Prevention of violent extremism in third countries: Measures to prevent individuals joining armed extremist groups in conflict zones

Violent Extremism Security

This report on the prevention of violent extremism in conflict zones is the result of the government commission given to the Swedish National Defence College in December 2011. The problem of young men travelling to conflict zones such as Somalia, Pakistan – and now recently Syria – to engage in combat has become an increasingly apparent security issue in several European countries. The task of this report was to identify and assess methods and initiatives in some selected countries to prevent individuals from traveling to conflict zones and to see which of these responses can offer transferable lessons to a Swedish context.