Leaving Terrorism Behind: Individual and Collective Disengagement (Political Violence)

This new edited volume expands our understanding of the processes by which individuals and groups disengage from terrorism. While there has been a growing awareness of the need to understand and prevent processes of radicalization into terrorism, disengagement and deradicalization from terrorism have long been neglected areas in research on terrorism. This book uses empirical data to explore how and why individuals and groups disengage from terrorism, and what can be done to facilitate it. The work also presents a series of case studies of disengagement programmes, from Colombia, northern Europe, Italy, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, comparing and assessing their various strengths and weaknesses. In light of the lessons learned from these cases, this book describes and explains the potential for new developments in counter-terrorism. This book will be of great interest to all students of terrorism studies, war and conflict studies, international security and politics in general, as well as professionals in the field of counter-terrorism. Cover 1 Title 6 Copyright 7 Contents 8 Foreword 10 Preface 12 List of tables 13 Notes on contributors 14 1 Introduction 20 PART I Processes 34 2 Individual disengagement: a psychological analysis 36 3 Processes of disengagement from violent groups of the extreme right 49 4 How terrorist campaigns end 68 5 Leaving underground organizations: a sociological analysis of the Italian case 85 6 Leaving terrorism behind in Northern Ireland and the Basque Country: reassessing anti-terrorist policies and the 'peace processes' 107 7 The renunciation of violence by Egyptian jihadi organizations 132 PART II Programmes 152 8 Exit from right-wing extremist groups: lessons from disengagement programmes in Norway, Sweden and Germany 154 9 Disengagement and beyond: a case study of demobilization in Colombia 171 10 Deradicalization and rehabilitation programmes targeting religious terrorists and extremists in the Muslim world: an overview 189 11 Opening up the jihadi debate: Yemen's Committee for Dialogue 200 12 The rehabilitation of Jemaah Islamiyah detainees in South East Asia: a preliminary assessment 212 13 Extremist re-education and rehabilitation in Saudi Arabia 231 14 Pakistan: in search of a disengagement strategy 243 PART III Conclusions 262 15 Conclusions 264 Notes 275 Index 318 This new edited volume expands our understanding of the processes by which individuals and groups disengage from terrorism. While there has been a growing awareness of the need to understand and prevent processes of radicalization into terrorism, disengagement and deradicalization from terrorism have long been neglected areas in research on terrorism. This book uses empirical data to explore how and why individuals and groups disengage from terrorism, and what can be done to facilitate it. The work also presents a series of case studies of disengagement programs, from Colombia, northern Europe, Italy, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, comparing and assessing their various strengths and weaknesses. In light of lessons learned from these cases, this book describes and explains potential for new developments in counter-terrorism. This book will be of great interest to all students of terrorism studies, war and conflict studies, international security and politics in general, as well as professionals in the field of counter-terrorism--Publisher's description This collaborative text uses empirical data to explore how and why individuals and groups disengage from terrorism, and what can be done to facilitate it. It also presents a series of case studies of disengagement programmes, from Colombia, northern Europe, Italy, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, comparing and assessing their various strengths and weaknesses