Preventing violent extremism in Lebanon

Abstract

At the outset of 2017, the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies began a year-long project focused on localizing preventing violent extremism (PVE) strategies. This policy brief contains a series of recommendations for policymakers, which can guide the process of promoting a holistic and nondiscriminatory approach to applying PVE in Lebanon. These recommendations are drawn from a range of sources including in-house desk research, interviews with experts and scholars, roundtable discussions, policy papers commissioned by LCPS and produced by scholars in a range of fields related to PVE, and a concluding closed roundtable where experts provided practical steps to instrumentalize and implement PVE in a local context. This brief’s recommendations focus on reforms to the criminal justice system, penal system reform, instilling greater trust in the security sector, designating a role for religious institutions, reforming the education sector, utilizing media within a PVE framework, promoting socioeconomic development, addressing marginalization and grievances, and encouraging inclusivity for women.