In Episode 12, the final episode in this season of RUSI’s Decoding Counterterrorism, hosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Thomas Renard and Emily Winterbotham to discuss what counterterrorism might look like in the future. In an environment of shifting national security priorities, great power competition seems to be taking the top billing away from counterterrorism. However, it is important to not lose sight of the evolving threats of extremism and terrorism, both globally and in various domestic contexts. Across Europe and North America, concern has largely shifted away from the two-decade, post-9/11 focus on Islamist violent extremism to rising levels of far-right, anti-government, conspiracy and other, more nebulous, ideological mixtures. Therefore, how do we move towards a useful reimagining of the counterterrorism apparatus to make it applicable to the evolving threat spectrum and the wider connections of terrorism to extremism and conflict?

In Episode 11 of RUSI’s Decoding Counterterrorism, hosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Jared Shurin and Michael Jones to discuss the essential nature of communication to both terrorism itself and to efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism and terrorism. The fields of strategic communication and marketing have been developing a knowledge base for decades on the most effective techniques to reach the maximum number of people with messages that resonate enough to change attitudes and behaviours. Much can be learned from these fields about how to design and deliver the most effective, influential messaging to build social resilience to extremism.

There have been many efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism over the past 15 years that have used strategic communications ineffectively, and the evaluative evidence base remains weak. However, what are the lessons we can learn from older fields with good track records to refine and renew effective approaches to using communications to prevent terrorism?

In Episode 10 of RUSI’s Decoding Counterterrorism, hosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Saji Prelis and Claudia Wallner to discuss the role youth have in preventing and countering violent extremism. Youth, often loosely seen as those aged somewhere between 15 and 35, have long been the target of efforts to prevent violent extremism and are often seen as the population most ‘at risk’ to radicalisation and recruitment. However, research of these types of interventions shows how common assumptions about youth are often not grounded in the reality that ‘youth’ itself is not a risk factor and that there are a variety of potential drivers and risk factors that need to be assessed and addressed.

At the global level, most youth use peaceful pathways to air grievances and seek change. Instead of targeting youth as a risk category, young people should be seen as a resource for positive peer-group engagement and as drivers of change. Therefore, where youth are the target population of interventions to prevent violent extremism, how can we engage them to ensure that these efforts are effectively assessing risk factors and addressing the varied experiences of these young people?