A systematic integrative review of counter-messaging communication campaigns targeting terrorism or violent extremism

Samantha Treacy; Alastair Reed; Andrew Glazzard

doi:10.1080/19434472.2024.2419390

A systematic integrative review of counter-messaging communication campaigns targeting terrorism or violent extremism

Samantha Treacy
, Alastair Reed
, Andrew Glazzard

Research Centre for Peace and Security

Swansea University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

56 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In response to the rise of the so-called Islamic State and its effective use of propaganda to recruit and radicalise followers, countering the communication strategies of a range of terrorist and violent extremist actors has become a significant challenge for policymakers and practitioners. Over the past decade, counter-messaging campaigns have increasingly played a central role within Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programming. However, evidence supporting the effectiveness of these campaigns remains limited. While previous systematic reviews have focused on empirical and theoretical contributions, this paper makes a valuable contribution by conducting the first systematic review of evaluations of ‘live’ CVE counter-messaging campaigns. The study provides important insights into the effectiveness of current campaigns and offers recommendations for improving future strategies.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	(In-Press)
Number of pages	39
Journal	Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression
Volume	(In-Press)
Early online date	7 Nov 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/19434472.2024.2419390
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 7 Nov 2024

Bibliographical note

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent

Funding

This project was made possible by research funding from the UK Home Office to Swansea University, and financial support provided by Swansea University's Legal Innovation Lab Wales (which is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government)

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Keywords

Strategic communications
counter-messaging
terrorism
violent extremism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Psychology
Sociology and Political Science
Political Science and International Relations

Access to Document

10.1080/19434472.2024.2419390Licence: CC BY

Glazzard2024VoRFinal published version, 1.11 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "In response to the rise of the so-called Islamic State and its effective use of propaganda to recruit and radicalise followers, countering the communication strategies of a range of terrorist and violent extremist actors has become a significant challenge for policymakers and practitioners. Over the past decade, counter-messaging campaigns have increasingly played a central role within Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programming. However, evidence supporting the effectiveness of these campaigns remains limited. While previous systematic reviews have focused on empirical and theoretical contributions, this paper makes a valuable contribution by conducting the first systematic review of evaluations of {\textquoteleft}live{\textquoteright} CVE counter-messaging campaigns. The study provides important insights into the effectiveness of current campaigns and offers recommendations for improving future strategies.",

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N2 - In response to the rise of the so-called Islamic State and its effective use of propaganda to recruit and radicalise followers, countering the communication strategies of a range of terrorist and violent extremist actors has become a significant challenge for policymakers and practitioners. Over the past decade, counter-messaging campaigns have increasingly played a central role within Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programming. However, evidence supporting the effectiveness of these campaigns remains limited. While previous systematic reviews have focused on empirical and theoretical contributions, this paper makes a valuable contribution by conducting the first systematic review of evaluations of ‘live’ CVE counter-messaging campaigns. The study provides important insights into the effectiveness of current campaigns and offers recommendations for improving future strategies.

AB - In response to the rise of the so-called Islamic State and its effective use of propaganda to recruit and radicalise followers, countering the communication strategies of a range of terrorist and violent extremist actors has become a significant challenge for policymakers and practitioners. Over the past decade, counter-messaging campaigns have increasingly played a central role within Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programming. However, evidence supporting the effectiveness of these campaigns remains limited. While previous systematic reviews have focused on empirical and theoretical contributions, this paper makes a valuable contribution by conducting the first systematic review of evaluations of ‘live’ CVE counter-messaging campaigns. The study provides important insights into the effectiveness of current campaigns and offers recommendations for improving future strategies.

KW - Strategic communications

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M3 - Review article

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JO - Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression

JF - Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression

ER -

A systematic integrative review of counter-messaging communication campaigns targeting terrorism or violent extremism

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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Cite this