In the 20th and 21st centuries, where violence has scarred countless lives, the interplay between religion, politics, and conflict remains a complex web. Exiting Violence looks to untangle some of these knots, showing not only how faith can ignite bloodshed, but also how it can inspire peace and build bridges. Resulting from an international collaboration between the Fondazione Bruno Kessler, RESET-Dialogues Among Civilizations, and the Berkley Center for Religion Peace and World Affairs, this collection assesses the state of scholarship and explores the differing ways in which religion can contribute to societies and communities exiting situations of violence and hatred. From Biblical hermeneutics to Buddhism, from secularism to legal systems, Exiting Violence offers a nuanced and thought-provoking exploration of the multifaceted role religion plays in the human struggle for peace and justice.

This volume brings together interviews with leading scholars to discuss some of the most important issues associated with radicalization, violent extremism and terrorism. The overall aim of these interviews is to move beyond the ‘conventional wisdom’ over radicalization and violent extremism best represented by many of its well-known slogans, metaphors, aphorisms alongside various other thought-terminating clichés. A vast range of topics are tackled in these conversations, including issues as diverse as the genealogy of radicalization and violent extremism, the rhetoric of emergency politics (’the language of fear’), the ethics of securitization, mutual radicalization, the challenges arising out of the relationship between cognitive and behavioural radicalization, Islamism bias in research on radicalization, the ethics of espionage (as an integral element of the ‘war on terror’), the epistemic dimension of radicalization, the application of the just war conceptual framework to terrorism, and the ethics of exceptional means when addressing security-related issues, to name a few. The unifying assumption of the interviews in the volume is the complex nature of radicalization, violent extremism and conflicting diversity, as well as their interwoven relationship. While radicalization has become one of the ‘great buzzwords’ of the intelligence and security ‘industry’, pleas for its very abandonment as a useful analytical category have also started to emerge. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism studies, radicalisation, violent extremism, security studies and International Relations, in general.

The study of violent extremism has seen a great deal of academic and practitioner focus on the processes of radicalization, and strategies to counter and de-radicalize extremists. Comparatively, little has been written on the subject of Diversion – early, upstream interventions aimed at deflecting individuals from a pathway of radicalization. This volume addresses this gap in scholarship by analyzing the strategies being deployed worldwide, aimed at diverting or deflecting individuals, and communities, from the path of radicalization. Disengagement – which is often necessary when one has already progressed past the 'at-risk' stage – is also addressed, given that social workers, counselors and other practitioners do not necessarily find the distinction between the two a critical issue in practice. What matters is which upstream approaches work, and what shows promise, amongst individuals and communities. Case studies range across the Global North and South, presented by both academics and practitioners. Contributions address approaches that have proven useful, strategies which should be given deeper scrutiny before being employed – and what should be avoided.

State Building Post-conflict related efforts by the international community towards state (re)building and reconstruction of society and economy have become a more or less regular feature of international affairs since the early 1990s. It seems that the demand for such international efforts is rather rising than diminishing. All have in common that the establishment of sound state structures and liveable economies in a given state are considered by a sizeable and powerful group of states as something that is furthering international peace and stability. The purpose of this book is to address the strategic and policy dimensions of these international state building and reconstruction efforts. The chapters take up issues relating to the economic, security-related and institutional aspects. The authors strike a balance and attempt to formulate recommendations.

A timely and provocative challenge to the foundations of our global order: why should national borders be unchangeable? The inviolability of national borders is an unquestioned pillar of the post-World War II international order. Fixed borders are supposed to encourage stability, promote pluralism, and discourage nationalism and intolerance. But do they? What if fixed borders create more problems than they solve, and what if permitting people to change borders would create more stability and produce more just societies? Legal scholar Timothy Waters examines this possibility, showing how we arrived at a system of rigidly bordered states and how the real danger to peace is not the desire of people to form new states but the capacity of existing states to resist that desire, even with violence. He proposes a practical, democratically legitimate alternative: a right of secession. With crises ongoing in the United Kingdom, Spain, Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, India, and many other regions, this reassessment of the foundations of our global order is more relevant than ever.

Winner of the Académie Française's Prix Eugène Colas Contemporary Yemen has an image problem. It has long fascinated travelers and artists, and to many embodies both Arab and Muslim authenticity; it stands at important geostrategic and commercial crossroads. Yet, strangely, global perceptions of Yemen are of an entity that is somehow both marginal and passive, yet also dangerous and problematic. The Saudi offensive launched in 2015 has made Yemen a victim of regional power struggles, while the global 'war on terror' has labelled it a threat to international security. This perception has had disastrous effects without generating real interest in the country or its people. On the contrary, Yemen's complex political dynamics have been largely ignored by international observers--resulting in problematic, if not counterproductive, international policies. Yemen and the World offers a corrective to these misconceptions and omissions, putting aside the nature of the world's interest in Yemen to focus on Yemen's role on the global stage. Laurent Bonnefoy uses six areas of modern international exchange--globalization, diplomacy, trade, migration, culture and militant Islamism--to restore Yemen to its place at the heart of contemporary affairs. To understand Yemen, he argues, is to understand the Middle East as a whole.

The study of contemporary forms of racism has expanded greatly over the past four decades. Although it has been a focus for scholarship and research for the past three centuries, it is perhaps over this more recent period that we have seen important transformations in the analytical frames and methods to explore the changing patterns of contemporary racisms. The Routledge International Handbook of Contemporary Racisms brings together thirty-four original chapters from international experts that address key features of contemporary racisms. The Handbook has a truly global orientation and covers contemporary racisms in both the western and non-western geopolitical environments. In terms of structure, the volume is organized into ten interlinked parts that include Theories and Histories, Contemporary Racisms in Global Perspective, Racism and the State, Racist Movements and Ideologies, Anti-Racisms, Racism and Nationalism, Intersections of Race and Gender, Racism, Culture and Religion, Methods of Studying Contemporary Racisms, and the End of Racism. These parts contain chapters that draw on original theoretical and empirical research to address the evolution and changing forms of contemporary racism. The Handbook is framed by a General Introduction and by short introductions to each part that provide an overview of key themes and concerns. Written in a clear and direct style, and from a conceptual, multidisciplinary and international perspective, the Handbook will provide students, scholars and practitioners with an overview of the most pressing issues of Racisms in our time.

At the turn of the Twenty-first century, a number of violent jihadi groups laid down their arms, as in the case of Egypt and Libya. Many of those former fighters ceased actual violence, and some of them took a step forward, initiating processes of ideological de-radicalization and doctrinal changes that deeply transformed their stance towards the State and active confrontation. How was it possible for those groups to disengage and de-radicalize? Why doesn’t this happen again, among other contemporary jihadists? Sara Brzuszkiewicz argues that the answer is simple, yet quite pessimistic: those who de-radicalized were national jihadists. Once jihad goes global it is no longer possible for an organic process of collective and political de-radicalization to happen. Radicalization and de-radicalization between national and global jihadism. From the first Egyptian national jihadists to Al Qaeda retraces the trajectory of the jihadists who de-radicalized and of those who went global, and measures the role of national jihadism and its characteristics in making de-radicalization a viable option.

Catholicism is generally over-institutionalized and over-centralized in comparison to other religions. However, it finds itself in an increasingly interrelated and globalized world and is therefore immersed in a great plurality of social realities. The Changing Faces of Catholicism assembles an international cast of contributors to explore the consequent decline of powerful Catholic organisations as well as to address the responses and resistance efforts that specific countries have taken to counteract the secularization crisis in both Europe and the Americas. It reveals some of the strategies of the Catholic Church as a whole, and of the Vatican centre in particular, to address problems of the global era through the dissemination of spiritually progressive writing, World Youth Days, and the transformation of Catholic education to become a forum for intercultural and interreligious dialogue. The volume also reflects on the adaptation of Catholic institutions and missions as sponsored by religious communities and monastic orders.

This book provides insight into the diverse ways young people from around the world are regenerating politics in innovative and multifaceted ways. The authors, who include academics and activists, challenge claims that young people are apolitical, apathetic and living up to the ‘me generation’ stereotype. Contributions cover a rich body of case examples of traditional and new forms of youth politics in response to situated injustices and political and socio-economic crises. Significant and optimistic, the collection presents strong evidence from across the globe that these developments are not isolated incidences, but are in fact part of a systemic, large-scale transformation leading to a regeneration of the political landscape by young people. The book is aimed at students and scholars in the fields of politics, sociology, policy studies and youth and childhood studies.