UK Perspectives on Deradicalization Panel Discussion

December 2019 No Comments

“UK Perspectives on Deradicalization Panel Discussion”

Speakers: Bouhana, N. (University College London Department of Security and Crime Science); Ferguson, N. (Liverpool Hope University); Busher, J. (Coventry University); McDowell, C. (City, University of London)

Date: 9 December 2019

Speaker Session Preview

SMA hosted a panel discussion as a part of its SMA CENTCOM Speaker Series. The panelists included Dr. Noémie Bouhana (University College London Department of Security and Crime Science), Prof. Neil Ferguson (Liverpool Hope University), Dr. Joel Busher (Coventry University), and Dr. Christopher McDowell (City, University of London). The moderator was Dr. Nicholas Wright (Intelligent Biology).

Dr. Bouhana began by emphasizing the critical importance of the physical environment in shaping behavior amongst radicalized populations. She stated that context matters when developing effective deradicalization programs, deradicalization should not be used as a prerequisite to social reintegration, and deradicalization is a spatial process—one must govern a space in order to change the behavior of those in that space. Next, Prof. Ferguson presented some lessons learned from the Northern Ireland peace process and highlighted that full deradicalization may not be necessary for complete disengagement. He also presented evidence derived from his research on deradicalization programs from across the globe, including that disengaging groups is more effective than disengaging individuals, and the longer someone engages in a deradicalization program, the more likely that individual will develop the critical insight and psychological processing needed to disengage. He concluded by discussing the importance of identity in engagement in and disengagement from violent extremism. Dr. Busher focused his portion of the discussion on why certain actors within militant groups or networks themselves choose not to engage in violence or engage only in low-level violence. He identified five different “brakes”: 1) strategic logic, 2) moral logic, 3) the logic of ego maintenance, 4) the logic of out-group definition, and 5) organizational logic. Moreover, he explained how his insights regarding how individuals and groups can set the parameters of their own violence might be used to inform strategies for assessing and responding to emergent threats. Lastly, Dr. McDowell considered the engagement of combatant groups in forced migration and settlement, while drawing on his years of research on Tamil asylum migration from Sri Lanka. He examined the ways in which the international refugee system and the process of flight, encampment, onward movement, and asylum-seeking create opportunities for radicalization. Strong and charismatic agents, places of settlement that allow individuals plenty of free time, and social marginalization within camps are among these factors that can contribute to refugee radicalization.