Carnegie Middle East Center (Washington D.C): “Algeria has successfully adopted both a soft and a hard approach for bringing former Islamist combatants in from the cold”. 17/11/2017.

The Algerian experience in de-radicalization will serve as an example for further disengagement policies worldwide, said Carnegie Middle East Center in an article published last Friday, entitled “A Life after Jihadism”.

So far, “there is no ideal template or programme for the demobilization of jihadists … yet, thinking about the Algerian experience is a useful starting point for developing disengagement initiatives elsewhere” said the Beirut-based centre, established by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The centre added: “If one lesson needs to be learned from the Algerian experience, it is that a military response is not sufficient on its own. Terrorism is above all a social phenomenon, and therefore a failure to engage with it on a social level may ensure it comes back in some form.”

In Algeria, the authorities “adopted more conciliatory methods since that time, including a truce, reconciliation process, demobilization and rehabilitation programs, as well as investing in development”, said Dalia Ghanem-Yazbeck, the author of the article.

“Today, Algeria, with its combination of a soft and hard approach, provides a successful example of how to neutralize terrorism”, said the centre.

Below is the link to read the full text of the article by DALIA GHANEM-YAZBECK: “A Life After Jihadism”:

http://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/74708

 

Dalia Ghanem-Yazbeck is a Resident Scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, where her work examines political and extremist violence, radicalization, Islamism, and jihadism with an emphasis on Algeria.