The Centre for Advanced Study Sofia, the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (Tirana) and the Group for Legal and Political Studies (Prishtina) are pleased to invite you to a virtual round table discussion “External actors’ efforts in preventing violent extremism in the Western Balkans – lessons learned and a look ahead”. The discussion will be organized via Zoom platform on Tuesday, 2 FEBRUARY 15:00h.
Speakers will introduce participants to the main conclusions presented in a policy brief summarizing EU and other stakeholders’ prevention strategies towards violent extremism in the Western Balkans. The policy brief outlines the dominant external approaches and narratives behind the prevention and countering of violent extremism.
Following the presentation, participants are invited to engage in an interactive discussion and provide their views on the research findings, as well as on the following questions:
- What are the lessons learned from international stakeholders’ engagement in addressing (violent) extremism and terrorism in Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia?
- How (violent) extremism has evolved in the past three years? What are the dominant forms of (violent) extremism, major drivers, and their protagonists’ modus operandi?
- To what extent returning foreign fighters present a threat to their local community?
- To what extent different forms of extremisms reinforce each other?
- What are the effects of the implementation of countering violent extremism strategy? How new strategies should be designed? What should they prioritize? How should new strategies build resilience to (violent) extremism?
Program
- Introductory note: Diana Mishkova (CAS Sofia)
- Speakers: Leonie Vrugtman (IDM) and Arber Fetiu (GLPS)
- Moderator: Dimiter Dimov (CAS Sofia)
The event will be open to the public.
Please confirm your participation at cas@cas.bg by Monday, 1 February the latest. The Zoom coordinates will be sent to you in due course.
Should you have any questions, please contact Dimiter Dimov at dimov@cas.bg
