Effective prevention of radicalisation and violent extremism depends on evidence-informed decision-making — on stakeholders being able to draw on refined, policy-relevant, and evidence-based insights to design appropriate countermeasures. Yet across the field of preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE), the shared knowledge base this requires is still lacking. Much of the relevant data sits in police and intelligence files that researchers cannot access, while some of the repositories that once contained vital practical knowledge have been archived. Since national data on radicalisation is scattered and of uneven reliability also comparative work establishing which findings travel between contexts remains rare. Generally, core concepts and categories are not harmonised across EU member states, hampering such exchanges further. At the same time, the public that these institutions ultimately serve often lacks the tools and training to navigate competing sources of information about radicalisation, violent extremism and its countermeasures. This policy brief brings together recommendations for EU institutions, national governments, civil society/practitioners, and researchers regarding a common evidence base and knowledge infrastructure in P/CVE.
Read the full policy brief here:
