Abstract

This chapter presents an overview of how to prevent and counter violent extremism programmes (P/CVE). It highlights issues on evaluation and quality standards, staff training, gender-specific P/CVE, evidence-based methods, and solid theories of change. The chapter differentiates Eastern and Western P/CVE. It shows how ideological discourse was dominant in the West, while civil society partners and non-ideological components became the main area of consideration in the East. P/CVE became the cornerstone of numerous counterterrorism strategies, but it still needs to be flexible and adaptable to needs. The chapter also recognises how prisons can turn into hotbeds of violent radicalization, and targeted assassinations of terrorists can turn them into martyrs.