Countering Violent Extremism

The prevention of radicalization ranks high on the international political agenda. However, our knowledge of the impact of preventive programs and interventions is still very limited. In order to counter the threat of terrorism and political violence successfully by means of effective procedures, policy makers and practitioners are in dire need of reliable evidence which procedures actually work. Rigorous evaluation of preventive programs and interventions is crucial for political accountability. Substantial public funds have been spent in order to implement preventive interventions and there is a growing concern about their effectiveness. Therefore, it is paramount to establish whether current (and future) preventive programs really achieve what they intend to achieve. Due to this gap of knowledge, there is a strong demand for a sound evidence base in order to be able to judge whether social interventions - may they be implemented in schools, in the community, or in prisons - are worth the money and efforts that were invested in their implementation.
This book contains a selection of papers which were presented at the international conference "Countering Violent Extremism: Building an Evidence-Base for the Prevention of Radicalization and Violent Extremism" held on June 16-18, 2017, at the Hanover Congress Center (HCC) in Germany.