Building Support for the Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Violent Extremists through Transparent Communication

Start date: 15 September 2025
End date: 14 September 2028
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Value: £689,419
Primary investigator: 00963826
External co-investigators: Graeme Davies (University of York); Mary-Beth Altier (New York University), Emily Winterbotham (RUSI), Tarela Ike (Teeside University)

Over the last decade multiple United Nations resolutions have called for governments to develop Rehabilitation and Reintegration (R&R) programmes targeted at violent extremists – advocating their crucial role in preventing terrorism and reoffending. As programmes expand globally, an emerging problem centres on how to build public support for them and how to overcome community opposition, as a lack of public support can undermine R&R efforts and cause a backlash. However, it is unclear what shapes public views of R&R programmes. Moreover, the effect of different communication strategies is unknown, in particular, the key role of transparent communications in shaping public support for and trust in such programmes.

This project will provide an evidence base to inform R&R communications strategies, through which public support and trust can be built. The research will examine to what extent exposure to more information about a policy – policy transparency – increases support and trust in R&R programmes. The project will also focus on strategic communications in the fields of terrorism prevention, given the salience of public support and trust in these related domains.

The intellectual and empirical challenge the project will address, therefore, is to provide a comprehensive evidence base to understand the determinants of public support for R&R, and the extent to which existing communications strategies have a positive effect on public support for R&R programmes.

This project will conduct a series of survey experiments in three case study countries – Nigeria, the UK and the US – to collect data on the effect of different forms of communications on building support and trust in R&R programmes.

A Community Engagement Toolkit informed by the research and co-produced with practitioners will be developed to support R&R communications strategies. The Toolkit will be delivered in a training workshop for practitioners, targeting United Nations agencies and key international practitioners.