About the Series

2020 marked the conclusion of another difficult decade for Europe in terms of terrorism and radicalisation. Attacks in France, Germany and Austria in particular showed the dynamic nature of the threat faced from numerous different ideologies, as well as ingrained societal tensions which appear to be feeding different parts of the threat. In order to understand how this threat is going to set the picture for the foreseeable future, ICPVTR is holding a series of events during the year to explore different aspects of the evolving threat picture in Europe. From the extreme right, single-issue extremists, to more traditional violent Islamists or the ever-present residual extreme-left, this series will explore what the European threat picture looks like, how it might evolve in the future and its salience for regional dynamics elsewhere. 

Abstract

In the second webinar in the series, ICPVTR is delighted to host Dr Daniel Pisoiu and Dr Guido Steinberg to discuss the current threat picture in Germany. As two highly established experts and government advisers, Drs Pisoiu and Steinberg will look at the gamut of issues that Germany faces, from the persistent threat of violent Islamist terrorists to the extreme right wing. Like most other countries, Germany increasingly faces a terrorist threat that is dominated by lone actors, but at the same time, ambition to launch large-scale plots from abroad continues – most recently in a case involving a network of Tajiks connected to ISIS in Afghanistan and Syria. And on the extreme right, the problems in Germany have deep historical roots, and are creating a wide range of problems within the mainstream political spectrum as well as amongst security forces where numerous scandals have been uncovered recently involving security officers with open extreme right tendencies. Our speakers from Europe will draw on their deep experience to sketch out the current state of the threat, as well as how authorities in Germany have responded and what the long-term thinking is about how to manage these threats and what direction they expect them to go in.

Speakers

Dr Daniela Pisoiu is senior researcher at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs. Her fields of research are: terrorism, radicalisation, extremism, comparative regional security, American and European foreign and security policy. She completed her PhD at the University of St Andrews, Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence and has conducted fieldwork on the topic of radicalisation in Austria, Germany and France, as well as other European countries.

Dr Guido Steinberg is a German Islamicist scholar. Born in Trier, he has studied at Free University Berlin and Damascus University. From 2002 to 2005, he worked as a terrorism advisor at the German Federal Chancellery. He currently works for the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin where he is a Senior Associate in their Africa and Middle East Programme. He has published numerous books and articles on Saudi Arabian history and politics as well as Islamism and terrorism.