Addressing Violent Extremism with a Different Approach: The Empirical Case of At-Risk and Vulnerable Youth in Somalia

Abstract

Few empirical impact studies have been conducted on reintegration initiatives that go beyond traditional disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR), let alone programmes that focus on at-risk youth. This article examines a non-traditional reintegration initiative conducted in Somalia between 2011 and 2015 which included elements of preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE). The project illustrates the ‘relational sensibility approach’ which is an alternative peacebuilding approach to the ‘liberal peace’ approach. It emphasises the identification of specific local challenges and responding practices, dialogue and hybridity. Findings indicate that in the Somali context social and political rehabilitation is at the core of successful integration efforts, and that such rehabilitation is a prerequisite for economic rehabilitation. Specifically, the contextualisation of the project curriculum was essential for the reduction of the feelings of aggression, although aggression was not explicitly identified as a contributing factor to criminalisation and radicalisation. Notably, the target population of the project and the research was not restricted to violent extremists; instead looser criteria were applied to the population, allowing mixing of at-risk youth and those already affiliated with criminal attitudes; this was a deliberate effort to decrease social stigma.