Polarisation in our society is on the rise. What makes people increasingly radical? How do we protect ourselves from extremist, terrorist or criminal threats, be they physical or in the cyber world? And what role do intelligence services play in this?

Joana Cook talks about the Islamist parties increasingly taking power in the last four decades on ABC News.

In an increasingly complex and security-challenged society, the CSM programme, Terrorism and Political Violence, provides you with the theoretical and practical skills to understand the issues underlying security challenges and develop solutions for crisis and security management.

Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn, researcher and lecturer at ISGA, was a guest on NPO Radio 1 where she discussed the attacks carried out in 2011 by Anders Breivik.

Dr. Joana Cook and Dr. Graig Klein, assistant professors at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs of Leiden University, have been awarded a Google Trust & Safety Research Award for their project Countering Violent Extremist Content Online: A Multidisciplinary Approach.

Tahir Abbas was named full professor of radicalization studies by the Executive Board. This chair, according to Abbas, is an excellent opportunity for ISGA to broaden its current focus on terrorism and political violence. Abbas was interviewed about his ambitions, writing as a form of relaxation, and…

On 31 May, during a three-hour live broadcast on the Dutch online television channel Islaam.tv, 100,400 euros was pledged to the Belgian-Moroccan imam Tarik Ibn Ali.

‘It's right and proper that we have policies to prevent terrorism,' says Francesco Ragazzi, university lecturer in International Relations at Leiden's Institute of Political Science. 'But the way the policies are designed and implemented can have unintended consequences. For example, when teachers are…

The Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) hosts two research journals and publishes the ISGA Reports series. Besides its own publications, researchers at ISGA also publish books or journal articles elsewhere. You can find all these external publications under Research output on the right.

This one-year, English-taught Master's programme offers insights on general developments as well as the specific challenges in the field of the governance of crisis and security, with in-depth knowledge of sub-fields of crisis and security management.

Nobody is better qualified to tell you what it is like to work at Leiden University than the employees themselves. Watch the videos and meet your future colleagues. They will be happy to share their experiences with you.

This paper, written by Silvia D'Amato & Andrea Terlizzi, investigates the extent to which the European Union is strategically engaging against terrorism.

This project explores innovative strategies to counter online extremist content, focusing on integrating traditional content moderation tactics with targeted online interventions. Through research, workshops, and data-driven experiments, we aim to answer: How and when should traditional content moderation…

Toch kan je volgens dr. Jelle van Buuren dader Tobias R. niet in een bepaald hokje plaatsen. Van Buuren is kenner van het rechts-extremisme en reageert in het Reformatorisch Dagblad op de passages van Tobias R.

Alastair Reed, Assistant professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) is interviewed by Devex, the media platform for the global development community.

The fall of the IS caliphate is coming closer. At the same time, the AIVD warned for an increase in the return of especially the hardened warriors. How should Europe handle this? The shrinking of freedoms will only feed terrorist organizations like IS.

The Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) offers courses at both bachelor’s and master’s level. There are also minors, online learning and courses for professionals.

Study information

Study information

From 2012 onwards the primary scholarly and media focus in regard to foreign fighters has been on the large number of Westerners joining jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq. Yet, much less attention has been paid to another conflict in the ring around Europe that attracted foreign fighters: the Russo-Ukrainian…

This study focuses on increasing our understanding of the different pathways converts take during conversion to Islam.

Following the terrorist attacks in Paris (November 2015) and Brussels (March 2016), Belgium’s counterterrorism policy has been heavily criticized – domestically and worldwide.

Promoting collaborative policies of inclusion relating to children of far right and Islamist parents in Western Europe (PREPARE).

At the winter conference of the Dutch Christian student union CSFR, Mark Dechesne, Associate Professor, spoke about the decline in terrorist violence in the Netherlands.

The Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) is a scientific institute that specialises in security issues.

In this article, Bart Schuurman and Sarah Louise Carthy explore the distinctions between radicalised individuals and the general population

Knowledge that helps protect the Netherlands and Europe from military and cyber threats.

Can behaviour in an online economic game be understood as a representation of radicalisation propensity?

From the rise and fall of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, to Islamic State’s attempts to create its own currency, to the dramatic return of the Taliban in Afghanistan, this edited volume from two leading scholars of contemporary terrorism assembles an enviable array of international experts to explore these…

How do authorities and citizens construct meaning in the aftermath of jihadist terrorist attacks through the use of frames, rituals, and symbols. What does this reveal about the communicative impact of terrorism?

European countries struggling how to deal with the issue of returning foreign fighters, women and children from the Caliphate.

This study investigates how two social and political developments, in the UK and Germany, impacted on the experiences of minorities and the attitudes of majorities vis-à-vis tolerance in those two countries. The results provide a thought-provoking picture of the views of minority and majority groups…

Bart Schuurman, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs in The Hague, has received a Veni grant which will allow him to continue his research into the radicalisation of terrorists for the next three years. ‘In order to better understand terrorists, I will focus on the large…

How do people become involved in terrorist organisations? Liesbeth van der Heide sought the answer to this question in a Malian prison, where she interviewed terrorists in a tiny cell. She discovered that the will to survive and social context are often more decisive than individual ideological convictions.…

Bart Schuurman, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, discusses the development of the exchange of letters between Mohammed B. and ‘prisoner X’ and the usefulness of a separate terrorist department.

Jelle van Buuren bespreekt de link tussen radicalisering en psychiatrische problematiek.

A research team led by Dr. Yannick Veilleux-Lepage (Institute of Security and Global Affairs) in collaboration with Emil Archambault has secured funding from the Canadian Department of National Defence’s Mobilizing Insights in Defence and Security (MINDS) program to study the use of drones by violent…

Do you have a question about studying at leiden University or student life in Leiden or in The Hague? Do you want more information about the Crisis and Security Management programme? Chat with a current student for answers to your questions!

Risk has become one of the defining features of modern society. This course examines various types of safety and security risks, and how these are perceived and dealt with in a wide array of professional and academic fields, ranging from criminology, counter-terrorism and cyber security, to philosophy,…

Security and safety challenges rank among the most pressing issues of modern times. Challenges such as cyber-crime, terrorism, and environmental disasters impact the lives of millions across the globe. The course will introduce you to this broad theme in an increasingly complex world.

During an episode of Dutch television talk show PAUW on Monday 24 July, presenter Jeroen Pauw discussed the new threat assessment recently published by the Dutch National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism (NCTV). Jelle van Buuren, Assistant Professor Terrorism and Political Violence at Leiden…

This study is a critical discourse analysis of the misogynistic narratives shared by three incel violent extremists.

Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn, Chelsea Daymon and David Malet, wrote RESOLVE Network Research Report that examines career foreign fighters who have traversed from one insurgency to another.

On 21 March 2019, James Welch defended his thesis 'The Grotius Sanction: Deus Ex Machina. The legal, ethical, and strategic use of drones in transnational armed conflict and counterterrorism'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. dr. P.B Cliteur.

In this article, Isabelle Frens, Jelle van Buuren and Edwin Bakker aim to understand anti-government protests by focusing on empty signifiers.