Countering Violent Extremism : Developing an Evidence-base for Policy and Practice

This volume reports on the range of papers presented at the Annual Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Research Conference 2014 from 7-8 December 2014 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The Conference was organized and hosted by Hedayah (the International Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism), Curtin University, People Against Violent Extremism (PaVE), and the Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

The Conference was also sponsored in part by the European Commission and the United States Department of State.The CVE Research Conference 2014 was organized by regional panels in order to help identify some of the main challenges, risks and lessons to be learned and applied based on local knowledge and research. Within this regionally based structure, the panels also covered several themes including radicalization, social media, de-radicalization and recruitment and across different forms of violent extremism.

The Conference essays are presented in this volume according to several broad thematic groupings.

• Part 1 of this volume includes the essays that investigate and elaborate on the push and pull factors that lead to radicalization and recruitment, the so-called “drivers” of radicalization.
• Part 2 presents the essays and discussions that focus on countering the narrative of violent extremism.
• Part 3 is devoted to contributions dealing with the disengagement, deradicalization and reintegration of former violent extremists. Finally,
• Part 4 concludes with two case examples of CVE programming that involve the broader community in the CVE efforts.