Podcast

Research focused on pathways into extremism has increasingly focused on the complex roles that women play in extremist groups. However, new thinking on gender in radicalisation and recruitment is paying increasing attention to the role of masculinities and misogyny in male radicalisation to violence; from Salafi-Jihadist groups to the Far Right and the misogyny of Hindutva-linked movements. This episode discusses the impact of, and interlinkages between misogynistic attitudes and a sense of thwarted masculinity as a consequence of changing social and economic realities.

While rumours, false information and fabricated content have long existed, new technologies are challenging information integrity in new and alarming ways. It is now acknowledged that, in some instances, digital technologies pose a severe threat to democratic practices across the ideological spectrum. Social media platforms were once positively assessed in terms of expanding the participatory potential of social media, this has given way to an increased awareness of the risks that a generally unregulated sphere poses to democracies, human rights. This episode will discuss disinformation today, including how extremist groups, seeking anonymised, transnational communication and connections have weaponised social media and digital platforms to radicalise and recruit vulnerable individuals. It will also outline the research and tools in the arsenal for combatting disinformation.

Today, drug abuse has become a threat that poses a significant challenge to the physical and mental well-being of societies. Territories with a history of state neglect, low service delivery, cross-border management and control, and different sources of tensions represent havens for drug traffickers. In addition, despite the ideal of purity promoted within many violent extremist groups, drugs have also been used as a powerful device for increasing performances within their ranks and social control. In the quest of understanding this phenomenon, this episode will look into the emergence and evolution of drug use within violent extremist groups, while also unpacking the gendered, often underexplored aspects of drug abuse within violent extremism groups, further challenging the notion of women as passive actors in settings of violent extremism through anecdotal, diverse and personalised accounts. It will also look into drugs as a pathway for financing insurgent activities, exploring the possible intersections between illicit crime, drug abuse and violent extremist groups, on one hand, and as a possible source of revenue in contexts of corruption, on the other.

This podcast discussion sheds light on perceptions around child recruitment and the experiences of the former recruits themselves. The data from former members of violent extremist groups suggests that targeted child recruitment strategy was highly identified for ex-members from both Boko Haram and Al-Shabab, underlining the high stakes of combatting this phenomenon of dedicated child recruitment. The podcast, co-joint by two leading civil society partners in the field of prevention of violence, social cohesion building and reintegration – NEEM Foundation (Nigeria) and Elman Peace Centre (Somalia) – unpacks and contextualizes the main findings on factors of child’s vulnerability to recruitment including as well as concrete approaches taken to build resilience to recruitment.

Civil society has been used to describe a community that holds shared norms and values and where free citizens are equal under the rule of law. In more recent times a robust, strong and vibrant civil society was meant to strengthens and enhance governance, build cohesive societies and foster and promote peace and stability. But the nature of civil society means that illiberal and exclusionary ideologies may provide fuel that accelerate political polarization, drive radicalization and mainstream divisiveness. Uncivil parts of civil society may grow and expand from the margins. This session aims to examine the relationship between uncivil society and violent extremism.

Reading through the academic literature on violent extremism communication initiatives, there seems to be a circular argument – “it’s difficult to evaluate the impact with existing tools: therefore we can’t assess whether communications interventions work”. While the evidence has no supported impact of counter narrative work to-date, there are some interesting communications interventions that integrate with other programming or focus more on radicalisation trajectories and/or structural factors. We speak with communications practitioners from across the world to unpack what actually works and the metrics for measuring success.