RESEARCHING THE EVOLUTION OF COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM FARANGIZ ATAMURADOVA AND SARA ZEIGER | EDITORS RESEARCHING THE EVOLUTION OF COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM FARANGIZ ATAMURADOVA AND SARA ZEIGER EDITORS The views expressed in these chapters are the opinions of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hedayah or any of the organizers or sponsors of the International CVE Research Conference 2019. CONTENTS © Hedayah, 2021 All rights reserved. Cover design and publication layout by Iman Badwan. Cover image © Hedayah stock photos. ABOUT HEDAYAH Introduction 9 Hedayah was created in response to the growing desire from members of the Global Counter-Terrorism Farangiz Atamuradova and Sara Zeiger Forum (GCTF) and the wider international community for the establishment of an independent, mul- tilateral center devoted to dialogue and communications, capacity building programs, research and analysis to counter violent extremism in all of its forms and manifestations. During the ministerial-level launch of the GCTF in New York in September 2011, the U.A.E. offered to serve as the host of the Inter- Improving National PVE Strategies: Lessons Learned from 21 national Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism. In December 2012 Hedayah was inau- 1 The Swiss Case gurated with its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. Hedayah aims to be the premier international center Fabien Merz for expertise and experience to counter violent extremism by promoting understanding and sharing of good practice to effectively serve as the true global center to counter violent extremism. ABOUT THE EDITORS Lessons Learned from Assessing the National Action Plan 41 2 for the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Extremism of Farangiz Atamuradova is a Research Associate at the Department of Research and Analysis, Hedayah. Farangiz joined Hedayah in February 2018. At Hedayah, Farangiz co-manages MASAR, an App for Moni- Finland toring, Measurement, and Evaluation for P/CVE projects, the Counter Extremism Hub, and the Radical Elli Partanen Right Counter Narrative Collection, which is led by the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right. Prior to Hedayah, Farangiz worked at Delma Institute as a political analyst covering various regional issues. Her internship experiences include the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Royal Initiating the National Action Plan on Countering Violent 57 United Services Institute. Farangiz holds a Master of Letters in Terrorism Studies from the University of 3 Extremism in Indonesia: Challenges and Opportunities St. Andrews and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics with International Studies from the University of Warwick. Libasut Taqwa Sara Zeiger is the Program Manager for the Research and Analysis Department, where she manages projects such as the International CVE Research Conference, the Counter-Narrative Library and MASAR, an app for monitoring, measurement and evaluation of CVE programs. She has conducted research Lessons Learned on PVE-E: The Experience of Global Com- 79 on CVE on a variety of topics, most notably on counter-narratives, education, prison reha- bilitation 4 munity Engagement and Resilienbce Fund - Funded Pro- & reintegration, and youth & women. Prior to Hedayah, she was a researcher at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University and a Teaching Fellow at the Harvard Extension School. She holds grams in Bangladesh, Kenya, Kosovo, Mali, and Nigeria her Master’s in International Relations and Religion from Boston University, and graduated valedictorian Andre Alves dos Reis from Ohio Northern University with a B.A. in Psychology and Religion. Engaging Communities in P/CVE Projects in Fragile and 97 5 Conflict Affected States Rory MacLeod Resolving Conflict and Preventing Violent Extremism in 125 6 Southeast Asia Jim Della-Giacoma Assessment of Foreign-funded Interventions of Preventing 147 7 Violent Extremism through Education in Madrassas: The Case of Pakistan Zahid Shahab Ahmed and Rizwana Shahzad Gangs, Criminal Exploitation, and Violent Extremism: 173 8 Exploring The Crossover to Prevent Youth Violence Carys Evans On the Role of Sensation-Seeking in Political Violence 187 9 Birga M. Schumpe, Jocelyn J. Belanger, Claudia F. Nisa, and Manuel Moyano Moving Beyond Islamist Extremism: Counter-Narrative 199 10 Responses to the Radical Right William Allchorn Violent Ego-Centered Sovereignism As A Global Threat? The 223 11 Case of the German “Reichsburger” and Implications for P/CVE Research Dr. Dennis Walkenhorst and Maximilian Ruf What Women Say: The Intersection of Misogyny and Violent 242 12 Extremism Saeida Rouass Addressing the Threat of Violent Extremism through Highly- 257 13 Targeted, Female-Specific Online Communications: Lessons Learned from Northeastern Syria and Al-Hol Camp Alistair Harris INTRODUCTION Sara Zeiger & Farangiz Atamuradova Background The field of research on preventing and countering violent extremism (P/ CVE) is growing, and the international P/CVE community is learning and im- plementing new techniques, methods, and practices. This edited volume adds perspectives in P/CVE research to that body of literature from the speakers that presented their latest research at the International CVE Research Con- ference 2019, which took place in Melbourne, Australia in October 2019. In summary of the research and discussions during the Conference, this volume aims to share experiences, from both academics and practitioners, in what has been working, and what could be done better in P/CVE research, policy, and practice. In the first five years that the annual International CVE Research Conference was held, it has regularly contributed to expanding that field of P/CVE re- search in two ways. First, the Conference showcases the latest, cutting-edge research in CVE, to include perspectives from the academic community and the practitioner community. This combination of academic and practitioner perspectives ensures that the conversations in the P/CVE research field in- clude research with rigorous academic standards as well as research that can be made available efficiently and quickly from practice-oriented methods. Sec- ond, the Conference speakers are asked to contribute to an edited volume to publish their findings presented at the Conference. The edited volume ensures 10 RESEARCHING THE EVOLUTION OF CVE INTRODUCTION 11 that the findings are shared beyond the Conference participants, and that they work (TSN), the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, the Canadian Net- can be accessed by the wider network of individuals and institutions that are work for Terrorism, Security & Society (TSAS), and Victoria University. working to enhance their P/CVE activities, policies, and programs. P/CVE Research Worldwide The sixth International CVE Research Conference in 2019 was no different, in that it looked at new and emerging research in CVE and showcased that The sixth Conference provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on the prog- research in a discussion-oriented forum where the CVE community could re- ress of the CVE research field in the first five years the Conference has been spond to the research and share new ideas for how to adapt to the ever-chang- held. In short, the P/CVE research field has made significant progress in a ing threat of violent extremism. The Conference discussed a number of topics number of areas. and cross-cutting themes. For example, one session focused on new technol- ogies, media, and artificial intelligence in relation to violent extremism and In the first and second conferences, there was a demand for more and effective CVE. Other panels explored trends in religiously-based violent extremism and research on the drivers of radicalization (push and pull factors) relating to violent the evolving role of the far-right in violent extremism. Multidisciplinary topics extremism (Zeiger & Aly, 2015; Zeiger, 2016). However, in the past five years, were also explored, such as the crossover between criminology, social sciences, numerous organizations and research institutions have answered this demand to psychology, and P/CVE as well as the discourse on identity and hate speech develop more careful research that pinpoints the reasons and pathways to vio- that increasingly corresponds with the literature on P/CVE. The panels also lent extremism at an increasingly localized level. Studies on drivers of radicaliza- covered topics such as education and P/CVE and gender perspectives in P/ tion have emerged from across the globe—some led by international organiza- CVE. There was a special session on challenges and opportunities for P/CVE tions, and others led by local NGOs and research institutions seeking to enhance in South East Asia and the Pacific, given the location of the Conference itself. their local efforts for P/CVE. In 2019-2020 alone, research has detailed factors Finally, several panels also presented research on evaluating P/CVE national leading to radicalization with a regional focus, such as in East Africa (Van Zyl & policies and strategies, as well as evaluating P/CVE programs. Mahdi, 2019); with a country-specific focus, such as those covering North Mace- donia (Arifi, 2019), Trinidad and Tobago (Aldrich & Mahabir, 2019) or Tajik- The International CVE Research Conference 2019 was hosted and sponsored istan (World Bank, 2020); and with a hyper-localized focus, such as in Kwale in part by Hedayah, Deakin University’s Alfred Deakin Institute, AVERT County, Kenya (Mkutu & Opondo, 2019). Still, others collated