Extremism

Extremism

Democracies protect the rights of all citizens to hold and promote diverse political views, but extremist political, social, racial, or religious ideologies can pose significant threats to societal cohesion and potentially foment violence. Far-left, far-right, racist, and other radical ideologies can play on citizens’ fears and target specific groups with hate speech, intimidation, and potential physical harm. 

Charai: Ideas that Kill, Strategies that Fail

Experts react
Jul 31, 2024

Experts react: Two top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders have been killed. What’s next for Israel, Iran, and the war in Gaza?

By
Atlantic Council experts

What will these two assassinations mean for the broader regional conflict in the Middle East? Our experts delve into the possibilities.

Crisis Management
Defense Policy

Charai: Ideas that Kill, Strategies that Fail

New Atlanticist
May 20, 2024

What comes after Ebrahim Raisi

By
Jonathan Panikoff

While the Iranian president’s death in a helicopter crash was shocking, it is unlikely to change the country’s strategic direction. Here’s why.

Extremism
Iran

Charai: Ideas that Kill, Strategies that Fail

MENASource
Dec 11, 2023

Threats from Yemen are increasing. It’s time to redesignate the Houthis.

By
R. Clarke Cooper

Ever since the 2021 lifting of FTO status, the world has witnessed the increased threats emanating from Yemen, which include recent repeated attacks on commercial ships with drones and missiles

Conflict
Crisis Management

Content

In the News

Dec 29, 2014

Charai: Ideas that Kill, Strategies that Fail

By Atlantic Council

Atlantic Council Board of Directors Member Ahmed Charai writes for the Hill on successful and unsuccessful strategies used for combating the threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham: 

Extremism Middle East

Issue Brief

Oct 27, 2014

Reforming Tunisia’s troubled security sector

By Bassem Bouguerra

In a new Atlantic Council issue brief titled “Reforming Tunisia’s Troubled Security Sector,” Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East nonresident fellow and security sector reform activist Bassem Bouguerra explains the barriers to reforming the North African country’s troubled security apparatus and offers possible paths forward for reform. Rather than undermining government efforts to counter […]

Extremism North Africa

AfricaSource

Sep 8, 2014

Africa’s Islamic State?

By J. Peter Pham

Even as, coming out of the annual NATO summit in Wales, the United States and its allies are promising to ratchet up their response to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, another militant group, Boko Haram, is rapidly gaining ground in Africa, achieving many of the same operational and strategic successes that have made […]

Extremism Nigeria

AfricaSource

Jun 12, 2014

Nigeria’s Boko Haram: More virulent, more capable, ‘closer to a classic guerrilla insurgency’

By AfricaSource

Nigeria’s Boko Haram militant movement has grown increasingly virulent since 2009, a change visible in the group’s capacity, tactics and ideology, according to J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council. Pham testified before the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations on June 11, nearly […]

Conflict Extremism

AfricaSource

May 29, 2014

Bronwyn Bruton on Boko Haram

By Bronwyn Bruton

On April 14, 2014, more than 200 female students were kidnapped from a school in Nigeria. In May, news of that kidnapping went viral. In a series of videos, Deputy Director Bronwyn Bruton discusses why the social media response to the event has been so huge, its short- and long-term implications, as well as the […]

Conflict Extremism

AfricaSource

May 9, 2014

“Boko Haram’s evolving threat”: J. Peter Pham report for the National Defense University

By J. Peter Pham

Worth reading again: two years ago Dr. Pham authored a report for the US National Defense University on Boko Haram that recent events in Nigeria have proven remains relevant today. In the brief, Dr. Pham reaches back to the 1940s to place the group in its proper social, historical, and political context, and traces its […]

Africa Conflict
REUTERS/Gary Cameron

AfricaSource

May 7, 2014

US help against Boko Haram: “Everything we can do” is not very much

By Bronwyn Bruton

Amid surging public outrage in Nigeria and abroad over Boko Haram’s kidnapping of 223 schoolgirls, President Barack Obama has promised that the United States will do “everything it can” to rescue them. His promise follows a pledge by Secretary of State John Kerry to do “everything possible” to help the Nigerian government defeat Boko Haram, […]

Conflict Extremism

New Atlanticist

Feb 20, 2014

Morocco’s Struggle Against Jihad in Africa

By Atlantic Council

By most accounts, French president Francois Hollande had a successful visit to Washington last week. From my perspective, one of the most promising public outcomes was an op-ed piece, signed by Hollande and President Obama in Washington Post, in which they conveyed together their hopes as well as their fears about the future of Africa.

Africa Extremism

Congressional Relations

Apr 17, 2013

Former French Prime Minister François Fillon, Senator Chris Coons discuss threats in Northwest Africa in Capitol Hill briefing

By Africa Center

The Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center organized a briefing on Capitol Hill on “Collective Security Threats in North and West Africa” featuring a keynote presentation by former French Prime Minister François Fillon and remarks by Senator Chris Coons, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs. Also participating in the event, […]

Conflict Extremism

Event Recap

Jan 11, 2012

Repercussions of developments in Nigeria for US interests and regional stability

By Africa Center

On January 11, 2012, the Atlantic Council organized a conference call briefing with J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center, to discuss the extremist militant sect Boko Haram and rising security challenge it poses to Nigeria. Atlantic Council Executive Vice President Damon Wilson moderated discussion. As the most populous country in Africa, the fourth […]

Extremism Nigeria
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Experts

Fellow

Elliot Ackerman

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Afghanistan Defense Policy

Fellow

Carmiel Arbit

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative

Civil Society Extremism

Staff

Elise Baker

Senior Staff Lawyer, Strategic Litigation Project

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Civil Society Extremism

Fellow

Richard K. Bell

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Africa Center

Africa Arabic

Fellow

Nicholas Blanford

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Conflict

Staff

Emerson T. Brooking

Director of Strategy and Resident Senior Fellow

Digital Forensic Research Lab

Defense Policy Disinformation
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