FROM RADICALIZATION TO REINTEGRATION: MEASURING THE EFFICACY OF COUNTER-TERRORISM POLICIES IN POST-CONFLICT SOCIETIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54658/ps.28153324.2026.15.1.pp.80-90Keywords:
Deradicalization, P/CVE, Social Cohesion, Disengagement, Post-Conflict Governance, Human SecurityAbstract
The ontological paradox of reintegration is rarely formulated in such a straightforward manner: a society is requested to re-incorporate the same people whose cruelty has ripped its social fabric, and to do so without the wounds being suppurative, the institutional scaffolding half-collapsed, and the political incentives in a sharp mismatch. It is this conflict between the moral necessity to provide means of escape out of extremism on one side and the social unwillingness to forget what extremism has created on the other side that drives the whole post-conflict governance debate but is habitually papered over by programmatic optimism. The international policy framework has also changed to less kinetic Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) approaches rather than paradigms in the last 20 years, a move that was influenced less by ideological belief than by the sheer failure of detention-and-destroy paradigms to capture recruitment spurts. Based on a longitudinal comparative study of the Saudi Arabian theological rehabilitation model, the Danish Aarhus social-welfare experiment, and the fractured implementation environments of Iraq, northeastern Nigeria, and the Western Balkans, this article asks the question whether the conceptual machinery of the modern deradicalization programmes can survive exposure to post-conflict environments marked by institutional weakness, ethno-sectarian distrust, and the This data suggests a sobering conclusion that, where it happens, reintegration is not a restorative goal but a managed failure, a politically negotiated stalemate in which recidivism is contained and not solved, the stigma is redistributed and not removed, and measures of success are pegged not to human security results but to funding needs of donor states and implementation agencies.
Downloads
References
Akilu, F. (2017). Countering violent extremism in Nigeria: A community-based approach. In S. Romaniuk, F. Grice, D. Irrera, & S. Webb (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of global counterterrorism policy (pp. 919–935). Palgrave Macmillan.
Altier, M. B., Boyle, E. L., & Horgan, J. G. (2014). Returning to the fight: An empirical analysis of terrorist reengagement and recidivism. Terrorism and Political Violence, 26(2), 305–326.
Azinovic, V., & Jusic, M. (2015). The lure of the Syrian war: The foreign fighters Bosnian contingent. Atlantic Initiative.
Becker, H. S. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of deviance. Free Press.
Bertelsen, P. (2015). Danish preventive measures and de-radicalization strategies: The Aarhus model. In Panorama: Insights into Asian and European affairs (pp. 241–253). Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.
Bjorgo, T., & Horgan, J. (Eds.). (2009). Leaving terrorism behind: Individual and collective disengagement. Routledge.
Bloom, M., & Horgan, J. (2019). Small arms: Children and terrorism. Cornell University Press.
Boucek, C. (2008). Saudi Arabia’s “soft” counterterrorism strategy: Prevention, rehabilitation, and aftercare. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Middle East Program, No. 97.
Cherney, A. (2020). Evaluating interventions to disengage extremist offenders: A study of the proactive integrated support model (PRISM). Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 12(1), 17–36.
Christensen, T. W. (2019). Former extremists as mentors in exit programmes: A qualitative study of the Aarhus mentorship model. In S. J. Hansen & S. Lid (Eds.), Routledge handbook of deradicalisation and disengagement (pp. 219–232). Routledge.
Clark, P. (2010). The Gacaca courts, post-genocide justice and reconciliation in Rwanda. Cambridge University Press.
Clubb, G. (2016). The role of former members in countering violent extremism: Critical insights from the IRA. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 39(10), 842–861.
Cook, J., & Vale, G. (2019). From Daesh to diaspora: Tracing the women and minors of Islamic State. International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, King’s College London.
de Londras, F. (2018). Counter-terrorist detention and international human rights law. In B. Saul (Ed.), Research handbook on international law and terrorism (2nd ed., pp. 366–382). Edward Elgar.
Della Porta, D. (2013). Clandestine political violence. Cambridge University Press.
El-Said, H. (2015). New approaches to countering terrorism: Designing and evaluating counter radicalization and de-radicalization programs. Palgrave Macmillan.
Ferguson, N. (2016). Disengaging from terrorism: A Northern Irish experience. Journal for Deradicalization, (6), 1–29.
Hegghammer, T. (2010). Jihad in Saudi Arabia: Violence and pan-Islamism since 1979. Cambridge University Press.
Hettiarachchi, M. (2018). Sri Lanka’s rehabilitation programme: A new frontier in counter terrorism and counter insurgency. Prism, 7(2), 105–121.
Holmer, G. (2013). Countering violent extremism: A peacebuilding perspective. Special Report No. 336, United States Institute of Peace.
Horgan, J. (2009). Walking away from terrorism: Accounts of disengagement from radical and extremist movements. Routledge.
Horgan, J., & Braddock, K. (2010). Rehabilitating the terrorists? Challenges in assessing the effectiveness of de-radicalization programs. Terrorism and Political Violence, 22(2), 267–291.
Inks, L., Lichtenheld, A., & Maza, K. (2017). Considering the effects of stigma on acceptability of reintegration programming in northeast Nigeria. Mercy Corps.
Khalil, J., & Zeuthen, M. (2016). Countering violent extremism and risk reduction: A guide to programme design and evaluation. RUSI Occasional Paper, Royal United Services Institute.
Koehler, D. (2017). Understanding deradicalization: Methods, tools and programs for countering violent extremism. Routledge.
Kruglanski, A. W., Gelfand, M. J., Bélanger, J. J., Sheveland, A., Hetiarachchi, M., & Gunaratna, R. (2014). The psychology of radicalization and deradicalization: How significance quest impacts violent extremism. Political Psychology, 35(S1), 69–93.
Mani, R. (2002). Beyond retribution: Seeking justice in the shadows of war. Polity Press.
Marsden, S. V. (2017). Reintegrating extremists: Deradicalisation and desistance. Palgrave Macmillan.
Muggah, R. (2009). Security and post-conflict reconstruction: Dealing with fighters in the aftermath of war. Routledge.
Muller, M. (2021). Suspect citizens: The politics of monitoring and control in post-reintegration settings. Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism, 16(3), 221–239.
Neumann, P. R. (2010). Prisons and terrorism: Radicalisation and de-radicalisation in 15 countries. International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, King’s College London.
Pearson, E. (2018). Wilayat al-Nisa: Gendering ISIS and evaluating gendered counter-measures. The RUSI Journal, 163(3), 60–74.
Porges, M. L. (2010). The Saudi deradicalization experiment. Council on Foreign Relations.
Rabasa, A., Pettyjohn, S. L., Ghez, J. J., & Boucek, C. (2010). Deradicalizing Islamist extremists. RAND Corporation.
Renard, T. (2017). Overblown: Exploring the gap between the fear of terrorist recidivism and the evidence. CTC Sentinel, 10(4), 19–25.
Revkin, M. R. (2020). After the Islamic State: Balancing accountability and reconciliation in Iraq. United Nations University Centre for Policy Research.
Ris, L., & Ernstorfer, A. (2017). Borrowing a wheel: Applying existing design, monitoring, and evaluation strategies to emerging programming on preventing/countering violent extremism. Peacebuilding Evaluation Consortium.
Sageman, M. (2004). Understanding terror networks. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Scheinin, M. (2010). Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism (A/HRC/16/51). United Nations Human Rights Council.
Schmid, A. P. (2013). Radicalisation, de-radicalisation, counter-radicalisation: A conceptual discussion and literature review. ICCT Research Paper, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague.
Silke, A., & Veldhuis, T. (2017). Countering terrorism and violent extremism: The research. In G. LaFree & J. D. Freilich (Eds.), The handbook of the criminology of terrorism (pp. 538–555). Wiley.
Speckhard, A., & Ellenberg, M. (2020). ISIS in their own words: Recruitment history, motivations for joining, travel, experiences and pressing concerns. Journal of Strategic Security, 13(1), 82–127.
Sriram, C. L. (2007). Justice as peace? Liberal peacebuilding and strategies of transitional justice. Global Society, 21(4), 579–591.
Theidon, K. (2009). Reconstructing masculinities: The disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of former combatants in Colombia. Human Rights Quarterly, 31(1), 1–34.
van de Donk, M.,"; Feddes, A. R., & Doosje, B. (2022). A meta-analytic review of the effectiveness of CVE programs. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 18, 605–629.
van der Heide, L., & Geenen, J. (2017). The foreign fighters from the Western Balkans. International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague.
Webber, D., Babush, M., Schori-Eyal, N., Vazeou-Nieuwenhuis, A., Hettiarachchi, M., Bélanger, J. J., ... & Kruglanski, A. W. (2018). The road to extremism: Field and experimental evidence that significance loss-induced need for closure fosters radicalization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114(2), 270–285.
Weine, S., Eisenman, D. P., Kinsler, J., Glik, D. C., & Polutnik, C. (2017). Addressing violent extremism as public health policy and practice. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 9(3), 208–221.
Wiktorowicz, Q. (2005). Radical Islam rising: Muslim extremism in the West. Rowman & Littlefield.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Anton Vysotskyi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
