![]() A recent European Parliament study on counter-narratives concluded that “the concept itself is rather underdeveloped and lacks a thorough grounding in empirical research.” Expanding on this, our colleague Andrew Glazzard writes that many existing counter-narrative programs rely on shaky metrics and sparse empirical foundations, lack a fully articulated theory to underpin their impact, and often fail to differentiate between radicalization and recruitment to violence. The field has therefore been subject to criticism. However, available research does not suggest that online terrorist propaganda is a causative factor in extremist violence and it questions the relationship between ideas and behaviors. This is to not to deny the fact that the internet can be a key enabling factor in establishing and fostering the development of radicalisation, as underscored in recent studies focused on right-wing extremism. Meanwhile, the field has a propensity to focus overtly on online radicalization and ignore the significance of offline contact in the radicalization process. It remains far from clear that counter-narrative projects and programs are informed by contextual research or even designed with local input to increase the chances that content will resonate in the very communities they are meant to influence. Hady Amr Tuesday, OctoThe evidence please?ĭespite their popularity, there is little proof that counter-narratives in isolation are effective in reducing the threat of violent extremism. Moreover, “ why would a ‘vulnerable’ individual engage with such apps or websites and how can we be certain that they are even aware of them to begin with?” As our research has shown, many of these efforts have been driven by political considerations (including a preference for short-term measures and an aversion to risk), the desire to be seen to be doing something (particularly something that does not implicate the behavior of the state), or untested and, in some cases, erroneous assumptions. However, as one expert has rightly noted, “ven if one were to accept the premise that these initiatives provide a compelling counter-narrative, it’s uncertain how such initiatives are even meant to reach the target audience.” In fact, even if they reach the target audience, there is no guarantee that these narratives are, in fact, compelling. government in 2015 (and now a public-private partnership with Facebook) supports efforts of college students around the globe to develop social media tools and online campaigns to counter violent extremist narratives. ![]() ![]() Examples of such well-intended initiatives include the French government’s launch of the # stopviolentJihadisme social media campaign, which specifically challenged narratives aimed at women, and featured the release of a shock video campaign to try to discourage French youth from traveling to the conflict zones in Syria and Iraq, by telling them: “You’ll find hell on earth and you’ll die alone, far from home.” The Peer-2-Peer Challenging Extremism Program launched by the U.S. “Counter-narratives,” “alternative narratives,” and other “counter-messaging” efforts continue to have global appeal among donors, particularly in the face of the so-called Islamic State’s sophisticated media capabilities and dissemination of slick digital content to accelerate recruitment. The solution governments tout has frequently focused on getting political and so-called moderate religious leaders to denounce this ideology identifying “authentic” voices in local communities-typically women, youth, or other community leaders, or better yet, former extremists-“ to help dissuade a young person from finding that ideology appealing.” This is accompanied by training these individuals or groups on how to develop and disseminate these “counter-messages.” Regional counter-messaging centers have even been established around the world to build the capacity of locally-rooted civil society actors to produce and propagate tailored narratives that can push back against the violent ones being peddled by violent extremist groups, and to tackle online radicalization.
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