Wietse van den Berge
Wietse van den Berge a Research Fellow at ICCT. He studied political science at Leiden University, specialising in international relations and political philosophy. After graduating in 2002, he joined the Royal Netherlands Air Force and attended the Royal Netherlands Military Academy. A 12-month internship at the academy’s military science faculty followed completion of his officer training, researching military history and military operations. Wietse held several ranks within the Air Force and in 2011-2012 he served as a military observer for the United Nations in the Middle East. He was triggered by personally witnessing the Arab uprisings in that region to return to his academic career. Since joining Leiden University’s the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) in 2013, his focus centres on political violence in contemporary Middle Eastern conflicts. Within ICCT, Wietse is involved in a project concerning foreign terrorist fighters.
This situation report—the third in a wider series of papers exploring the use of SALW as a source of terrorism financing—will examine the acquisition, possession, and use of SALW by terrorist organisations active in West Africa and the Horn of Africa. It will investigate the extent to which SALW may represent a direct source of […]
Transnational criminal organisations have grown in importance on the international security stage since the end of the Cold War. One subset of these illicit cross-border enterprises that has garnered increasing attention is human smuggling networks. These groups are having a destabilising impact on weak and failed states throughout Africa—as well as on the destination countries […]
This paper examines various framing processes have been developed by Far Right groups specifically in response to the global health crisis brought about by the spread of COVID-19. Through an examination of statements by six Identitarian and National Socialist movement organisations issued over a two month period from late February to late April 2020 on […]