A scoping review of interventions for preventing and countering violent extremism: Current status and implications for future research

Authors

  • Isabella Pistone University of Gothenburg
  • Erik Eriksson University of Gothenburg
  • Ulrika Beckman University of Gothenburg
  • Christer Mattson University of Gothenburg
  • Morten Sager University of Gothenburg

Keywords:

Scoping Review, Violent Extremism, Prevention, Countering, Intervention, Radicalization

Abstract

The growth of counter-terrorism efforts has been reported in a number of scholarly studies. These studies have also reported a shift in efforts to prevent future terrorism towards targeting potential future terrorists and preventing them from becoming radicalized, particularly in the Western world. The importance of evidence-based interventions is commonly stressed in the policy processes involved in installing interventions that have the aim of countering/preventing violent extremism (C/PVE). However, there is a lack of knowledge about the state of the evidence for interventions within this field. The objective of this scoping review was to map the evidence base for P/CVE interventions as reported in scholarly studies. We searched multiple databases using search terms related to violent extremism, terrorism and prevention to assess the research describing interventions for C/PVE. A total of 111 publications were included in the study. The interventions identified were most commonly implemented at the national level. Only 38 publications mentioned any kind of outcome and only two publications evaluated the comparative effectiveness of the interventions. The outcomes evaluated were knowledge and attitudes - outcomes without direct relevance for C/PVE. In conclusion, there is a lack of evidence-based interventions that focus on C/PVE. Future research should focus on evaluating the comparative effectiveness of outcomes that are relevant to C/PVE in order to fill this knowledge gap.

References

Arksey, H., & O´Malley, L. (2005). Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework. Int J Soc Res Methodol, 8(1), 19-32

Bates, S., Clapton, J., & Coren, E. (2007). Systematic maps to support the evidence base in social care. Evidence & Policy, 3(4), 539–551

Carlsson, C. (2016). Att lämna våldsbejakande extremism: en kunskapsöversikt, [To leave violent extremism: a literature review] (2016:1) Stockholm: Institute for futures studies

Cartwright N., & Hardie, J. (2012). Evidence-based policy: a practical guide to do it better. Oxford: Oxford university press

Coolsaet, R. (2011). Jihadi terrorism and the radicalisation challenge: European and American experiences (2nd ed.). Farnham: Ashgate

Christmann, K. (2012). Preventing Religious Radicalisation and Violent Extremism: a Systematic Review of the Research Evidence. Wales: Youth justice board

Davis, L. (2018) Review of educational initiatives in counter-extremism internationally: What works? (Report 5). Gothenburg: the Segerstedt Institute

Due Enstad, J. (2018) Right-wing Terrorism and Violence in Putin’s Russia. Perspectives on terrorism, 12(6), 89-103

Duffy Toft, M. (2010) Russia’s War on Terrorism. In Colton, T., Frye, T. & Legvold, R. (Ed.), The Policy World Meets Academia: Designing U.S. Policy toward Russia (pp108-118). Cambridge: American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Dunning, T. (2012). Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences: A Design-Based Approach (Strategies for Social Inquiry). Cambridge: Cambridge University press

Feddes, A., & Gallucci, M. (2016) A Literature Review on Methodology used in Evaluating Effects of Preventive and De-radicalisation Interventions. Journal for deradicalization, Winter 15/16(5)

Gough, D., Oliver, S., & Thomas, J. (2013). Learning from Research: Systematic Reviews for Informing Policy Decisions: A Quick Guide. A paper for the Alliance for Useful Evidence. London: Nesta

Gough, D., Thomas., J., & Oliver, S. (2007). Clarifying differences between review designs and methods. Systematic Reviews, 1(28), DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/2046-4053-1-28

Government communication. (2016). Actions to Make Society More Resilient to Violent Extremism. (2014/15:144). Stockholm: Swedish government.

Guyatt, G. H. (2008). GRADE: an emerging consensus on rating quality of evidence and strength of recommendations. BMJ, 336(924), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39489.470347.AD

Harris-Hogan, S., Barrelle, K., & Zammit, A. (2015). What is countering violent extremism? Exploring CVE policy and practice in Australia. Behavioral sciences of terrorism and political aggression, 8(1), 6-24

Herz, M. (2016). Socialt arbete, Pedagogik och Arbetet mot så kallad Våldsbejakande Extremism - En översyn, [Social work, pedagogy and the work against so called violent extremism – a review] (report nr 1) Gothenburg: The Segerstedt Institute

Hodges, A. (2011). The war on terror narrative. New York: Oxford University Press

International center for the prevention of crime. (2010). Preventing radicalization: A systematic review. Quebec: International center for the prevention of crime

King, M., & Taylor, D. M. (2011). The radicalization of homegrown jihadists: A review of theoretical models and social psychological evidence. Terrorism and political violence, 23(4), 602-622

Lum, C., Kennedy, L. W., & Sherley, S. (2008). Is counter-terrorism policy evidence-based? What works, what harms, and what is unknown. Psicothema, 20(1), 35-42

Oakley, A., Gough, D., & Thomas, J. (2005). The politics of evidence and methodology: Lessons from the EPPI-centre. Evidence & Policy, 1(1), 5–32

Ouzzani, M., Hammady, H., Fedorowicz, Z., & Elmagarmid, A. (2016). Rayyan — a web and mobile app for systematic reviews. Systematic Reviews, 5(210), DOI: 10.1186/s13643-016-0384-4.

Pratchett, L., Thorp, L., Wingfield, M., Lowndes, V., & Jabbar, R. (2010). Preventing Support for Violent Extremism through Community Interventions: A Review of the Evidence. London: Communities and Local government

Schardt, C., Adams, M. B., Owens, T., Keitz, S., & Fontelo, P. (2007). Utilization of the PICO framework to improve searching PubMed for clinical questions,” BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 7(16) doi:10.1186/1472-6947-7-16

Schmid, A. P. (2013). Radicalisation, De-Radicalisation, Counter-Radicalisation: A Conceptual Discussion and Literature Review. (ICCT research paper, Netherlands, 2013), https://www.icct.nl/download/file/ICCT-Schmid-Radicalisation-De-Radicalisation-Counter-Radicalisation-March-2013.pdf (accessed 5/3 2018)

Schuurman, B. (2018). Research on Terrorism, 2007–2016: A Review of Data, Methods, and Authorship, Terrorism and Political Violence, DOI: 10.1080/09546553.2018.1439023.

Stephens, W., Sieckelinck, S., & Boutellier, H. (2019). Preventing Violent Extremism: A Review of the Literature. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2018.1543144

Taylor, L., & Soni, A. (2017). Preventing radicalisation: a systematic review of literature considering the lived experiences of the UK’s Prevent strategy in educational settings. Pastoral Care in Education, 35(4), 241–252

Zeiger, S., & Aly, A. (2015). Countering Violent Extremism: Developing an Evidence Base for Policy and Practice. Abu Dhabi: Hedayah and Curtin University

Zeiger, S. (2016). Expanding Research on Countering Violent Extremism. Abu Dhabi: Hedayah and Edith Cowan University

Downloads

Published

2019-06-21

Issue

No. 19 (2019): Summer

Section

Articles

License

The JD Journal for Deradicalization uses a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND) Licence. You are free to share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format under the following conditions: