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Today, I’m speaking with Professor Greg Barton, who is a Research Professor in Global Islamic Politics at Deakin University. Greg is one of Australia’s leading scholars of radicalisation, terrorism and countering violent extremism. He is frequently interviewed by the Australian and international media on these topics as well as on Indonesia and the politics of the Muslim world.
He joins me today for a deep dive into radicalisation, extremism, and terrorism as well as their causes and potential solutions.
Some of the topics we explored are:
Greg’s background and research in countering violent extremism (CVE)
Defining radicalisation, extremism, and terrorism
The explanation why Russia is not designated a terrorist state
Terrorism as a method
Dangers of ‘thought policing’
How to deal with extremism before it becomes violent
Explaining the ‘Push, Pull, Personal factors’ model to understand radicalisation
Systemic hate and its potential to fuel hateful extremism, violent extremism, and conflict violence
Similarities between recruiting into a military and a terrorist group
The role of social media in radicalisation
How online radicalisation occurs
Combating extremist propaganda
Effectiveness of counter-terrorism measures
The short-sightedness of military solutions to combat terrorism
How to prevent violent extremism
The Indonesian success in combating violent extremism as a case study
The growing threat of far-right extremism
Authoritarian populism as a key motivator behind far-right extremism
The potential risks of military veterans joining far-right groups
Pragmatic reflection about the risk to democracy in the US
Greg’s biggest fears for the next decade