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.
This policy brief provides an overview of the sociological issues underpinning the issues of far right and Islamist reciprocal or cumulative radicalisation in the Western European context. That is, these groups radicalise each other by mutually reinforcing their hate, intolerance, or indignation towards each other. The nature of reciprocal radicalisation between far right and Islamist […]
Writing in 1992, noted terrorism scholar David Rapoport remarked that nearly 90% of terrorist groups lasted less than one year. Subsequent scholarship on terrorist group longevity has similarly noted the short average lifespan of the vast majority of such groups. Why then—more than three decades after it was originally founded—has al-Qaeda been able to enjoy […]
Introduction In the past months, there has been considerable discussion about whether or not foreign fighters and their families currently detained in camps in Syria should be repatriated. An often-heard justification in Western Europe not to opt for repatriation is the fact that prosecution of the adults will often lead to light sentences and thus […]