Working Group report: WG-EXTREME

The European Working Group on Radicalization, Extremism, and Terrorism (WG-EXTREME) explores the interaction between the criminal justice system and terrorist and extremist threats and actors broadly defined. In particular, it seeks to promote communication between scholars working in this space and aims to create a forum through which colleagues can foster greater collaborative and cross-national working.

Last year the working group organised several sessions at the ESC conference in Bucharest, in addition to a small social event at Club Bound in the Old Town. This was in addition to an online event, the third annual colloquium on Radicalization, Extremism, and Terrorism, which took place in February 2024 and was hosted in partnership with the University of Portsmouth. The event, which was attended by over 50 academics, saw more than 20 papers and roundtables take place, as well as a keynote lecture from Jokob Guhl at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Papers from this event, and its 2023 iteration, formed the basis of a proposal for an edited collection with Routledge (The New Face of Online Extremism: Perspectives from an Interdisciplinary Field ) to be published later in 2025.

Moving forward, the working group is currently organising a fourth iteration of its annual colloquium, which is to be hosted in partnership with the Sapienza University of Rome in April. It is also organising an exciting programme that includes a pre-conference seminar, social events and talks around the 2025 ESC.

The working group is always happy to add new members, so for colleagues interested in joining or in case of any questions, please contact the co-chairs Elanie Rodermond (e.rodermond@vu.nl) and Mark Littler (m.a.littler@gre.ac.uk).