Skare, Ahmad Mhidi, Georges Fahmi, Nouran Ahmed, Kamaran Palani, Myriam Ababsa, Olivier Roy, Dlawer Ala‘Aldeen

Policy brief summarizing lessons learnt on the EU’s measures to prevent violent extremism in the region

There are a number of grievances attributed as drivers of violent extremism. Poverty, autocratic governance and human rights violations, precarious masculinities, or the lack of education, mentioning just some, all create what we may term “enabling environments” – areas in which various factors create a conducive situation where segments of its population become prone to violent extremism. Still, the majority living in such enabling environments and experiencing these grievances do not engage in any acts of violence or join any extremist organizations. This begs the question, why do some communities display far greater resilience to violent extremist ideologies than others? In our newly released PREVEX working paper analyzing the drivers, occurrence, and non-occurrence of violent extremism in the MENA region, we study four cases of the nonoccurrence of violent extremism in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq.1 Specifically, we analyze why segments among disenfranchised Islamist Egyptian youth, the majority of Jordanian jihadists, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), and the Syrian village Swedan in the Deir Ez-Zor province have displayed a far greater resilience to carrying out violent extremism than others. We assess the role and importance of local community and religious leaders, the role of tribal affiliation, ideological exposure, good governance and political inclusion, poverty and marginalization, and state repression. We address both a scholarly puzzle and a policy problem. If the aforementioned grievances create enabling environments conducive to violent extremism, why is it that the majority in these situations actually abstain from violence and reject extremist ideologies? What does that tell us about the role and dynamics of enabling environments? The policy problem relates to how one evaluates, weighs, and approaches populations in enabling environments and who are thus perceived to be prone to violent extremism. Put bluntly, should a population residing in an enabling environment be treated as future extremists or terrorists, to wit, a problem in need of securitization? Necessarily, these findings have consequences for how we perceive the feasibility of past and current EU funding programs intended to prevent violent extremism in the Middle East.

  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • The EU
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  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • The EU
Publications
Publications
Working paper
Erik Skare, Ahmad Mhidi, Georges Fahmi, Nouran Ahmed, Kamaran Palani, Myriam Ababsa, Olivier Roy, Dlawer Ala‘Aldeen

Working Paper on ´enabling environments´, drivers and occurrence/nonoccurrence of violent extremism in the region

There are a number of grievances attributed as drivers of violent extremism. Poverty, autocratic governance, human rights violations, precarious masculinities, or the lack of education, mentioning just some, all create what we may term “enabling environments”. Still, the majority living in such enabling environments and who experience such grievances do not engage in any acts of violence or join any violent extremist organizations. This begs the question, why do some communities display far greater resilience to violent extremist ideologies than others? Based on in-depth fieldwork in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq, we study and analyze four cases of the non-occurrence of violent extremism in the Middle East to further our understanding of enabling environments, community resilience, and the decisive moments pushing people to, or away from, violence.

  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • The EU
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  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • The EU
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Report
Sejla Pehlivanovic, Diana Mishkova, Simeon Evstatiev, Edina Bećirević, Stoyan Doklev, Kreshnik Gashi, Marija Ignjatijević, Sara Kelmendi, Predrag Petrović, Albulena Sadiku, Romario Shehu, Evlogi Stanchev

Working Paper on enabling environments, drivers, and occurrence/nonoccurrence of violent extremism

Based on extensive desk research and fieldwork, the present paper aims to analyze the various drivers of violent extremism (VE) in the contemporary Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the Republic of North Macedonia, and Serbia) and the elaboration of a refined, nuanced and context-sensitive understanding of the concept of ‘enabling environment’, i.e., the cluster or combination of various factors in a given society that renders the emergence of violent extremism likely. When approaching the varying impact of ideological radicalization and hate speech, we seek to make a distinction between contexts, where radicalization morphs into violence (“occurrence”), and contexts, where it does not (“non-occurrence”). Thus, the paper seeks to provide an analytical explanation of the central question of why some communities tend to be more resilient to violent extremist ideologies than others, despite identical “enabling” conditions. Given the geopolitical significance of the Western Balkan region, an approach that prioritizes non-occurrence of violence may respond more adequately to the strategic need for strengthening resilience to radicalization, extremism and terrorism there.

  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Europe
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  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Europe
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Policy brief

Policy brief summarizing lessons learnt on the EU’s measures to prevent violent extremism in the region

While most research on violent extremism (VE) focuses on why people turn to violence, this policy brief looks at the issue the other way round. We sum up the lessons learnt from our findings on why the majority of those living in enabling environments often choose not to get involved in violence and, against this background, to (re-)consider the EU’s measures for prevention and countering of violent extremism (P/CVE) in the Western Balkans (WB).

  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Europe
  • The EU
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  • Terrorism and extremism
  • Europe
  • The EU
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Policy brief

Policy brief summarizing lessons learnt on the EU’s measures to prevent violent extremism in the region

How do EU initiatives that are geared to help prevent and counter violent extremism in North Africa and the Sahel match the underlying drivers of radicalisation? This PREVEX Policy Brief offers a reading of EU strategies in the backlight of our findings, which stem from fieldwork that was conducted in cases of both occurrence and non-occurrence of violent extremist escalation across North Africa and the Sahel. As scholarly literature lays emphasis on how phenomena such as violent extremism are highly context-dependent, it is crucial to understand regional and local dynamics of social change and intermediation. This brief therefore provides an overall assessment of EU P/CVE policies and projects in North Africa and the Sahel, focusing on key contextual policy issues: democratic governance, rule of law, education, gender, reintegration. It argues that EU’s emphasis on rule of law is particularly appropriate, while there is room for greater engagement in the fields of education and reintegration – provided that conflict-sensitive lenses are carefully applied. In the fields of democratic governance and gender, instead, a mismatch between general strategies and on-the-ground implementation can be observed. Targeted research in these critical areas of intervention and assistance is highly needed. Overall, our analysis invites to consider radicalisation processes not as social pathology but as ongoing social phenomena that take place in a space where several actors rival for material and ideational resources, and therefore require careful assessment and multi-scalar prioritisation, including at the regional and transnational level.

  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Governance
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  • The Middle East and North Africa
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Working paper

Working Paper on enabling environments, drivers, and occurrence/nonoccurrence of violent extremism

Why does violent extremism not occur in enabling environments? Based on recent field work in the Sahel and the Maghreb region this is the main question we seek to understand in this working paper. To understand non-occurrence and thereby the foundations of social and individual resilience, we also need to understand the drivers of violent extremism and why they gain traction among some populations while others show much higher degrees of resilience. To achieve this, we will zoom in on cases in Mali, Niger, Tunisia and Morocco, showcasing different trajectories of occurrence and non-occurrence.

  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The Middle East and North Africa
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  • Terrorism and extremism
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Policy brief

Policy brief summarizing the EU and other stakeholders’ prevention strategy towards violent extremism in the Maghreb and the Sahel

What is the European Union (EU) doing to prevent and counter violent extremism (P/CVE) in north-western Africa, specifically in the Maghreb and Sahel region? Building upon the EU Counter Terrorism Strategy (EU Council 2005), the EU Strategy for combating radicalization and recruitment to terrorism has increasingly emphasized the ‘internal-external security nexus’ and the need to strengthen co-operation with key third countries in the fields of counterterrorism, anti-radicalization, prevention, and countering of violent extremism (EU Parliament 2015; EU Parliament and EU Council 2017). The fight against violent extremism has thus become one of the most prominent objectives in EU external action, especially as far as the (enlarged) neighbourhood is concerned (Durac 2017). Yet scientific inquiry into the EU’s role in this

  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • The EU
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  • The Middle East and North Africa
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Policy brief

Policy brief summarising the EU and other stakeholder’s prevention strategy towards violent extremism in the region, Middle East

The EU-Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Preventive Violent Extremism (PvE) co-operation is wide-ranging, and has been since a formalized partnership between the EU and MENA countries was outlined in the 1995 Barcelona Declaration. It has nevertheless received added attention following numerous terrorist attacks within the EU during the last decade; and European foreign fighters have been linked to the attacks in Paris in 2015; in Brussels, Berlin, and Nice in 2016; and in Manchester, London, and Barcelona in 2017.

  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • The EU
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  • The Middle East and North Africa
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Policy brief

Policy brief on the implementation of the EU’s policies

Violent extremism is not a new phenomenon and terrorism has a long history in Europe, often linked to separatist movements, anarchism, and far-right and far-left extremism. The trends, means, and patterns of radicalization have evolved rapidly since the Arab uprisings flared exactly a decade ago. Counter-terrorism (CT) and preventing violent extremism (PVE) strategies have developed alongside these trends at the national and supranational level. In the wake of a series of Jihad-inspired terror attacks in Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, the UK, and elsewhere, European Union (EU) member states ramped up their military campaigns against the Islamic State (ISIS, aka Daesh) and al-Qaeda in Syria and Iraq. But since the fall of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), governments’ interest in fighting terrorism in the Middle East has decreased. Nevertheless, some European countries remain on the front foot in their securitized PVE approach. Although there is no apparent connection between the anti-jihad war waged by the French army in Mali and the radicalization in France, the government is calling for more support from European countries to fight against jihadi movements in the Sahel. But the appetite for costly expeditionary campaigns is decreasing. By and large, the phenomenon of violent extremism is perceived as homegrown. And whereas large differences remain in individual countries’ approaches to tackling the challenges posed by violent extremism, it has nevertheless become increasingly clear that today’s security challenges – whether it is terrorism, organized crime, cyberattacks, disinformation, or other evolving cyber-enabled threats – are shared threats that require a transnational approach. Indeed, Europe as a whole faces new security issues and specific challenges for preventive work that (lone) actors and (returning) foreign terrorist fighters raise, while the internet and social media give extremist and terrorist groups and their sympathisers new opportunities for spreading their propaganda, mobilization, and communication. It is against this changed backdrop that this policy brief asks what lessons the EU can learn from best practices identified at the national level, and in the co0ordination efforts with the supranational institutions.

  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The EU
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Working paper

Working paper on the implementation of the EU’s policies

This working paper builds on earlier research in which we mapped and analysed the toolbox of the European Union (EU) and a handful of European countries by providing a comprehensive overview of existing measures aimed at counter-terrorism (CT) and preventing violent extremism (PVE) within and outside the EU. It listed the institutional setup, the decision-making processes, and co-ordinating practices at both the EU and state levels. In addition to an analysis of CT and PVE strategies at the level of EU institutions, the toolbox of four EU member states (Germany, France, Ireland, Spain) and one former member state (UK) was unpacked because of their particular experiences with and competences in the area of prevention of violent extremism. Overall, our research found that the PVE agenda is quite a recent phenomenon in most member states and principally aims at preventing violent Islamist extremism through community engagement. The UK has been a pioneer in developing a ‘prevent’ pillar as part of its 2003 CT strategy and has since then actively contributed to the development of an EUlevel PVE framework. This EU framework has in turn pushed other member states, such as Ireland and Spain, to develop their own national PVE strategies in recent years. While Germany has also over the past decade made significant strides in preventing involvement in extremism and has brought its national practices to the EU level, France has generally favoured a more securitized than preventive approach. The present working paper takes the research one step further by looking more closely at the implementation of adopted PVE measures and practices in the EU and the abovementioned key states, both domestically as well as vis-à-vis the Western Balkans and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. As such, we present a more evaluative overview geared towards identifying best practices and lessons learned in this field. The paper not only focuses on how policy is implemented and followed up, but also assesses the EU’s experiences in co-operating with member states and vice versa. In doing so, the research tries to take on board key recent developments, in particular in France and at the EU level, in response to a new series of terrorist attacks that took place in Paris, Nice, and Vienna between the end of October and mid-November 2020. The research builds on a set of in-depth interviews with PVE officials and practitioners within the EU and national administrations.

  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The EU
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  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The EU
Publications
Publications
Working paper

Working paper on EU’s policies and instruments for PVE

This working paper maps and analyses the toolbox of the EU and a handful of European countries by providing a comprehensive overview of existing measures aimed at preventing violent extremism (PVE) within and outside the EU. It lists the institutional set-up, the decisionmaking processes and coordinating practices at both the EU and state levels. In addition to an analysis of counter-terrorism and PVE strategies at the level of EU institutions, the toolbox of four EU member states (Germany, France, Ireland, Spain) and one former member state (UK) is analysed because of their particular experiences with and competences in the area of prevention of violent extremism.

  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The EU
D41P.PNG
  • Terrorism and extremism
  • The EU

Themes

  • Terrorism and extremism

Contact Person

Rita Augestad Knudsen
Senior Research Fellow

Events

23. Aug 2023
15:00 - 16:00
Microsoft Teams
English
WEBINAR: The Return of the Taliban: Afghanistan after the Americans left
8. Jun 2023
09:30 - 11:00
NUPI
English
Theory Seminar: Interdisciplinarity & Terrorism Studies
8. Jun 2023
14:00 - 16:00
Auditorium 2, Eilert Sundts hus, Moltke Moes vei 31, 0851 Oslo
English
Developing the evidence base for putative risk factors for violent extremist outcomes
16. Feb 2023
09:00 - 10:00
NUPI
English
Bad ideas have wings too: Understanding the resilience of jihadi ideas
25. Jan 2023
09:00 - 10:00
Seminar room 101 in Harriet Holters house. University of Oslo
English
Foreign Fighters in Ukraine – "concerned citizens of the world" or a security threat?
1. Nov 2022
14:30 - 15:30
Undervisningsrom 1 i Georg Sverdrups hus, Universitetet i Oslo
English
Minors in terrorist organizations: Radicalization and intervention
23. Aug 2022
NUPI
Norwegian
Ungdom og ekstremisme i 2021 – En studie av ungdommers vurdering av ekstremisme og forebygging av ekstremisme i Norge.
27. Apr 2022
17:00 - 18:30
Microsoft Teams
English
WEBINAR: The secrets of al-Qaeda: “The Bin Laden Papers”
2. Feb 2022
14:00 - 15:30
Microsoft Teams
English
Mental health and radicalization
16. Nov 2021
16:00 - 17:30
Microsoft Teams
English
The threat of covid 19-related extremism
29. Sep 2021
15:00 - 16:30
Microsoft Teams
English
What role does technology play in violent extremism and terrorism?
21. Sep 2021
15:00 - 16:30
Microsoft Teams
English
Living with the Taliban?
5. Aug 2021
17:00 - 18:30
Microsoft Teams
English
Gendered Radicalisation – how gender and place matter to countering violent extremism
22. Jun 2021
11:00 - 12:30
Microsoft Teams
English
Jihadist Governance in the Sahel
25. Nov 2020
10:30 - 12:00
Microsoft Teams
English
Political violence and polarization in France: the threat, the discourse and the response
28. Apr 2020
11:00 - 12:00
Webinar
English
WEBINAR: Understanding the global far right: lessons from India
21. Apr 2020
11:00 - 12:00
Webinar
English
WEBINAR: Jihad in the Sahel: Actors, developments and context
6. Nov 2019
10:00 - 12:30
NUPI
English
Radicalization behind bars: Lessons and challenges from Norway and the Netherlands
24. Oct 2019
10:00 - 11:30
NUPI
English
Is there an extremist personality? – The link between personality characteristics and violent extremism
11. Dec 2018
13:00 - 14:10
NUPI
English
Preventing terrorism through risk assessments – a UK perspective
27. Nov 2018
11:00 - 12:30
NUPI
English
Critical approaches in terrorism research: Power, pre-emption and preventing violent extremism
21. Nov 2018
15:00 - 16:30
NUPI
English
The temptations of terrorist watchlists: How the U.S. No Fly List is changing the meaning of citizenship
4. Sep 2018
13:00 - 14:30
NUPI
English
Fighting violent extremism: What can be learned from the North Caucasus?
17. Jun 2018
10:00 - 11:30
NUPI
English
How America’s partners help and hinder the war on terror
19. Apr 2018
10:30 - 12:00
NUPI
English
Violent extremism and the role of mental disorder
16. Apr 2018
11:30 - 13:00
NUPI
English
Islamist radicalisation in Europe – characteristics and drivers
18. Feb 2018
12:45 - 14:45
NUPI
English
Understanding the foreign fighter phenomenon in the Balkans: insights from Kosovo and Bosnia
14. Dec 2017
12:30 - 14:30
NUPI
English
Lunch Seminar: The Islamic State - Terrorism and Influence
12. Jun 2017
12:30 - 14:30
NUPI
Norwegian
Lunch seminar: Al-Qaida in Afghanistan - an alternative perspective
11. May 2017
11:00 - 13:00
NUPI
English
Fighting international terrorism the French way