Reintegrating Extremists: De-radicalisation and Desistance: Combating Jihadist Terror - Series 2 - Episode 20

Dr Anthony Richards’ guest on this final Series 2 episode of CoJiT’s Combating Jihadist Terror podcast is Dr Sarah Marsden, Senior Lecturer at the University of St Andrews’ Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence. The podcast initially focuses on her work for the Centre for Research & Evidence on Security Threats (CREST), the UK’s hub for behavioural and social science research into security threats. Dr Marsden is currently leading two CREST projects: ‘Constraining Violence’ where she discusses her research on how individual, social and subcultural factors constrain the potential for extremist violence; and ‘Trauma, Adversity and Violent Extremism’ where she reveals how her research on the direct and indirect effects of trauma, including emotional neglect and physical abuse, may advance our understanding of radicalisation. There is then a fascinating discussion on Dr Marsdens’ identification of the difficulties for the social media giants of identifying ‘terroristic’ material on their sites, with cross border and freedom of speech issues among many others making this a fiendishly tricky exercise. Finally, Dr Marsden is asked about one of her key contentions that reintegrating extremists into society rather than first seeking to de-radicalise them is the better way to go for which she makes a convincing case.