Routledge Handbook of Online Violent Extremism

This new Handbook is the first reference work to offer an overview of the problem of online violent extremism and possible solutions to this.

The volume provides the reader with perspectives from the emerging multidisciplinary sub-discipline of online violent extremism studies, combining historical context with contemporary case studies. Each chapter demonstrates, through its own lens and subject matter, how the myriads of digital platforms and their affordances, digital infrastructures, and the regulatory environment that sits behind them, continue to shape violent extremism. Written by leading international experts and up-and-coming scholars, the 40 chapters are divided into four thematic sections: Part I, ‘Online Violent Extremism and Regulatory Responses’, begins by providing a conceptual overview of ‘online terrorism’ and ‘online extremism’, examining how the terms terrorism and extremism have been defined and interpreted in the online realm. Part II, ‘Research Design, Methodologies and Ethics’, provides theoretical and practical insights into conducting research in this area. Part III, ‘Online Violent Extremism’, provides an overview of the important platforms, online spaces, and emerging technologies in the field. Finally, Part IV, ‘Ideologies and Actors’, considers historical and contemporarily prominent ideologies, groups, movements, actors, and gender-related issues, examining how they have utilised online spaces and digital technologies.

This handbook will be of much interest to students of violent extremism, terrorism studies, criminology, security studies, and others, as well as policymakers, law enforcement and practitioners.

Suraj Lakhani is an Associate Professor at the University of Sussex, UK. He is co-editor of The Sociology of Violent Extremism (2024).

Julian Droogan is Professor of terrorism studies at Macquarie University, Australia, and Head of the School of International Studies. He currently serves as Co-Convenor of the AVERT (Addressing Violent Extremism and Radicalisation to Terrorism) Research Network.

Lydia Khalil is a Senior Research Fellow at Deakin University, Australia and the program director for Transnational Challenges at the Lowy Institute. She is author of Rise of the Extreme Right (2022).

Stuart Macdonald is Professor of Law at Swansea University, UK, Co-Director of the University’s Cyber Threats Research Centre (CYTREC), and Coordinator of the VOX-Pol Network. He is author, co-author or co-editor of 10 books, including Radicalisation, Counter-Radicalisation and Prevent: A Vernacular Approach (2024).