This policy paper focuses on the specific factors and drivers of violent extremism in Macedonia, and aims to address the core roots of this issue by investigating the dynamics of its development and manifestation, with the hope of contributing toward building more resilient communities. The research period underwent several phases of collecting and processing qualitative and quantitative information important to our analysis. During these phases, interviews with local and central government officials were conducted, followed later by many formal and informal talks with relevant stakeholders and individuals of interest to the research topic. By the same token, attempts to quantify the trending opinions among a selected population were done by carrying out a survey in the respective municipalities in Macedonia where they reside. In addition, to better understand the circulating
ideology known to be used as motivation for violent extremism, religious clerics were consulted. Lastly, the online content found supporting violent extremism was analyzed, particularly the local language usage, by conducting a structured content analysis.