The recent terrorist attacks in Europe are presumably not just acts committed by individuals, but acts facilitated by larger jihadist networks. But how do such networks operate? Understanding their modus operandi can be useful knowledge to counter terrorist threats.

An interview with Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges David van Weel, and NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Clare Hutchinson

Have you ever wondered what your choices would be, facing a major crisis? Had your thoughts about the course of action taken bij authorities, media, law enforcement or the public in the wake of a terrorist attack?

The question of how military interventions can best transition to a long term counter-terrorism policy forms the core research question of three interlinked reports. This research project has been completed with support of NATO’s Science for Peace and Security Programme. Leiden University researchers…

After every attack, terrorism researchers are often asked the same question: who did it? Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn, a researcher at Leiden University, doesn’t always have a ready-made answer.

Advocate-General Simon Minks was involved as a public prosecutor in the Context proceedings. In this interview he shares some insights with the Centre for Professional Learning, of which he is a Fellow.

The study by Tahir Abbas and Liselotte Welten reveals a structural and nuanced understanding of how the question of Salafism in the Netherlands has become an increasingly discussed phenomenon and the types of threats that ought to give genuine concern to security, intelligence and policing services.

Intelligence of the crowd, or in other words, intelligence of a large, random collective, exists mostly in social media platforms such as twitter. The collective does not comprise (at least not necessarily) experts on crises, just regular people mostly. Nevertheless, there is valuable intelligence to…

In the past decades terrorists have regularly surprised us with unexpected and spectacular attacks, such as the one on the World Trade Centre in New York. How can intelligence services stay one step ahead of them? Consult Charles Darwin and Steven Spielberg is the advice of terrorism expert Yannick…

Terrorism experts Daan Weggemans (Leiden University) and Beatrice de Graaf (Utrecht University) conducted one of the first scientific studies on the societal reintegration of jihadist former detainees. They showed that the reintegration process isn't without problems. Their conlusions are presented…

Why does one person radicalize to involvement in terrorist violence within a group-based context, while another engages in this form of violence alone?

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This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the Islamic State's use of images taken by drones, drawing on a dataset of ISIS propaganda images from October 2016 to December 2018.

Political scientist Nicolas Blarel (Leiden University) analsyses how non-state actors can (directly or directly) attempt to provoke conditions for a crisis between state actors that have nuclear capabilities. He argues that there is an urgent but complicated and understudied task to understand and manage…

The United States and the European Union need to work together more closely in the field of the law to fight terrorists and criminals who are operating increasingly internationally. This was the advice given by American Minister of Justice Loretta Lynch during her visit to Leiden University on 1 Jun…

The MOOC Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Comparing Theory & Practice was one of the first MOOCs of Leiden University to go live back in September 2013. More than three years have passed and the MOOC has attracted over 100,000 people coming from more than 100 countries.

Researchers on terrorism Bart Schuurman and Liesbeth van der Heide (Institute of Security and Global Affairs) studied the files of 159 persons convicted of terrorism in the Netherlands during 2012-2017. Their main question: how effective is the special reintegration project for this type of delinquents…

The research group Cyber Security Governance will provide cutting-edge academic research in the domain of cyber, where modern technology interacts with traditional concepts such as governance, sovereignty, law-enforcement, international relations and conflict.

On Tuesday 10 September 2019, the opening of the Master European Law took place in the Old Observatory. Ms Catherine De Bolle, Europol Executive Directeur, presented the opening lecture.

How to minimalize the chance of recidivism for extremist prisoners.

This article explores how ISIS and the Taliban have fostered support through their parallel legal systems.

Jihadism and smugglers, gold fever and ethnic strive. It is a toxic mix that makes the Sahel a volatile region in which jihadi's thrive. In the Dutch daily De Volkskant, terrorism expert Liesbeth van de Heide sheds a light on the complex problems that the Sahel is facing. Van der Heide is a researcher…

This book underscores the interplay between religion and politics (local and global) in the production, escalation, management, mitigation, and resolution of conflict.

The Dutch Department of Justice will give imprisoned terrorists the opportunity to earn money. This should have an positive effect on the resocialisation of detainees.

This project compares and explains dynamics of cross-border cooperation among European actors in the field of counterterrorism (CT).

Isabelle Duyvesteyn, Professor of International Studies and Global History at the Institute of History and member of the advisory board of Leiden University’s Centre for International Relations (LUCIR) is widely regarded as an expert on civil wars and conflicts. Her new book, Rebels and Conflict Escalation,…

There is too much focus on online radicalisation, says Joe Whittaker, when this is just one of the factors that make someone become a terrorist. In fact, Whittaker’s research shows that terrorists who use the internet are less successful in achieving their goal than those who stay offline. He will defend…

Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn was invited to give the subject matter expert speech during the plenary meeting of the working groups of the Global Coalition against Daesh in Copenhagen on 28 January 2020.

Although Islamic State has largely been beaten, for now the Jihad scene in the Netherlands is more than alive. That is what professor Edwin Bakker (terrorism and counterterrorism) recently said in an interview in the Algemeen Dagblad.

Together with a group of researchers from TU Delft and Erasmus University, Leiden University have received a seed grant for conducting a project “Perceived Risk of Terrorism and its Implications for (Counter-Terrorism) Communication Strategies”.

Lecture, LUCIS What's New?! Series

Jelle van Buuren, assistant professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), does not understand that Mark van Ostaijen puts away the communication after the attacks like: ‘It is a confused man, you can rest easy.’

Marieke Liem en Edwin Bakker have published an article in the Dutch Magazine Criminology. The article tells us the following:

In the Master's programme Crisis and Security Management, specialisation Governance of radicalism, extremism and terrorism we focus on the academic body of knowledge on different form of protests, contention, resistance and violence. We explore and explain the emergence of radical and extremist move…

After an terrorist attack, tough talk often follows. However, this is not the case with prime minister Arden in New-Zealand, says Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn, researcher at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs to the NOS.

Joana Cook talks about the Islamist parties increasingly taking power in the last four decades on ABC News.

‘It's right and proper that we have policies to prevent terrorism,' says Francesco Ragazzi, university lecturer in International Relations at Leiden's Institute of Political Science. 'But the way the policies are designed and implemented can have unintended consequences. For example, when teachers are…