Addressing radicalization and violent extremism

Reform and cooperation in the Western Balkans: working toward comprehensive P-CVE policy solutions

Jelka Klemenc and Rajko Kozmelj
IISG Support Group, DCAF Ljubljana

  • This article was originally published as part of the 2018 edition of Bled Strategic Times, the official gazzette of the Bled Strategic Forum (BSF) international conference. You can access the full version of this and other BSF publications by visiting our official website.

Policymakers and practitioners from the Western Balkan countries are facing diverse and numerous challenges in confronting security issues related to radicalisation that may lead to violent extremism of terrorism. There are many complex tasks ahead in reforming their policies in order to be able to engage in efficient prevention and countering of those phenomena (P-CVE in short). During the last couple of years, the attention of the EU and the wider international donor community on this particular field of reform has increased significantly. Like in EU Member States, the projects and policy solutions anchored around the pre-existing, ‘traditional’, Counter-Terrorism (CT)-oriented arrangements, representing almost exclusively law enforcement (police and intelligence). One of the most valuable lessons so far has been that bringing in new contemporary knowledge and encouraging coordinated action will be key to any comprehensive future P-CVE policy solutions on the ground. There is also significant opportunity to enhance cooperation and engagement with the EU Member States, who are also working further to improve their own P-CVE capacities — through cross-fertilisation of knowledge and experience, but also crucial information sharing.

The attention to P-CVE in the Western Balkans had increased with the emergence of ISIS, recruitment, and the penetration of ultraconservative ideologies into traditionally moderate and tolerant Muslim communities. First assessments followed between 20152016, revealing the numbers of departed Foreign Terrorist Fighters –Western Balkan nationals to war areas at approximately 1000. This has contributed to an overwhelming focus on the response to mainly this type of extremism, and it was only sometime later that it expanded to other forms of (home-grown) extremism, either heritage to inter-ethnic conflicts and unfinished state-building in the region or right-wing extremism. The international community on this field of policy has been contributing invaluable financial support and expertise to policymakers and practitioners, expanding traditional CT cooperation and reform to the area of P-CVE. We have, however been witnessing, quite uneven progress of reform.

Not surprisingly, the police have been the main actuator of capacity-building and policy improvements in the policy field of addressing radicalisation and violent extremism in the Western Balkans, and this has also been the case in EU Member States. The actual role of the police in P-CVE, however, can only be limited when it comes to comprehensive P-CVE solutions, where we engage in the prevention, early identification and finally disengagement and reintegration of an individual who has been progressing down the path toward violent behaviour. It is the schools, social workers, medical practitioners, prison and probation officers and, crucially, the individual’s local community that play the most important role.

In 2017, the Slovenian-led project named “First Line” [1] provided thorough assessments for the Western Balkan countries focusing on the existing preconditions for establishing such comprehensive policy approaches in the future. This would be achieved by developing multi-disciplinary P-CVE mechanisms in each country, based on existing good practices of European countries and on the expertise offered by the EU centre of excellence. The solutions on the ground would connect both state and, crucially, community levels in a joint formal structure, which would offer a sufficient response to such cases. Later in 2017, the Western Balkan Counter-Terrorism Initiative (WBCTi) [2] developed a model policy concept [3] to guide both the Beneficiaries as well as actors providing external assistance in the Western Balkan region, in order to continue reform in the direction of what would be a long-term sustainable solution.

The main deficiency at this time — not only in the Western Balkans, but also in Europe as a whole — is the lack of structures and procedures that would introduce an active role in P-CVE on part of sectors other than the police. Only by involving sectors such as education, social affairs, cultural affairs and all relevant parts of society as well, will we gain sufficient understanding of the factors and triggers behind radicalization. This will allow us to assess the risks posed by individual cases and plan for efficient prevention, referral, and eventual rehabilitation and reintegration into society. The levels of awareness needs to be further raised on how educational institutions, medical practitioners as well as the civil society, youth and women could play an active role in contemporary P-CVE.

The factors driving radicalized individuals toward violent behaviour remain an important public concern in the Western Balkan region. At a time of rising trends in mixed migration flows in the region, European public discourse turns to the potential threat posed by returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters. In terms of the states’ ability to address a case of an individual in need of deradicalization and reintegration (incl. the Foreign Terrorist Fighters’ family members), the capacities and expertise remain low. As returnees may face criminal prosecution upon return, the capacities of prisons are also important, namely, a prison can either serve as breeding ground for radicalisation or may play a vital role in deradicalization/disengagement of an individual — when/if supported by stable system in place that also involves the individual’s local community. The countries’ politicians place P-CVE high on their agendas. All of the Western Balkan countries have appointed national P-CVE coordinators.

There are no ideal models nor is there a quick-fix solution in place that we could simply offer to the countries in establishing a multi-stakeholder mechanism enabling a whole-of-society approach and response. Any transfer of EU and other relevant international standards can indeed be based on those found in EU Member States, but those also have to be viewed critically in terms of their adaptability to local circumstances, so we do not impede long-term sustainability of a policy solution, not to mention the waste of costly investments while getting to that solution. In the upcoming years, the EU and the whole international community need to work on achieving a comprehensive understanding of the whole society and all relevant state agencies of the P-CVE scope, underlying concepts and good practices. They should provide further guidance to state and local existing structures in the Western Balkans on how to proceed and, most of all, they should aim for coordinated and aligned action in any further administrative reform and capacity-building

The first model solutions to be developed, however, should allow for sufficient exchange of experience between countries as well, via inclusion of Western Balkan practitioners and experts in the EU Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) Centre of Excellence. This will, in our experience, also result in useful cross-fertilisation of knowledge and experience as the EU Member States themselves continue to strive toward improvements of their own P-CVE policies and can greatly benefit from the Western Balkan experience.


[1] ‘FIRST LINE Practitioners Dealing with Radicalisation Issues — Awareness Raising and Encouraging Capacity Building in the Western Balkan Region’ (project ref. no. HOME/2014/ISFP/AG/ RADX/7533)

[2] The Western Balkan Counter-Terrorism initiative (WBCTi) is an EU-supported effort to respond to the developments related to Terrorism, Violent Extremism and Radicalisation phenomena in the Western Balkans by maximizing the potential of Regional Cooperation policy and by merging the efforts of all relevant se- curity actors in this area of policy development in an efficient — and sustainable — manner. It is part of the Integrative Internal Security Governance in the Western Balkans (WB IISG).

[3] ‘P-R-A — Prevent-Refer-Address’ model concept’


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Bled Strategic Forum

The official Medium publication of Bled Strategic Forum (BSF) — a platform for high-level strategic dialogue among leaders from private & public sector. Organised by the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Centre for European Perspective (CEP).

Bled Strategic Forum

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A platform for high-level strategic dialogue among leaders from private & public sector. Organised by Slovenian MFA & Centre for European Perspective (CEP).

Bled Strategic Forum

The official Medium publication of Bled Strategic Forum (BSF) — a platform for high-level strategic dialogue among leaders from private & public sector. Organised by the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Centre for European Perspective (CEP).

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