Communication Strategies to Counter Violent Extremism in Pakistan
March 4, 2025
Purpose – Violent extremism has disrupted the social harmony of many countries all over the globe. Pakistan has been marked as an extremist state, becoming one of Pakistan’s biggest challenges. This study aims to look at the strategic communication on countering violent extremism in Pakistan. Violent extremism is likely to increase in the environment marked by ...
Foreign and Familiar: Recruitment Pathways of Young People Engaged with Extremism in Australia
February 20, 2025
It has been established by leaders of the Australian national security community, such as the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Federal Police, that young people are being increasingly recruited into extremism. To date, few Australian studies have examined this issue using primary source data. This article seeks to understand the conditions which may ...
Alternative Narratives and Countering Violent Extremism in the Arc of Instability: Reflections on Post-ISIS Iraq
December 19, 2024
This chapter is a contribution to the debate on information resilience and national security from the perspective of countering violent Islamist extremism in the arc of instability. The narratives crafted by various violent Islamist extremists are a form of information resilience, but in this case, they act as counterforces, hindering state efforts to prepare for ...
The digital augmentation of extremism: Reviewing and guiding online extremism research from a sociotechnical perspective
December 6, 2024
Online extremism remains a persistent problem despite the best efforts of governments, tech companies and civil society. Digital technologies can induce group polarization to promote extremism and cause substantial changes to extremism (e.g., create new forms of extremism, types of threats or radicalization approaches). Current methods to counter extremism induce undesirable side‐effects (e.g., ostracize minorities, ...
Countering online terrorist content: A social regulation approach
December 3, 2024
After a period of self‐regulation, countries around the world began to implement regulations for the removal of terrorist content from tech platforms. However, much of this regulation has been criticised for a variety of reasons, most prominently for concerns of infringing free speech and creating unfair burdens for smaller platforms. In addition to this, regulation ...
Gaming and Extremism: The Radicalization of Digital Playgrounds
October 30, 2024
Charting the increase in the use of games for the dissemination of extremist propaganda, radicalization, recruitment, and mobilization, this book examines the “gamification of extremism.” Editors Linda Schlegel and Rachel Kowert bring together a range of insights from world-leading experts in the field to provide the first comprehensive overview of gaming and extremism. The potential ...
When Opposition Is Extremism: The Dangers of Over-Securitisation and Online Vigilantism
October 25, 2024
The policy brief makes the case that policymakers and practitioners need to consider who the state defines as ‘extremists.’ In the West, terrorism and violent extremism are seen as the most radical expressions of anti-government resistance. Things, however, look different in the Global South where some governments effectively foster extremists of their own while targeting ...
Countering violent extremism through internet intermediaries: A typology for cross-country comparison
October 24, 2024
This paper examines the counter-violent extremism and anti-terrorism measures in Australia, China, France, the United Kingdom and the United States by investigating how governments leveraged internet intermediaries as their surrogate censors. Particular attention is paid to how political rhetoric led to legislation passed or proposed in each of the countries studied, and their respective restrictive ...
A Strategic Communications Approach to Tackling Current, Emerging and New Violent Extremist Threats in Europe
October 24, 2024
This policy brief explores new and innovative communications approaches to reduce the threat from all forms of violent extremism in Europe today based on a precise analysis of the strategic problem and corresponding strategic communications solutions deployable in response. In the context of an ever-evolving violent extremist landscape, including new and emerging forms of violent ...