It was a bipartisan effort, drawn broad support from both parties. , president reagan signed into law United States institutes of peace, a Bipartisan Institute charged with the mission of preventing violent conflict abroad. We fulfill that mission by linking training and analysis, research and policy, and by working with local partners on the ground in conflict zones around the world. We have offices in iraq and afghanistan, tunisia, just to name a few and when it comes to violent extremism, we know that significant knowledge gaps still exist and they continue to pose obstacles. We are proud to host the resolve network which stands for researching solution to violent extremism. It is a Global Consortium of researchers and research organizations, committed to more understanding of violent extremism in the sources of resilience. We have seen through our work and through research that the rise, spread, and evolution of violent extremism is one of the most challenging issues we face today, especially as it interacts with existing conflict, or create new ones, or further damages fragile contacts. Violent extremism is on everyones mind following the attacks in el paso and dayton. The newly empty side of the bed and those reading the text message over and over again. Those who are in hospitals, asking why did i live and others died. Added more families and friends to the list of the forever injured, forever scarred from a forever home to buy scarred forever by violence. This is a type of grief and the type of violence that exists in way too many countries around the world today. In fact, a task force on extremism in fragile states, worldwide, tags have increased fivefold since the year 2001. And extremist groups have spread to 19 out of 45 countries in the middle each, the middle east and the horn of africa. Here at an institute committed to the notion that peace is possible, we want to help uncover new ways to do better at addressing some of the most Wicked Problems involving violent extremism. Today, we are tackling the problem how governments and communities are grappling with what to do with their citizens to travel to the socalled Islamic State and other conflicts and they return home. With the territorial caliphate extinguished, more than 100 countries could face the task of not only reintegrating their citizens, perhaps 10,000 in total, but also preparing their communities for a future with living with people nextdoor. Some who were part of these violent extremist groups will face trial, and some will face incarceration, but not all. Some will eventually be released from prison, and many others will reintegrate directly back into committees. So local communities need to be prepared and society has a Public Safety imperative to pursue rehabilitation and reconciliation. People need processes to enable them to abandon their violent attitudes and behaviors, but communities also need avenues to enable social cohesion and to avoid reradicalization. Yet, we lack the language in our Public Discourse diva talk about people or disengaging from violent extremism. To even talk about people disengaging from violent extremism. As far as most of us are concerned, once a terrorist, forever a terrorist. And while the radicalization is a very complex process, there are many, many different paths to violent extremism. It is social in nature, so disengagement needs to address social factors to not only help someone to disengage from their violent attitudes, but rebuilt the bonds between that person in society and generate a new sense of belonging. Currently, we scholars, committee members, can be unintentionally using language that underscores, anger, and fear. We reinforce a persons identity as a terrorist or a fighter, and it may contribute to a self fulfilling prophecy. Luckily, for those of us who study violence and conflict, we are not the first discipline to work with highly stigmatized populations. In Public Health and criminal justice, and social work, practitioners have learned to leverage language as a tool to shape attitudes and behaviors, to reduce the burden of stigma, and to ease open spaces for engagement. In the spaces, communities can be presented with opportunities for social learning and rehumanization and reconciliation. Let me be clear, i am not pollyannaish about the real violent risk that violent extremists groups pose, and this conversation does not take away the need for accountability for those who have committed atrocities and other crimes or enable others to do so. This is not about forgiveness, but rather solutions. But once justice meet up with sentences, prison time has been served, or those who did not commit crimes were never charged, this need to call a spade a spade must grapple with the other reality of how we enable communities, new to the front lines, to get reintegration and reconciliation right because all of our safety depends on. This is a tall order. This is what i am delighted to be joined by four incredible experts who help us further unlock and unleash new avenues for adjusting this challenge addressing this challenge. I will introduce each speaker individually. They will give a 15 minute or so presentation. I will introduce the next speaker and they will present. When everyone is finished, we will move to question and answer session. We are also accepting questions live on twitter and from our overflow rooms here. With that, i will introduce our speakers and get the day going. It is my pleasure to introduce this doctor, social psychologist with research on the dynamics of violent radicalization. His model drawing from human needs is outlined in his latest book from Oxford University press, the three pillars of radicalization. He will provide context on the social and psychological drivers, with attention on the role of marginalization, group dynamics, significance and , respect. With that, please help me welcome to dr. The dr. [applause] thank you very much. Good morning to all. I am very honored and pleased to be here, and thanks for arranging and organizing this event. Thank you for inviting me. As you all know, radicalization that progresses to violent extremism has been and continues to be a major issue for nations around the world. Isis has lost its caliphate, but it is far from being defeated. Neither is al qaeda. Attackstinue to launch and attract followers and inspire individuals to join the all over the world. Hundreds of attacks in different parts of the plan. The question is, how do we understand the global threat, and what can we do about it . In todays talk, i would like to present a psychological perspective on this issue that i believe to be important. Many psychological phenomena, Many Political phenomena that have shaped history and the fate of nations are rooted in human psychology. Macrolevel phenomenon, such as poverty, poor education, or oppression occasionally contribute to radicalization. Sometimes, they matter less and sometimes they matter not at all. Why . Because they matter only when they are in circumstances that activate the psychological mechanism that promotes radicalization. Psychology is the basic discipline that addresses radicalization. And most importantly, if we understand these mechanisms, we cannot only understand it, but we can understand it and prevent radicalization the world over. Over the last decade, several decades actually, we have been carrying out research and various parts of the Globe Research in various parts of the globe with hundreds, if not thousands of terrorists in jails and other locations, and on the basis of that empirical work, we have developed an integrity model, a model that on the one hand, capitalizes on important insights about extending social sciences, and that model integrates in the the sense of showing how diverse insights, combined into a process whereby radicalization and violent extremism take place. We suggest, in fact, three parameters of the process are critical. They had been a full different models. We combine them together, and the three parameters are individuals motivation, the narrative that tells the individuals how to satisfy their motivations, and the network that validates the narrative and dispenses rewards for those who serve their needs in terms of violent extremism. Let me say a few words about these three. The need is critical. After all, radicalization is located by the individual. It is an individual who decides who will wear a suicide vest, pick up a weapon, and travel thousands of miles to join the fight and kill people wherever they might be. Therefore, a very important question was posed by a researcher is, what is the motivation . Why do they do that . What makes them take those risks, and make those sacrifices, and risk life and limb in order to join the fight . The researchers have provided an answer in terms of the list of different motivations. Or a motivational cocktail as they put it. For example, the perks of afterlife has been one motivation. They do it in order to enjoy the perks of afterlife. Or they do it because of their adulation and commitment to their leader. Or they do it because they want to show that women can do it, or they do it because of vengeance. All of these motivations have their place and are important in specific cases, but i submit to you, underlining all the motivations is one universal need, and that is the need to matter and to be significant. To have selfrespect and respect from others and ones community. Now, this quest for significance, like with all motivations, isnt around at all times. How is this quest activated . The simple answer is it is activated when significance acquires special value. It requires a special value primarily when one feels ignificant, when one feet feels humiliation, disempowerment, or discrimination. This can be ones own failures, lack of luck, ones own circumstances that they promote ones suffering. For example, palestinian women were accused of Extramarital Affairs or infertile, or disfigured by fire, so it could be a very personal thing, having nothing to do with international conflicts. But it can also be associate with ones social identity. A religious group, and ethnic group, when you are discriminated, humiliated, you feel discrimination as your own thing, and then you are motivated to restore your significance. And that is humiliation, that is discrimination that provides an opportunity to become a hero, a martyr for the group that was discriminated against and who was humiliated and experienced the grievance. Now, the quests for significance is a universal human need. As an author put it, all of us have a sense of being a human and a martyr. Heroes and martyrs. A little baby has a quest for attention because otherwise it would not survive. Nobody wants to feel disrespected. How, then, do we acquire respect. How do we acquire that sense of significance. We acquire significance through living up to our values. It is the values that trickle down to the ones who serve them and let them significance lend them significance. These varied by cultures and groups. Element of what our network does tie violence to the values of significance, and shows how to obtain significance through violence. It tells you to gain significance, you have to join the fight. You have to kill other people. You have to be ready to take risks, sacrifice yourself, maybe die for the cause and that will give you significance. The narrative function is very important. We all create significant. We are not all terrorists, we have other avenues to significance, we serve other you are of the narrative that you values, but if have been assaulted, your group has been insulted, and you have to stand up for the group, join the fight, and protect the groups glory and significance, at this point, you become a violent extremist. And finally, the last is a network. Why the network . The network is important because we are social beings. The network of people who you respect in the group, define for us what is real and it is validating the narrative. Without the social network, we would not know that actually you have to fight. It is important to fight. The Network Tells you, yes, that is what you need to do. Him him agreement of the network him him him him validates, and beyond validation, it dispenses rewards. It admires people who serve the network through violence. It tells you, you know, you are a hero, you are a martyr, and you will be forever engraved in the collective memory of the group. You may go to paradise and so forth. What kind of network . What are we talking about . The network varies widely from approximate face to face networks. A bunch of guys that get together and inside each other incite each other to action, all the way to virtual networks, networks on the internet that are particularly influential these days that people attend. So, it does not have to be in a physical presence of the network. You know that if you carry out a shooting, if you run your vehicle into people and kill them, and if you pick up a knife and kill enemies of the group, you will be appreciated, so it is kind of an implicit network. You do not have to be in physical presence of. Now, what is unique about our model . And how does that relate to radicalization . After all, social scientists social scientists have been studying violent extremism for many decades. And they have provided very important insight. I think what is important about our model is that it brings him and him these insights together into a unified function al portrayal of violent extremism. Some people in some models illuminate one part of the elephant, and our aspiration is to highlight the entire elephant and show how the different parts work together. Let me examine some very let me illustrate that by examining some very important contributions in this domain. Ted kearns famous book, while why men rebel discusses relative deprivation, the idea that your group has not received its just desserts and has been slighted, discriminated in comparison to others. This touches on the quest of significance. There are other ways of losing significance, as i mentioned, even sources of significance that are personallybased, and your personal failures. We have evidence that personal failure leaves people to embrace collective causes in the service of regaining their significance. Of course, he does not emphasize the essence of the network. He does identify an important element, but i think those other parameters are also important and we bring them together. People talk about macro factors, economies, and others, poverty, oppression, poor education, and they all came to the inclusion all came to the conclusion that neither of them promote. Violent extremism. It also addresses the loss of significance. If you are poor or oppressed, you dont feel very good. You feel very significant, like you dont matter, but not all poor or oppressed people become violent extremists. There are other ingredients to the mixture. You need to have the narrative and you have to have the social movement that supports the narrative in order for this to combine into this combusted thatmbusted mixture creates violent extremism. My colleague emphasized the issue of sacred values and devoted actors as an important ingredient in violent extremism. But sacredtely am a values are important because they allow people to serve them, and therefore, become significant. It all comes to the individual and their motivation and the motivation for significance is served wonderfully if you sacrifice life, take risks, are ready to die, on order of sacred values, so sacred values are important in conjunction with the other elements. Another colleague made famous the issue of networks. Networks are important. They are important because they validate the narrative and they dispense rewards. They pronounce you a martyr or a hero. Adicalization . R it is, in some sense, a reversal of radicalization. The same three elements that promote radicalization, if you reverse them, they promote deradicalization. For example, the importance of narrative, the importance of counter messaging is of paramount significance. You have to counter the idea that islam is served by jihad. You have to promote the idea that there is a tolerance and that the audiology is actually ideology is actually misinterpretation of what the prophet intended. You have to have a counter narrative. We are sent into beings, beings, we sentient listen to reason. And narratives are what provide justification and the rationale for our actions. Narrative is important in deradicalization. Network is very important in deradicalization. We recently completed another book on the german neonazis, and those who led the movement, often left because they connected to another network. They meet somebody, a friend, a romantic relationship, that drove them back to the mainstream ways of thinking. So the networking important is very important in promoting deradicalization. And finally, reduction of the dominance of the quest of significance. It is an activation of other needs. A need for love, having a career, having a life, and nobody expressed this better than a former member of an basque terrorist saidization who saiad why he wanted to deradicalize. You say to yourself the f word, i better get myself in line is time is running out. It is a matter of getting that much older, and my skis, wanting to get old married. You are going on 40 years old and you want to get married next year, and you say to yourself, well, at this stage of the game, to go packing apiece it would be toit, because you just got live a bit. The other needs are activated. Request for significance is reduced. The quest for significance is reduced. I mentioned empirical evidence, and time is too short and are i probably already exceeded my time, but i would like to share with you a story of one Research Project on violent radicalization. Of the tamil tigers. You all know who they are. They raised a 30 year long secessionampaign campaign. They were recognized as a terrorist organization and employed brutal tactics, highprofile assassinations, suicide bombings, child abductions, the use of human shields. They did a lot of damage. Victims, civilians, over the course of 30 years 50,000 fighters killed. It was one of the most vicious terrorist organizations in the history of this phenomenon. They had their air force, air tigers, their navy, their sea tigers. In 2009, more than 11,000 tigers surrendered after a bloody battle after thousands of civilians lost their life in 2009. The government at that point launched an effort to rehabilitate the surrender of the terrorists. And they were placed in facilities of different kinds. It was our great luck to get into those facilities. To carry out research on all 11,000 extremists. This was the secretary of thense, the architect of demolition of the tamil tigers. The radicalization problems were adopted from the Saudi Program and other programs