Societies across the world are increasingly intertwined in the online sphere, with some individuals and groups leveraging this growing globalised networking architecture for harm, including to spread violent extremist (VE) propaganda. Indeed, the web acts as an indispensable tool for VE groups to capitalise on offline grievances to fuel extremist…

Prolonged crises and violent conflicts have devastating consequences on the mental health and well-being of communities and individuals. In recent years, significant advances have been made to respond to mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) needs in humanitarian settings. Yet, MHPSS remains not structurally part of prevention and peacebuilding efforts….

This report showcases the detailed methods, results and lessons learned from three Behavioural Insights (BI) experiments that were carried out by UNDP with support from other UN entities, in Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan from 2020-2021, aiming to use BI as a tool to strengthen the participation of women and youth…

Exploring Extremism is a podcast series produced by UNDP’s Oslo Governance Centre. It dives into uncovering and understanding emerging issues in violent extremism. Hosted by journalist Anneliese Mcauliffe, the series shines a light on some of the under explored issues related to violent extremism through expert-level discussions.  

Some policymakers and analysts have expressed concern that weaknesses in responses to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic will motivate terrorists to seek biological weapons. However, an examination of the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda narratives about the pandemic reveals no causal relationship between the pandemic and any heightened interest…

Diese Kurzanalyse ist im Rahmen des vom Bundesministerium der Justiz (BMJ) geförderten Projektes »Radikalisierung in rechtsextremen Onlinesubkulturen entgegentreten« entstanden. Die inhaltliche Verantwortung liegt ausschließlich bei ISD Germany. Die Analyse wurde mit Hilfe von Method52 durchgeführt, einem von CASM Technology LLP, London, entwickeltem und gemeinsam mit ISD gepflegtem Tool für die…

In 2021, Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 48% of global terrorism deaths. The continent appears to be no closer to mitigating the threat that extremist groups pose, despite years of counter-terrorism (CT) operations and other measures, many of which are part of an effort to implement the various United Nations Security…

This study explores the drivers of participation and the roles women play within their communities in participating both formally and informally in community-based security groups. It seeks to understand how women are involved in community-based security groups by investigating and illustrating, among other things, their motivations and roles, the context,…

The Respect in the Commonwealth Toolkit focuses on how to deliver workshops on inter- and intra-community relationship building, and aims to improve global citizenship literacy, awareness of tools and learning of skills to build socially cohesive and tolerant communities that are resilient to violent extremism. It has the capacity to be scaled up and…

Researchers at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) led a two-year investigation into the online media ecosystem of al-Shabaab and the Islamic State in Africa, analyzing the role of “independent news” outlets and their intersections with hundreds-strong networks of amplifier profiles on Facebook linked to a number of central pages…

The purpose of this report is to map, conceptually and empirically, the diverse elements that constitute rightwing extremism. The aim is to offer readers a guide to this complexity and an appreciation for the numerous ideas, actors, and outcomes associated with RWE. The report is divided into two parts. The…

This guide for first-line practitioners is endorsed by the University of Cordoba. It is a tool sustained by scientific evidence that includes both theoretical and practical content and is designed to tackle the complexities of violent radicalization from a global and interdisciplinary viewpoint. In this way, it provides psychosocial and…