A few things happened during the early 2010s that inspired the project from which this book springs. The first development was a growing recognition that terrorism could not be fought by military means alone (if at all), which in turn led to the emergence of a new approach to political violence and a new label for those engaging in it. “Countering violent extremism” (CVE) became a complement to, or in some cases the replacement for, counterterrorism policy, and those who had previously been called “terrorists” were now often referred to as “violent extremists.” The emergence of CVE, which had a signifcant impact on programming both domestically and internationally turned the spotlight on the root causes of politically motivated violence and suggested that the push and pull factors that lead to radicalization and the carrying out of attacks need to be addressed if terrorism is going to be addressed in any meaningful way.

Many key actors in the fight against terrorism rallied around CVE. In 2011, the Global Counter Terrorism Fund (GCTF) was created as a platform to support the development of a new international infrastructure to fight terrorism by developing good practices and tools for policymakers and practitioners. Out of that initiative was born the first-ever “International Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism,” a hub for CVE research and the dissemination of good practices. Hosted by the United Arab Emirates, the new center was called Hedayah. Hedayah was created in response to the growing desire to enable members of the international community to share good practices and reflect together on CVE-related issues. Hedayah was tasked with developing several strands of programming to assist members with their CVE efforts…