By Pamela G. Faber, Megan K. McBride, Sarah Fusco, and Cheryl B. Rosenblum

The unfolding COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the wide-ranging disruption that nontraditional threats such as pandemics can have on the US economy, military, diplomatic corps, and national security apparatus. The US, its partners, and its competitors have tried to curb the spread of the virus by closing schools, workplaces, social gathering spots, and borders. Militaries have scaled back operations, postponed exercises, and curtailed engagements. Economic futures remain uncertain. Low‑income workers in industrialized countries have been disproportionately affected by rolling shutdowns and stay-at-home orders, and wealth inequality is increasing. Social interactions, such as religious gatherings, family celebrations, athletic activities, and concerts have been forced online or suspended. For many, extended periods of isolation and loneliness are a hidden side effect of the virus, with experts predicting a mental health crisis to come. Although the vaccine rollout is underway in many parts of the world, it will be many more months—possibly years—before the entire global population is vaccinated and a return to “normal” becomes possible. The pandemic, moreover, has affected both violent extremist organization (VEO) operations and US capacity to conduct counterterrorism (CT)  intelligence gathering, analysis, and activities. It has increased global instability—political, economic, and social—which will almost certainly benefit terrorist and extremist groups. Jihadi movements such as ISIS and far-right groups such as the Russian Imperial Movement thrive in environments of uncertainty and chaos. COVID-19 has contributed to instability and expanded opportunities for VEOs to recruit and operate. Accordingly, there has been an observable uptick in VEO activity in places such as sub-Saharan Africa, West Africa, Iraq, and Syria; in addition, movements such as ISIS and Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) have adjusted their rhetoric by claiming that the virus is divine punishment for unbelievers. In the US, citizen frustration with COVID-19 mitigation efforts drove (thwarted) attacks against public officials in New Mexico, a hospital in Missouri, and police headquarters in Orlando, Florida, and extremists have also encouraged followers to disrupt National Guard activities. In addition to COVID-related violence in the US, rising political unrest, including the January 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol, has drawn attention to domestic security issues.

Arlington, VA: CNA, 2021. 26p.

By Olivia Brown , Laura G. E. Smith, Brittany I. Davidson, Daniel Racek, and Adam Joinson

Psychological theories of mobilization tend to focus on explaining people’s motivations for action, rather than mobilization (“activation”) processes. To investigate the online behaviors associated with mobilization, we compared the online communications data of 26 people who subsequently mobilized to right-wing extremist action and 48 people who held similar extremist views but did not mobilize (N = 119,473 social media posts). In a three-part analysis, involving content analysis (Part 1), topic modeling (Part 2), and machine learning (Part 3), we showed that communicating ideological or hateful content was not related to mobilization, but rather mobilization was positively related to talking about violent action, operational planning, and logistics. Our findings imply that to explain mobilization to extremist action, rather than the motivations for action, theories of collective action should extend beyond how individuals express grievances and anger, to how they equip themselves with the “know-how” and capability to act.  

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 1–20, 2024.  

By Katie N. Johnson

The early drama of Eugene O’Neill, with its emphasis on racial themes and conflicts, opened up extraordinary opportunities for Black performers to challenge racist structures in modern theater and cinema. By adapting O’Neill’s dramatic writing—changing scripts to omit offensive epithets, inserting African American music and dance, or including citations of Black internationalism--theater artists of color have used O’Neill’s texts to raze barriers in American and transatlantic theater. Challenging the widely accepted idea that Broadway was the white-hot creative engine of U.S. theater during the early 20th century, author Katie N. Johnson reveals a far more complex system of exchanges between the Broadway establishment and a vibrant Black theater scene in New York and beyond to chart a new history of American and transnational theater.  In spite of their dichotomous (and at times problematic) representation of Blackness, O’Neill’s plays such as The Emperor Jones and All God’s Chillun Got Wings make ideal case studies because of the way these works stimulated traffic between Broadway and Harlem—and between white and Black America. These investigations of O’Neill and Broadway productions are enriched by the vibrant transnational exchange found in early to mid-20th century artistic production. Anchored in archival research, Racing the Great White Way recovers not only vital lost performance histories, but also the layered contexts for performing bodies across the Black Atlantic and the Circum-Atlantic.

Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2923.  271p.

Edited by Eveline Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, Hermann J. Abs, and Kerstin Göbel

This interdisciplinary volume on The Challenge of Radicalization and Extremism: Integrating Research on Education and Citizenship in the Context of Migration addresses the need for educational researchers to place their work in a broader social and political context by connecting it to the current and highly relevant issue of extremism and radicalization. It is just as important for researchers of extremism and radicalization to strengthen their conceptual links with educational fields, especially with education for democratic citizenship, as for researchers in education to get more familiar with issues of migration. This book meets a current shortage of research that addresses these issues across subjects and disciplines to inform both scientific and professional stakeholders in the educational and social sectors. The volume is divided into three parts. The first part, Foundations, provides fundamental research on radicalization and the rejection of democratic values. In the second part, Analysis of Preconditions within the Educational Context, key risk and protective factors against radicalization for young people are explored. Finally, the third part, Approaches for Prevention and Intervention, offers concrete suggestions for prevention and intervention methods within formal and informal educational contexts. The contributions show how new avenues for prevention can be explored through integrating citizenship education’s twofold function to assimilate and to empower.

Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2022. 380p.

By Matías Braun,  Francisco Gallego,  Rodrigo R. Soares

This paper explores the effects of upgrading deteriorated public squares on economic and social outcomes. We implemented an experiment whereby public squares were randomly selected to be renovated in 28 fragile neighborhoods of the metropolitan area of Santiago, Chile. We find that, after the intervention, households in treated neighborhoods increased their use and maintenance of public space and experienced an increased sense of ownership over their neighborhoods. Treated neighborhoods also experienced improvements in public security both in the public square and in the neighborhood. There is also evidence of an impact on trust and participation in community organizations and a reduction in leisure outside the neighborhood. The results are stronger in neighborhoods with low initial levels of public security but with relatively higher initial levels of social capital. We find that certain physical features (the presence of public lighting, the presence of a close public transportation stop, and the absence of economic activities related to alcohol consumption) affect the strength of the treatment. All these suggest that the effect of upgrading public spaces is highly dependent on other characteristics of local communities. JEL: K42, O18, R53 Keywords: public space recovery, crime, social capital, urban infrastructure

IZA Discussion Papers, No. 16269, Bonn:  Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), 2023. 48p.