Captivated by fear: an evaluation of terrorism detention policy

The possible threat of radicalization among prison inmates has received widespread political and public attention in Europe. Several countries, including the Netherlands, seek to prevent prisoner radicalization by detaining violent extremist offenders together in segregated high-security facilities. However, it is unclear whether or not such policies are based on sound rationale. This study aims to conduct an in-depth evaluation of terrorism detention policy, based on extensive research among policy makers, prison staff, and prisoners in the Netherlands.

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Preventing Religious Radicalisation and Violent Extremism: A Systematic Review of the Research Evidence

Executive summary

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Can we facilitate posttraumatic growth in combat veterans?

The Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, currently under development for the U.S. Army, will include a component designed to increase the possibilities for posttraumatic growth in the aftermath of combat. In this article, the author's briefly review studies that provide evidence for this phenomenon in combat veterans, and they suggest elements that such a program might include to facilitate posttraumatic growth. They urge the Army to conduct randomized controlled trials testing the efficacy of the program prior to its implementation.

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Terrorism as a process: A critical review of Moghaddam’s ‘‘Staircase to Terrorism’’

This study reviews empirical evidence for Moghaddam’s model “Staircase to Terrorism,” which portrays terrorism as a process of six consecutive steps culminating in terrorism. An extensive literature search, where 2,564 publications on terrorism were screened, resulted in 38 articles which were subject to further analysis. The results showed that while most of the theories and processes linked to Moghaddam’s model are supported by empirical evidence, the proposed transitions between the different steps are not.

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How to Counter Radical Narratives: Dutch Deradicalization Policy in the Case of Moluccan and Islamic Radicals

This article deals with the role of government in encouraging the decline of radical
movements. The question posed is: “Which story can the government tell to encourage
the decline of radical groups and the disengagement of their members?” The article
makes use of the survey of factors promoting decline and disengagement drawn up by
Demant, Slootman, Buijs (†) and Tillie in 2008, as well as the factor “official policy
strategies” based on concepts taken from discourse analysis, adapted to counterterrorism

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Does peace have a prayer? The effect of mortality salience, compassionate values, and religious fundamentalism on hostility toward out-groups

Religious fundamentalism has been shown to be associated with higher levels of prejudice, ethnocentrism,
and militarism, in spite of the compassionate values promoted by the religious faiths that most fundamentalists
believe in. Based on terror management theory, we hypothesized that priming these compassionate
values would encourage a shift toward less support for violent solutions to the current Middle Eastern conflict,
especially when they are combined with reminders of one’s mortality. Study 1 demonstrated that

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Holy Warriors: Exploring the Psychological Processes of Jihadi

This paper aims to provide an overview of the psychology of individuals who join
and engage in terrorism, and in particular of individuals who engage in jihadimotivated
terrorism such as that carried out by al-Qaeda and its affiliates. Based on
the most reliable available evidence, this paper gives an account of the psychology
and motivations of such individuals and the processes that facilitate and develop
violent radicalization.

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A Strategy for Fighting International Islamist Terrorists

The U.S. strategy for combating international Islamist terrorists must be based on an understanding of the ter- rorists' behavior and the process of radicalization to vio- lence. This process includes four dimensions: a sense of moral outrage, interpreted in a specific way, which res- onates with ones personal experiences, and is chan- neled through group dynamics, both face-to-face and online. The threat has evolved over the past decade.

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Mechanisms of Political Radicalization: PathwaysToward Terrorism

This article conceptualizes political radicalization as a dimension of increasing
extremity of beliefs, feelings, and behaviors in support of intergroup conflict and violence.
Across individuals, groups, and mass publics, twelve mechanisms of radicalization
are distinguished. For ten of these mechanisms, radicalization occurs in a
context of group identification and reaction to perceived threat to the ingroup.
The variety and strength of reactive mechanisms point to the need to understand

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Learning together to be safe: A toolkit to help schools contribute to the prevention of violent extremism

Dealing with violent extremism is nothing new. Throughout history there have been groups prepared to
use violence to achieve their aims. Twenty years ago the major threat we faced was from Irish terrorism.
Today we face a different threat. A small minority seek to radicalise young people with an ideology which
justifies the use of violence through a distorted interpretation of a peaceful religion. While violent
extremism influenced by Al Qaida poses the greatest threat to life, other forms of extremism and

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