On Tuesday, 19 June, the Geneva Center for Security Policy and Al-Mesbar Studies and Research Center in Dubai jointly organized a round table around the theme of Political Islam and Far-Right Extremism. The aim of the workshop was to discuss the similarities, differences and shared propaganda strategies between the two toxic ideologies. Mansour Alnogaidan, the General Director and Chief Editor of al-Mesbar Center, along with Dr Christina Schori Liang , Head of the Terrorism and Organised Crime Cluster at the GCSP, opened the workshop by exploring the evolution of these two ideologies as well as mapping out the current landscape of Political Islam and Far-Right Extremism worldwide.
Both Political Islam and Far-Right Extremism can be better understood when they are not studied in isolation but together, since this enables academics and policy makers to have better insights on how to tackle these security challenges, especially by focusing on how these two ideologies are able to energize one another.
Owen Frazer offered some insights on the current policy responses to religious extremism. Dr Hans-Georg Betz and Dr Daniel Rickenbacher shed new light on the historical background of Islam in Switzerland and explored the right-wing challenges in Europe. Dr. Abdullah Hamideddin investigated the relationship between religion and the legitimization of violence, while Prof. Mohamed el-Haddad and Sara Brzuszkiewicz analyzed the multiple ideological similarities between Islamism and Far Right Extremism.
The GCSP and al-Mesbar Studies and Research Center are preparing a summary of the discussions and conclusions that were presented throughout the workshop.
This workshop was a great opportunity to gather scholars from different horizons and promote further collaboration between the Geneva Center for Security Policy and the al-Mesbar Study and Research Center in Dubai.
