Combating Jihadist Terror

In this final episode in Series 1 of Combating Jihadist Terror, Dr Anthony Richards speaks to Richard Walton, ex-Head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter-Terrorism Command and now the Director of Counter Terrorism Global Ltd, which provides advice, consultancy and counter-terrorism services to public, private and non-government sectors. Dr Richards and Mr Walton look at the UK’s counter-terrorism PREVENT programme, for which Mr Walton is a strong advocate, as well as discussing the recent report from the Commission for Countering Extremism. Mr Walton also recounts a story from his time at the Met’s counter-terrorism desk about a man who was concerned his son has been radicalised, and asked for help. 

Richard Walton wrote a chapter entitled 'An Independent Assessment of the UK’s Capacity and Capability Devoted to Countering Jihadist Terrorism: Government, Policing, Intelligence Agencies and Civil Society' for CoJiT’s publication Jihadist Terror: New Threats, New Responses which is available to buy here. 

Listen to the podcast above or see an illustrated video of the interview here.

In this penultimate episode of Series 1 of Combating Jihadist Terror, Dr Anthony Richards talks to Professor Peter Neumann about the nature of the threat of Al-Qaeda and ISIS today, in particular of the effects their expansion in parts of Africa and the Middle East on security in the West. Professor Neumann also provides insights into why the UK’s counter-terrorism PREVENT programme has not done as well as hoped, and how we can use the examples of our European neighbours to help improve both the PREVENT and associated CHANNEL programmes. PeterNeumann is Professor of Security Studies at King’s College London and a Founding Director at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation. 

His most recent publication, Radicalized: New Jihadists and the Threat to the West, is available here.

Listen to the podcast above or see an illustrated video of the interview here.

To buy CoJiT’s own publication – Jihadist Terror: New Threats, New Responses – a synthesis of our current understanding of the current terrorist threat and counter terrorist response, please click here.

In this eighth episode of Combating Jihadist Terror Dr Anthony Richards interviews Professor Max Taylor, a leading forensic and legal psychologist and co-editor of Terrorism and Political Violence, one of the principal journals on terrorism and political violence. They discuss the usefulness of profiling in determining terrorists and how researching psychological patterns might help to produce some fresh understanding. Professor Taylor also gives his opinion on how affordances can lead to terrorist activity, in particular focusing on the events of January 6th 2021 in Washington D.C. on which he has written an article entitled: ‘Some Primary Thoughts prompted by President Trump's 6 January Speech: Words, Enemies, Affordances’ soon to be published in Terrorism and Political Violence.

Professor Taylor’s most recent book Evolutionary Psychology and Terrorism, co-edited with Ken Pease and Jason Roach is available here.

Listen to the podcast above or see an illustrated video of the interview here.

To buy CoJiT’s own publication – Jihadist Terror: New Threats, New Responses – which synthesises our current understanding of the current terrorist threat and counter terrorist response, please click here.

This week on Combating Jihadist Terror, Dr Anthony Richards talks to Professor Maria Sobolewska about radicalisation and the new era of the culture wars, how young Muslim Britons are being pushed into extremism by alienation from society and her hopes about the decline in interest in such identity politics as Brexit recedes from memory. 

Professor Sobolewska is Professor of Political Science at the University of Manchester and focuses her work on the representation and integration of immigrants and ethic minorities. Her latest book Brexitland, co authored with Robert Ford is available here.

Listen to the podcast above or see an illustrated video of the interview here.

To buy CoJiT’s own publication – Jihadist Terror: New Threats, New Responses – which synthesises our current understanding of the current terrorist threat and counter terrorist response, please click here.

In this special edition of Combating Jihadist Terror, Dr Anthony Richards talks to Professor Ed Husain about his new book Among The Mosques: A Journey Across Muslim Britain. Professor Husain describes what prompted him to begin writing it and expresses his concerns about the increasing tribalisation in British society which has the capacity to lead to extremism and terrorism. He concludes by putting forward, with great passion, his theory on how, through inclusive patriotism, Britons may be able to overcome this threat to the soul of our nation. 

Professor Husain co-founded the anti-extremism think tank Quilliam and was a former Senior Advisor to Tony Blair before becoming an Adjunct Professor at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Listen to the podcast above or see an illustrated video of the interview here.

Among The Mosques is available here.

Now on Combating Jihadist Terror, Dr Richards interviews Dr Amarnath Amarasingam about conspiracy theories and in particular how these relate to terrorism and extremism. This fascinating discussion covers why such theories – whether Jihadist conspiracies about COVID-19 or the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracies – often engender extremism, and highlights current research on the best methods of helping those recovering from conspiracy indoctrination.

Dr Amarasingam is an Assistant Professor in the School of Religion at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. His best known publication is an edited volume looking at the impact of fake news which is available to purchase here.

Listen to the podcast above or see an illustrated video of the interview here.

To buy CoJiT’s own publication – Jihadist Terror: New Threats, New Responses – which synthesises our current understanding of the current terrorist threat and counter terrorist response, please click here.

In the fourth episode of Combating Jihadist Terror, we return to the subject of Al-Qaeda and ISIS as Dr Richards interviews Dr Lorenzo Vidino. Dr Vidino is the Director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, and an expert in the Muslim-Brotherhood, governmental counter-radicalisation tactics and the dynamics of Jihadism in the west. In the podcast, Drs Richards and Vidino discuss the implications of Jihad-inspired African terrorism, the effectiveness of governmental-responses to terrorism in both Europe and the US, and “homegrown” Jihadi threats. 

Listen to the podcast above or see an illustrated video of the interview with Lorenzo Vidino here.

Dr Vidino’s latest book, The Closed Circle: Joining and Leaving The Muslim Brotherhood in the West, is available to buy here. 

To buy CoJiT’s own publication - Jihadist Terror: New Threats, New Responses - which synthesises our current understanding of the current terrorist threat and counter terrorist response, please click here.

In this episode of Combating Jihadist Terrorism, Dr Anthony Richards and Paul Gill, Professor in Security and Crime Science at UCL, discuss lone actor terrorism.  Professor Gill shares the results of his research using empirical data gathered from a data set of over 110 lone actor terrorists. He describes how the Internet is used by lone actor terrorists, what the motivations behind lone actors are, how those motivations sometimes are unrelated to ideology and how online radicalisation is a misnomer.

Listen to the podcast above or see an illustrated video of the interview with Paul Gill here.

Professor Gill's publication mentioned in the podcast, Lone Actor Terrorists: A Behavioural Analysis, is available to purchase here.

To buy CoJiT’s own publication - Jihadist Terror: New Threats, New Responses - which synthesises our current understanding of the current terrorist threat and counter terrorist response, please click here.

In this special episode of Combating Jihadist Terrorism, CoJiT Editorial Director, Dr Richards speaks to Professor Andrew Silke, a highly regarded authority in terrorism studies (with over 100 publications) who holds the Chair in Terrorism, Risk and Resilience at Cranfield University's Forensic Institute. Professor Silke gives his understanding of the key take-aways from the inquest into the attack at a prisoner's rehabilitation conference at Fishmonger's Hall, London Bridge in November 2019. In particular, Professor Silke he addresses issues around the effectiveness of prison risk assessments and prison rehabilitation for terrorist prisoners, as well as identifying possible future avenues for research.

Listen to the podcast above or see an illustrated video of the interview with Andrew Silke here.

Andrew Silke's most recent publication, The Routledge Handbook on Terrorism and Counterterrorism (Routledge, 2019), is available to purchase here.

To buy CoJiT’s own publication - Jihadist Terror: New Threats, New Responses - which synthesises our current understanding of the current terrorist threat and counter terrorist response, please click here.

In the first episode of Combating Jihadist Terrorism, CoJiT Editorial Director, Dr Richards speaks to leading scholar Jytte Klausen of Brandeis University about the nature and severity of the threat presented by the Al Qaeda and ISIS terrorist groups. Professor Klausen discusses her findings from research for her most recent book Western Jihadism: A Thirty Year History (2021, OUP) and outlines her thoughts on the leadership, current motivations and thinking behind Al Qaeda and ISIS as well as the state of current western responses to Jihadist terrorism over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Listen to the podcast above or see an illustrated video of the interview with Jytte Klausen here.

Western Jihadism: A Thirty Year History is released in the UK in June, and in September in the US. It is available for pre-order here.

To buy CoJiT’s own recent publication - Jihadist Terror: New Threats, New Responses - which synthesises our current understanding of the current terrorist threat and counter terrorist response, please click here.