The Belgian approach to tackling violent radicalisation: a practitioners’ perspective

The prevention of violent radicalisation as part of counter-terrorism measures is a top priority of the European Union and national security agendas. In 2015 Belgium introduced promising reforms in countering radicalisation and terrorism that aimed at connecting not only intelligence, security and police services across different policy levels but also the multitude of other stakeholders representing the government and civil society. However, the implementation and further development of the Belgian approach to prevention of radicalisation remain contested in political and public debate. This stands to reason because there is a lack of empirical data and a certain disregard of the voices of first-line practitioners who develop and operate preventive measures on the ground. Taking this into account, this IES policy brief provides a critical overview of the current state of Belgium’s counter-radicalisation policy through the prism of analysis of stakeholders’ vision of the present challenges: the conceptualisation of radicalisation in theory and practise, inter-agency and multi-stakeholder collaboration, and the evidence-based evaluation of interventions.