GET IN TOUCH
Peter Neumann is Professor of Security Studies at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, and has founded the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) in early 2008. In 2017 he also served as the OSCE Chairman’s Special Representative on Countering Violent Radicalisation, and recently published a report on his findings.
BOOKS AND WRITINGS
Neumann’s latest book in English is Radicalized: New Jihadists and the Threat against the West (IB Tauris, 2016), a fully revised version of his German bestseller Die neuen Dschihadisten: ISIS, Europa und die nächste Welle des Terrorismus, which was published by Econ in October 2015. His most recent book in German is Der Terror ist unter uns: Dschihadismus und Radikalisierung in Europa (Ullstein, 2016), a comprehensive introduction to extremist radicalization and recruitment, which discusses new trends and developments incl. the internet, ‘lone wolves’, the rise of women, and the merging of terrorist and criminal milieus.
Prior to this, Neumann has authored or co-authored five other books, including Old and New Terrorism (Polity Press, 2009); and The Strategy of Terrorism (with MLR Smith) (Routledge, 2008).
He has written numerous peer-reviewed journal articles dealing with different aspects of terrorism and radicalization, and edited Routledge’s recently published four-volume Major Works Collection: Radicalization (Routledge, 2015). Shorter pieces have appeared in the New York Times, New Scientist, London Review of Books, Wall Street Journal, and other periodicals.
POLICY REPORTS
Neumann has led research projects and written influential policy reports about the crime-terror nexus, online radicalization, foreign fighter networks, terrorist defectors, prison-based de-radicalization programs, and terrorist recruitment in Europe. ICSR’s ground breaking research on foreign fighters – for which he serves as principal investigator – has informed policy-makers and public opinion in Europe and North America, and has been cited in numerous publications, such as the New York Times Magazine. Results have featured in “#Greenbirds: Measuring Importance and Influence in Syrian Foreign Fighter Networks” (ICSR, 2014; with Joseph Carter and Shiraz Maher).
One of his most recent reports is “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European Jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus” (ICSR, 2016; with Rajan Basra and Claudia Brunner), which details the merging of criminal and jihadist milieus in Europe. Earlier reports include, among others, “Countering Online Radicalization in America” (Bipartisan Policy Center, 2012), and “Preventing Violent Radicalization in America” (Bipartisan Policy Center, 2011), which were both endorsed by the Co-Chairmen of the 9/11 Commission, Governor Tom Kean and Representative Lee Hamilton.
IMPACT AND AFFILIATIONS
Neumann is a member of the editorial boards of three leading, peer-reviewed journals – Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, the Journal of Strategic Studies and Democracy and Security – and serves as investigator for the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland.
He currently serves as the OSCE Chairman’s Special Representative for Fighting Radicalisation and advises the Club de Madrid, the association of former Presidents and Prime Ministers, and was a senior consultant for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations during the process of crafting UN Security Council Resolution 2178 on “Foreign Terrorist Fighters”. He has testified before a full session of the UN Security Council as well as committees of the U.S. House of Representatives, the UK House of Commons, the German Bundestag, the Canadian House of Commons, and the European Parliament. He has been an expert witness for the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service, Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service, and Scotland’s Crown Office. He also holds fellowships and advisory positions with the Hedayah Centre, the Crime-Terror Nexus Project, the Global Center on Cooperative Security, and the Google Innovation Fund. In addition, he currently serves as part of a government commission which aims to improve the “security architecture” in Germany’s largest state, North Rhine-Westphalia.
TEACHING AND EDUCATION
At the Department of War Studies, Neumann created the MA in Terrorism, Security and Society, and co-directed the programme from 2008 to 2016. He currently supervises seven PhD students, and has taught courses on terrorism, counterterrorism, intelligence, radicalization and counter-radicalization at King’s College London and Sciences Po (Lyon), and continues to serve as Adjunct Faculty at Georgetown University in Washington DC.
Having studied in Berlin, Belfast and London, Neumann holds an MA in Political Science from the Free University of Berlin (Dipl.-Pol.) and a PhD in War Studies from King’s College London. Before becoming an academic, he worked as a radio journalist in Germany.