Episode 11: The Importance of Communication to Terrorism and Counterterrorism
In Episode 11 of RUSI’s Decoding Counterterrorism, hosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Jared Shurin and Michael Jones to discuss the essential nature of communication to both terrorism itself and to efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism and terrorism.
The fields of strategic communication and marketing have been developing a knowledge base for decades on the most effective techniques to reach the maximum number of people with messages that resonate enough to change attitudes and behaviours. Much can be learned from these fields about how to design and deliver the most effective, influential messaging to build social resilience to extremism.
There have been many efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism over the past 15 years that have used strategic communications ineffectively, and the evaluative evidence base remains weak. However, what are the lessons we can learn from older fields with good track records to refine and renew effective approaches to using communications to prevent terrorism?
This research study explores the social networks and information flows of both violent extremism (VE) and countering violent extremism (CVE) and looks at localised understandings of related concepts across four Kenyan counties: Nairobi, Nyeri, Mombasa, and Kwale.
FEATURING
Dr Jessica White
Senior Research Fellow
Terrorism and Conflict
Raffaello Pantucci
Senior Associate Fellow
Jared Shurin
Strategy Director, M&C Saatchi
Michael Jones
Research Fellow
Terrorism and Conflict
