On 31 October-2 November 2022, the MERI Forum will take place in Erbil, Iraq. The MERI Forum is a high-level policy event that is held annually in Iraq, bringing together local, national and international policymakers, academics, civil society leaders, journalists, diplomats and opinion-leaders to debate high-priority issues that are affecting both Iraq and the wider region, and offer solutions.
A PREVEX panel entitled Prevention of Violent Extremism in the Middle East will kick-start the forum on the evening of 31st October, with the participation of Research Professor and PI Morten Bøås (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Oslo), Kamaran Palani (Research Fellow, Middle East Research Institute, Erbil), Senior Researcher Kari Osland (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs), Julien Beaujouan (Open Think Tank) and Adam Ravnkilde (Senior Strategic Advisor Counterterrorism, Preventing & Countering Violent Extremism, European Union Advisory Mission in Iraq).
More information and the program for the MERI Forum 2022 can be found here.
Kamaran Palani (MERI) has also recently published a research paper together with Dlawer Ala’Aldeen (President, MERI) and Khogir Wirya (Research Fellow, MERI) entitled Violent Extremism in Mosul & the Kurdistan Region: Context, Drivers, and Public Perception. The backdrop for the article is two regions located in northern Iraq – the Nineveh Province and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) – which, despite being comparable in terms of ethno-religious and sectarian diversity, history and political economy, have produced two different environments for violent extremism (VE). While Nineveh became extremely vulnerable to VE, the KRI demonstrated persistent resilience. The paper examines the public perceptions of the presence, root causes, and drivers of VE, and perceptions of the impact of ongoing governmental and non-governmental initiatives for preventing VE.
Download the full paper here.
