Islamist movements are not only a risk to our society due to terrorist attacks. Radicalization processes, polarization and extremist ideologies have a destabilizing effect on social communities and political communities. The diverse landscape of prevention and security policy measures must constantly question the extent to which it can effectively counter the constantly changing phenomenon of Islamism: technological change, the transnationality of the movements and heated social debates are just some of the challenges. The prevention of Islamism is faced with the complex task of doing justice to this change and multidimensionality. The Federal Ministry of the Interior‘s Task Force for the Prevention of Islamism has now formulated specific recommendations for modern and sustainable prevention work. Julian Junk, head of the Radicalization, Terrorism and Extremism Prevention Research Group at PRIF, is part of the task force and was involved in the development of the guidelines.
In view of the findings from the latest Islamist attacks, the task force recommends strengthening the professional working structures in the prevention landscape. In order to deal with the current attacks, it advocates a joint, agile and long-term knowledge network of security authorities, academics and practitioners.
In particular, the task force advocates measures in the area of online prevention. It recommends an effective age restriction on social platforms and the consistent removal of anti-democratic content. At the same time, prevention measures should be made more visible online and media skills should be trained.
Overall, the task force focuses on holistic case management: multi-professional structures from security authorities and other state and civil society actors are to be established and expanded in order to work together on cases of (suspected) radicalization.
Detailed insights into the experts‘ analyses and proposed measures can be found in the download of the long version of the recommendations for action.