GATED presented at the peer exchange workshop in Berlin

The ‘Opportunities for Preventing Violent Extremism through Intra-regional and Cross-regional Exchange workshop was hosted by Berghof Foundation on 19 February in Berlin. The workshop focused on Western Balkans and MENA regions including presentations from Kosovo Centre for Security Studies, Middle East Institute for Research and Peace Studies in Iraq, Democracy Lab from Macedonia, University of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Issam Fares Institute for Public policy and International Affairs in Lebanon. Four main themes were discussed at the workshop: cumulative extremisms, interactions between the state and religious institutions, online and offline (de)radicalisation and transnational dynamics affecting the regions. The workshop compared and contrasted mutual influences between religious-inspired violent extremism and ethno-political (e.g. nationalist, racial, sectarian) extremism, especially in divided/polarised social spaces. It has also examine the impact of inter-faith and inter-ethnic dialogue, reconciliation and social inclusion initiatives on community resilience to violent extremism, especially in countries with a legacy of civil war or intergroup violence. Particular focus was placed on analysing current good practices and initiatives at the interface between post-war reconciliation/dialogue and PVE.