PERIL Global

PERIL Global seeks a world in which prevention approaches are as important as securitized ones in the fight against extremist violence. We seek common strategies to the challenges of democratic resilience. The PERIL Global team works to build international dialogue, learning, and partnership across national boundaries in order to enhance learning about promising practices in prevention and democratic resilience. This has included work on global pandemic conspiracy theories in partnership with foreign governments, in-person and virtual exchanges among practitioners, and the translation and adaptation of tools which are then tested for use across national populations.

3 Core Goals

Bolster dialogue and sharing of promising practices in prevention

Increase accessibility to resources, expertise, and lessons learned across borders, including with practitioners and experts in the Global South

Match the global circulation of hateful and antidemocratic content online with an equal effort to globally distribute and share evidence, resources, and innovative approaches to countering and preventing violence and harm

Project Spotlight

With support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, seven PERIL team members visited Berlin, Germany in summer 2022 on a focused study tour of German prevention efforts, as part of our ongoing work to create global dialogue around shared challenges related to polarization, extremism, social cohesion, inclusion, and prevention of violence. The study tour built the groundwork for our 2023 launch of pilot CARE centers in Michigan and Georgia, which are modeled after German mobile advisory centers. The team focused on learning from Germany’s “defensive democracy” approach to countering extremism, which is rooted in the argument that to effectively combat propaganda from the fringe, we have to equip the mainstream with the tools to recognize and reject supremacist thinking, persuasive rhetoric, conspiracy theories, and hateful propaganda. The team met with a range of organizations that support victims of antisemitism, racism, and right-wing extremism or that work within the “mobile advisory” network of regional specialists who offer training, assessments, and referrals. Other events included a public-facing presentation/talk and field visits to memorial and education sites to better understand the teaching of hard histories and how Germans navigate the post-Holocaust era. This intensive time in Germany bolstered partnerships and support for cross-national and trans-Atlantic dialogue and exchange about shared challenges related to democracy, civic education, anti-racism and anti-supremacism, and the prevention of violent extremism.

Other Projects

Germany & USA COVID Response

This rapid response research study focused on understanding how the pandemic affected educators’ and social workers’ responses to radicalization risks. Over a four-month period at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, PERIL researchers conducted 29 interviews and 2 focus groups with practitioners in both Germany and the United States. The overarching objectives centered on gaining further insights into current responses to online radicalization, successful strategies to counter online radicalization, and how they were affected by the wider context of the pandemic.

Vaccine Hesitancy in French-Speaking Regions

This study analyzed anti-vaccine and COVID-denialist media across francophone regions worldwide. It found that while content across regions was similar, its reception varied significantly based on local cultural assumptions and historical experience. This study served as the foundation for a public health messaging campaign developed by the government of the UK.

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation - Social Cohesion

In the summer of 2022, PERIL sent three team members to join a cohort of 15 individuals across academia, journalism, and the arts for a two-month (and year-long virtual) residency in Berlin to jointly reflect on the topic of social cohesion. The goal was to generate new perspectives and solutions to the problem of eroding social cohesion in civil society, and how to combat rising populism and violent extremism across the globe.

German Prevention Study Tour Summer 2022

Seven PERIL team members visited Berlin, Germany in summer 2022 on a focused study tour of German prevention efforts as part of our ongoing work to create global dialogue around shared challenges related to polarization, extremism, social cohesion, inclusion, and prevention of violence.

C-Rex Webinar Series

In partnership with the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) in Oslo, PERIL co-hosts a monthly webinar series on the method and ethics of studying extremism.

Fulbright

In spring 2023, PERIL hosted Fulbright scholar Professor Tina Askanius, whose residency in Washington DC interrogated the American far right’s obsession with Swedish and Scandinavian culture and symbols.

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