Daan Weggemans’ view on the deradicalization policy of municipalities
Municipalities claim successes in the fight against radicalization. But when do you call deradicalisation policy a success? Trouw gives 4 options.
Option 1: no terrorist attack has been committed. According to Daan Weggemans, researcher at the Institute for Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) at Leiden University, many factors play a role in the absence of an terrorist attack. ‘Not only the deployment of municipalities, but also the functioning of the secret service play a role in combatting terrorism, and what about the factor of coincidence?’
Currently, the threat level in the Netherlands is substantial: the chance of an attack is real. Despite the municipal programs against radicalization, it has not been possible to reduce the threat. Weggemans prefers to turn it around. ‘Because the threat level is high, the Netherlands spends a lot of money on combating radicalization. You saw in the past that the approach came to a halt when the threat became less.‘
Read the full article here (only in Dutch).