2025/07/03 by Andrew Zammit · 1 voice
Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Health and Conflict Studies #Political Conflict and Governance #Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/18335330.2025.2511102
openalex publication_date 2025/07/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
This forum article examines the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation's new handbook, Beyond Belief – Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism in America, as an example of the relationship between countering violent extremism (CVE) research and practice. The article shows how the handbook's five chapters faithfully reflect the current state of the research, with some points of creative tension that have potential to advance the field. It then highlights approaches to violent extremism research that the handbook does not draw on, showing how Beyond Belief only reflects specific subsets of a pluralistic field and therefore provides insight into what types of research are best perceived to fulfil operational needs. The article ends by highlighting constraints on how CVE practitioners draw on research, considering what this means for the handbook's release at a time when both CVE practice and research in the United States are under immense pressure in an increasingly illiberal political context.