Institute for Strategic Dialogue

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Institute for Strategic Dialogue
Formation2006;17 years ago (2006)
FounderSasha Havlicek, George Weidenfeld
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
CEO
Sasha Havlicek
Managing Director
Arabella Phillimore
Key people
Rashad Ali, Zahed Amanullah, Moustafa Ayad, Kelsey Bjornsgaard, Milo Comerford, Jiore Craig, Jacob Davey, Julia Ebner, Aoife Gallagher, Jakob Guhl, Jared Holt, Katherine Keneally, Jennie King, Ciaran O'Connor, C. Dixon Osburn, Lucie Parker, Melanie Smith, Tim Squirrell, Elise Thomas, Henry Tuck, Huberta von Voss
Budget
£7m GBP [ citation needed ]
Staff
120
Website www.isdglobal.org

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) is a political advocacy organization founded in 2006 by Sasha Havlicek and George Weidenfeld and headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

Contents

Activities

Be Internet Citizens billboard in the London Underground Internet Citizens.jpg
Be Internet Citizens billboard in the London Underground

ISD’s core activities range from traditional research output and policy advice to the facilitation of youth and practitioner networks and the development of counternarrative and technological tools to combat extremism. [1] More recently, ISD has researched misinformation and disinformation involving climate change, [2] public health, [3] election integrity, [4] and conspiracy networks such as QAnon. [5]

ISD partners with a number of Western governments, including agencies in Canada, [6] Norway, [7] Germany, the United Kingdom, [8] New Zealand, [9] Australia, the United States, [10] and the European Commission. [11] It also works on funded projects with technology companies and organisations such as Google, [12] Microsoft, [13] Meta, [14] and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism. [15]

Other institutional partners include the Global Disinformation Index, [16] the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, [17] Institut Montaigne, [18] the British Council, [19] the German Marshall Fund, [20] the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, [6] and the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism. [21]

Funding for the ISD has come from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, [22] the Omidyar Network, [23] the Gen Next Foundation, [24] and the Open Society Foundation. [25]

Origins

Sasha Havlicek speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., with Evan Ryan, Farah Pandith and Juan Zarate, June 2015 SashaCSIS.jpg
Sasha Havlicek speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., with Evan Ryan, Farah Pandith and Juan Zarate, June 2015

ISD was founded in 2006 as an extension of the Club of Three, [26] a strategic networking organisation founded in 1996 by George Weidenfeld that focused on high-level engagement[ clarification needed ] between Europe and the world. [27] ISD originally focused on social cohesion [28] and radicalisation following a rise of far-right and Islamist extremism in Europe. ISD later hosted the Against Violent Extremism network shortly after it was founded in 2011 in Dublin, Ireland, promoting engagement with former violent extremists as a way of understanding how extremist movements work. [29]

By 2012, ISD was working with social media platforms such as YouTube to explore radicalisation online, [30] including research on the use of counternarratives [31] to minimise the impact of extremist recruitment by groups such as ISIS, [32] Al Qaeda, [33] and white supremacists [34] in Europe and North America. This work later expanded to include recruitment and disruption efforts by state actors [35] and conspiracy theorists [36] during the COVID-19 pandemic. [37] Much of this activity was found to be amplified during regional and national elections, [38] leading to new research on election disruption in countries such as Germany, [39] Sweden, [40] France, [41] Italy, [42] Kenya, [43] and the United States. [44] ISD's analysis of the 6 January United States Capitol attack was chosen for inclusion in the Library of Congress. [45]

Programs

Launch of the Strong Cities Network at the United Nations General Assembly with Zeid bin Raad al Hussein, Bill de Blasio, Loretta Lynch, and Sasha Havlicek, September 2015 Launch-of-the-Strong-Cities-Network.jpg
Launch of the Strong Cities Network at the United Nations General Assembly with Zeid bin Raad al Hussein, Bill de Blasio, Loretta Lynch, and Sasha Havlicek, September 2015

ISD is also a member of the Christchurch Call advisory network [58] and the Commission for Countering Extremism's Expert Group [59] in the United Kingdom.

Past programs

ISD previously chaired the EU's Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) working group on the Internet and social media [68] and has provided testimony to the US Committee on House Administration, [69] the US Committee on Foreign Affairs, [70] and the UK Home Affairs Select Committee. [71]

Notable publications

Related Research Articles

The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) is a British non-profit organisation with offices in London and Washington, DC. It campaigns for big tech firms to stop providing services to individuals who may promote hate and misinformation, including neo-Nazis and anti-vaccine advocates, and campaigns to restrict media organisations such as The Daily Wire from advertising. CCDH is a member of the Stop Hate For Profit coalition.

Radicalization is the process by which an individual or a group comes to adopt increasingly radical views in opposition to a political, social, or religious status quo. The ideas of society at large shape the outcomes of radicalization. Radicalization can result in both violent and nonviolent action – academic literature focuses on radicalization into violent extremism (RVE) or radicalisation leading to acts of terrorism. Multiple separate pathways can promote the process of radicalization, which can be independent but are usually mutually reinforcing.

Hany Farid is an American university professor who specializes in the analysis of digital images and the detection of digitally manipulated images such as deepfakes. Farid served as Dean and Head of School for the UC Berkeley School of Information. In addition to teaching, writing, and conducting research, Farid acts as a consultant for non-profits, government agencies, and news organizations. He is the author of the book Photo Forensics (2016).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hope not Hate</span> Advocacy group against racism and fascism, based in the United Kingdom

Hope not Hate is an advocacy group based in the United Kingdom which campaigns against racism and fascism. It has also mounted campaigns against Islamic extremism and antisemitism. It is self-described as a "non-partisan, non-sectarian organisation." The group was founded in 2004 by Nick Lowles, a former editor of the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight. It is backed by various politicians and celebrities, and it has also been backed by several trade unions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Against Violent Extremism</span>

Against Violent Extremism (AVE) is a global network of former extremists, survivors of violence and interested individuals from the public and private sectors - working together to counter all forms of violent extremism. A partnership between London’s Institute for Strategic Dialogue, Google Ideas and the Gen Next Foundation. AVE's stated aim is to offer a platform for communication, collaboration and a means for activists to find resources and funding for projects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violent extremism</span> Extremism perpetrated through violent means

Violent extremism is a form of extremism that condones and enacts violence with ideological or deliberate intent, such as religious or political violence. Violent extremist views often conflate with religious and political violence, and can manifest in connection with a range of issues, including politics, religion, and gender relations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Counter Extremism Project</span> Nonprofit NGO that combats extremist groups

The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is a non-profit non-governmental organization that combats extremist groups "by pressuring financial support networks, countering the narrative of extremists and their online recruitment, and advocating for strong laws, policies and regulations".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Aly</span> Australian politician and academic (born 1967)

Anne Azza Aly is an Australian politician who has been a Labor member of the House of Representatives since the 2016 election, representing the electorate of Cowan in Western Australia. Aly is currently the Minister for Early Childhood Education and Minister for Youth in the Albanese ministry.

<i>Siege</i> (Mason book) Book collecting the articles of American neo-Nazi James Mason

Siege is an anthology of essays first published as a single volume in 1992, written in 1980s by James Mason, a neo-Nazi and associate of the cult leader Charles Manson. After growing disillusioned with the mass movement approach of neo-Nazi movements, he began advocating for white revolution through terrorism. Referred to as the "Godfather of Fascist Terrorism", Mason has been proscribed as a "terrorist entity" in Canada.” Mason originally wrote the essays for the eponymous newsletter of the National Socialist Liberation Front, a militant splinter of the American Nazi Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The FREE Initiative</span>

The Far-Right Extremism in Europe Initiative is an online resource for practitioners responding to far-right extremism and violence. It was founded with support from the European Commission Prevention of and Fight Against Crime Programme, and a project led by the Ministry of Justice (Sweden) in partnership with the Ministry of Social Affairs (Denmark), Ministry of Security and Justice (Netherlands), Royal Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Safety, and the Ministry of the Interior (Finland). It was the first project endorsed by governments and funded by the European Commission solely on far-right extremism and radicalisation in the aftermath of the 2011 Norway attacks perpetrated by a far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. The online resource launched on 1 September 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gab (social network)</span> Alt-tech social media service

Gab is an American alt-tech microblogging and social networking service known for its far-right userbase. Widely described as a haven for neo-Nazis, racists, white supremacists, white nationalists, antisemites, the alt-right, supporters of Donald Trump, conservatives, right-libertarians, and believers in conspiracy theories such as QAnon, Gab has attracted users and groups who have been banned from other social media platforms and users seeking alternatives to mainstream social media platforms. Founded in 2016 and launched publicly in May 2017, Gab claims to promote free speech, individual liberty, the "free flow of information online", and Christian values. Researchers and journalists have characterized these assertions as an obfuscation of its extremist ecosystem. Antisemitism is prominent in the site's content and the company itself has engaged in antisemitic commentary. Gab CEO Andrew Torba has promoted the white genocide conspiracy theory. Gab is based in Pennsylvania.

Online youth radicalization is the action in which a young individual or a group of people come to adopt increasingly extreme political, social, or religious ideals and aspirations that reject, or undermine the status quo or undermine contemporary ideas and expressions of a state, which they may or may not reside in. Online youth radicalization can be both violent or non-violent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Ebner</span> Austrian writer

Julia Ebner is an Austrian researcher, and author, based in London. She has written the books The Rage: the Vicious Circle of Islamist and Far-Right Extremism and Going Dark: the Secret Social Lives of Extremists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moonshot (company)</span> Tech company

Moonshot is a tech startup founded in 2015. Originally established to understand and counter violent extremism, Moonshot works on a range of activities such as conspiracy theories, gender based violence and human trafficking. Based in London, the company maintains offices in Canada and Ireland and works in countries such as Libya, New Zealand and Bangladesh.

Rumble is an online video platform, web hosting and cloud services business headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, with its U.S. headquarters in Longboat Key, Florida. It was founded in 2013 by Chris Pavlovski, a Canadian technology entrepreneur. Rumble's cloud services business hosts Truth Social, and the video platform is popular among American right and far-right users. Rumble has been described as "alt-tech".

Algorithmic radicalization is the concept that recommender algorithms on popular social media sites such as YouTube and Facebook drive users toward progressively more extreme content over time, leading to them developing radicalized extremist political views. Algorithms record user interactions, from likes/dislikes to amount of time spent on posts, to generate endless media aimed to keep users engaged. Through echo chamber channels, the consumer is driven to be more polarized through preferences in media and self-confirmation.

Far-right terrorism in Australia has been seen as an increasing threat since the late 2010s, with a number of far-right extremist individuals and groups, including neo-Nazis and other hate groups, becoming known to authorities, in particular the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP). In early 2021 the first far-right extremist group was added to the list of proscribed terrorist groups, this group being the Sonnenkrieg Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iamhere (social movement)</span> International movement to counteract hate speech and misinformation on social media

#iamhere, also spelt #IAmHere, is a social movement that uses counter-speech to counter hate speech and misinformation on social media, mainly Facebook. It began as a Swedish Facebook group called #jagärhär, and the umbrella organisation for the movement is iamhere international, is headquartered in Sweden. Each affiliate is named in the language of the country, such as #IchBinHier in Germany, and followed by the country name when in English, such as #iamhere India.

Terrorgram is a portmanteau neologism created by the advocacy group Hope not Hate to refer to a set of Telegram channels and accounts that subscribe to or promote militant accelerationism. Terrorgram channels are neo-fascist in ideology, and regularly share instructions and manuals on how to carry out acts of racially-motivated violence and anti-government, anti-authority terrorism. Terrorgram is a key communications forum for individuals and networks attached to Atomwaffen Division, The Base, and other explicit militant accelerationist groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Disinformation Project</span> Misinformation research group in New Zealand

The Disinformation Project is a research group studying the effects of disinformation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand.

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