Prof. Tore Bjørgo
Professor Dr. Tore Bjørgo (born 1958) is professor at the University of Oslo and Director at its “Center for Research on Extremism: The Extreme Right, Hate Crime and Political Violence” (C‑REX). He is also Adjunct Professor at the Norwegian Police University College (PHS), where he has been Professor of Police Science (since 2004) and Research Director (2005-2007). Until the end of 2015, he was an adjunct research professor at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), where he was a (senior) research fellow from 1998 until 2004. His research has covered a broad range of topics, often in combinations: political violence/terrorism, racism/right-wing extremism, de-radicalisation and disengagement, criminal gangs and subcultures, crime prevention/counter-terrorism, police science, conflicts in the Middle East, and political communication. The main recurring theme has been violent extremism and terrorism in general, and right-wing extremism in particular, with a focus on prevention. He is widely recognised as a pioneer in the study of de-radicalisation and disengagement from extremist groups.
During the past five years, a substantial uptick in convictions for extremism-related offenses, coupled with the return of jihadists from the battlefields of Syria and Iraq, drastically increased populations of extremist offenders within the prison systems of most European Union member states. Concurrently, several individuals who adopted violent extremist ideologies during their incarceration for offenses […]
Anjem Choudary, once accused of “poisoning the minds of the vulnerable” was released on licence from Belmarsh prison on Friday, 19 October. Prior to his conviction, Choudary and his extremist groups were thought to have influenced at least 100 people from Britain to pursue terrorist activities. His notoriety at the time was such that he […]
In light of the territorial demise of the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria, this report analyses the continued risks posed by IS. Given that IS is playing a long game, the report calls upon policymakers to keep up the counter-terrorism pressure, to sidestep policy fatigue at all costs to avoid undoing years of […]