Alongside their Western Balkan neighbours, Montenegrin officials have been forced to confront
radicalisation and violent extremism in order to respond to the foreign fighter phenomenon that
emerged after 2012, as some aspiring fighters from Montenegro departed to ISIS territory. While the
problem of departing foreign fighters has not been as severe in Montenegro as in several other
countries in the region, the Montenegrin government introduced a Countering Violent Extremism
Strategy in 2015, followed by an associated National Action Plan. During field research conducted as 1
part of the Western Balkans Extremism Research Forum (ERF), respondents noted that the Strategy only loosely defined responsibilities for implementation, and some indicated that police agencies bear too much of the burden of prevention. Indeed, as was found across this study, participants in Montenegro consistently emphasised the need for a more interdisciplinary approach to P/CVE.