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Full-Text Articles in Science and Technology Studies
First Steps Towards Hearts And Minds? Usaid’S Countering Violent Extremism Policies In Africa, Daniel P. Aldrich
First Steps Towards Hearts And Minds? Usaid’S Countering Violent Extremism Policies In Africa, Daniel P. Aldrich
Daniel P Aldrich
The United States government has adopted new approaches to counter violent extremist organizations around the world. “Soft security” and development programs include focused educational training for groups vulnerable to terrorist recruitment, norm messaging through local radio programming, and job creation in rural communities. This article evaluates the effectiveness of one set of these multi-vectored, community-level programs through data from 200 respondents in two similar, neighboring towns in northern Mali, Africa. The data show that residents in Timbuktu who were exposed to the programming for up to five years displayed measurably altered civic behavior and listening patterns in comparison with their …
Norm Change In Africa – An Evaluation, Daniel P. Aldrich
Norm Change In Africa – An Evaluation, Daniel P. Aldrich
Daniel P Aldrich
This article (posted to the Extremis Project website) summarizes the work I carried out for the article “Radio as the Voice of God: Peace and Tolerance Radio Programming’s Impact on Norms." In it I discuss how I used the responses from 1000 residents of Chad, Mali, and Niger to evaluate countering violent extremism (CVE) programming undertaken by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Radio As The Voice Of God: Peace And Tolerance Radio Programming’S Impact On Norms, Daniel P. Aldrich
Radio As The Voice Of God: Peace And Tolerance Radio Programming’S Impact On Norms, Daniel P. Aldrich
Daniel P Aldrich
Observers have argued that radio programming can alter norms, especially through hate radio designed to increase animosity between groups. This article tests whether or not radio programming under the countering violent extremism (CVE) policy framework can reduce potential conflict and increase civic engagement and positive views of foreign nations. Data from surveys of more than 1,000 respondents in Mali, Chad, and Niger illuminate the ways in which peace and tolerance programming changed perspectives and altered behavior in statistically significant ways. Results show that individuals exposed to multi-level U.S. government programming were more likely to listen to peace and tolerance radio. …
Mightier Than The Sword: Social Science And Development In Countering Violent Extremism, Daniel P. Aldrich
Mightier Than The Sword: Social Science And Development In Countering Violent Extremism, Daniel P. Aldrich
Daniel P Aldrich
Countering terrorism through social science-based development assistance is a new policy model that moves beyond traditional methods based on the application of military force, public diplomacy, pressure to democratize, or broad-based poverty alleviation. The core elements of this framework for countering violent extremism (CVE) involve 1) pushing U.S. military responses “downstream” and using them sparingly, 2) reducing marginalization of peripheral communities and encouraging re-integration, 3) providing locally based counter-narratives to those of violent extremist organizations, and 4) increasing the legitimacy and capacity of partner governments.