In the post-9/11 environment, religious communities have been considered vital partners in efforts to counter radicalization widely believed to be a factor that drives acts of violent extremism. Violent extremism is considered a transition phase in the radicalization process and is marked by the mobilization of violence. One notion of community defines it as individuals bound into a group by a common interest, such as religion, with a physical presence and a level of legitimacy from which it can operate. Bringing religious communities into counter-radicalization efforts is considered complementary to the hard-power approaches, such as the use of force and legal responses that have been applied by state actors.

Read more from Proposal Fellow John Githigaro at Kujenga Amani, the digital forum of the African Peacebuilding Network of the Social Science Research Council.