The research group Terrorism and Political Violence (TPV) takes a critical and multidisciplinary look at a variety of themes related to contemporary forms of (counter)terrorism and political violence more broadly.

The TPV research group aims to contribute to the societal and academic debate on these phenomena. The research group aims to combine both policy-oriented research -contributing to evidence-based policies and a more nuanced debate on terrorism- and ‘fundamental’ research – causes of terrorism, historical comparisons, etc.  The approaches this research group would like to develop (further) in the coming years are the following:

• Primary sources based empirical research on actors in the field of (counter) terrorism;
• Interdisciplinary approach borrowing insights, theories and methodological approaches from research in related fields;
• The use of multiple levels of analysis (macro, meso, micro)

Research programmes

Within the research group Terrorism and political violence, several key areas have been discerned.

• Understanding involvement in terrorism and political violence
• Counterterrorism policy and practice
• Lone actor terrorism
• Foreign fighters
• (De)radicalization / Re-integration of (former) extremists
• Counter-Terrorism Strategic Communications (CTSC)