Lack of evaluation in countering violent extremism may boost terror threat

A lack of evaluation of the impact of countering violent extremism (CVE) and counter-terrorism (CT) efforts may actually be increasing the threat and risk of terrorism, a new study points out. Researchers say that national and international agencies' efforts to counter terrorism and violent extremism have lacked two key ingredients - a clear and coherent theory of how individuals change and consistent evaluation of evidence of their changing attitudes. Now experts at the University of Birmingham are proposing a new evaluation methodology - the Innovative Moments Coding System (IMCS) - to be explored as a more reliable way of tracking changes in violent extremists' narrative accounts and life stories. Working with partners at the Universities of Minho and Aveiro, in Portugal, researchers at Birmingham have published their findings in the journal Aggression and Violent Behaviour. Dr Raquel da Silva, from the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham, commented: "We believe that using the IMCS could provide an in-depth view of how an individual has changed; a useful and reliable indicator in tracking how former militants' life stories change as they leave their radical and extremist views behind. "There is currently no clarity regarding what change looks like in deradicalisation and risk reduction interventions. Indeed, the lack of evaluation of these interventions might be actually increasing the threat and risk of terrorism, instead of doing the opposite." Researchers analysed two life-story interviews of former politically violent militants - 'Julia' and 'Jaime' - with contrasting experiences.