A striking number of jihadi terrorists grew up in the United States or Europe. Based on an intensive 15-year study of over 6,000 members of global jihadi networks, the author explains why Jihadis in the West are disproportionately young and are motivated by a deep desire to participate in a…

State responses to repatriation of Islamic State (ISIS) foreign fighters and their children detained across Syria and Iraq are highly diverse. Repatriation policies implemented between 2018 and 2020 range from denying repatriation of nationals and revocation of citizenship to repatriation and subsequent gender-responsive rehabilitation programmes. What explains the variation in…

This article conducts comparative research to advance our understanding of the causes of terrorism. Primarily, by assessing differences and similarities between left-, right- and jihadist extremists and terrorists, the prevalence of certain variables amongst populations of radicalized individuals will be determined. Secondly, by contrasting, where possible, these prevalence rates with…

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended human society across the world. Over the last two years, governments have sought to control the impact of the virus by introducing a range of new laws and policies, including lockdowns, public health mandates, and restrictions on social gatherings. They have also initiated the largest…

This study was carried out to critically evaluate the effects of migration of foreign terrorist fighters on the security of Nigeria. The paper aims at understanding migration-security nexus and security threats on Sub-Sahara Africa particularly Nigeria, due to the influx of illegal migrants between her and the neighbors. The study…

This RAND blog post gathers the 10 research projects that resonated most with RAND readers in 2021. A collection of evidence-based research on critical issues – from the January 6th insurrection in the United States, to the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, to global security concerns amid US, Chinese,…

This paper highlights the challenges for training professionals to enable gender-sensitive rehabilitation and reintegration interventions for children returning to Europe from the conflict zone in Iraq and Syria. The paper identifies the need for gender-sensitive training and responses based on a) the gendered experiences of children while in Iraq or…

Malaysia offers a unique lens to evaluate the changing dynamics of radicalization and extremism in Southeast Asia, as the threat of both home-grown and external extremism grows. The country’s geographic location, bordering multiple active centers of violent extremism (the southern Philippines, southern Thailand, and Indonesia), makes it particularly vulnerable to…

The article analyzes the impact of the Foreign Terrorist Fighters’ (FTF) phenomenon on the securitization of the European Union’s migration policy. The author follows the construction of the FTF as a serious security threat to the European Union’s strategies and action plans, and demonstrates the EU’s practical actions to respond…

Anti-feminist and anti-gender ideologies – and their basis in hostility and hatred towards women and LGBTQI* people are a crucial, yet overlooked element when analysing radicalisation and violent extremism. Anti-gender and anti-feminist ideologies strongly appeal to groups organised around exclusionary principles because they provide language and a framework for the…

This book focuses on the role of higher education in countering violent extremism (VE), a threat much wider than conventional terrorism. The pandemic fed frustrations, which were fueled by social isolation. The result has been a combination of terrorist threats and disorganized violence. Several chapters examine the roots of radicalization,…

Since the September 11, 2001, attacks, the U.S. military has been fighting incessantly in conflicts around the globe, often with inconclusive results. The legacies of these conflicts have serious implications for how the United States will wage war in the future. Yet there is a stunning lack of introspection about…