Connect

The prevention of political motivated extremism is a complex challenge for society as a whole. In order to meet this complexity, strategies of interdisciplinary and interinstitutional cooperation and networking have become increasingly important in recent years. The German Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community has initiated the joint research project “Connect” to engage and strengthen cooperation between civil society actors and law enforcement agencies to fight against right-wing extremism.

• The project analyses the state of international research on cooperation and identifies conditions for productive collaboration at national and international level. In addition, a nationwide survey of existing cooperation in Germany was conducted to obtain a full picture of current forms of collaboration between police and the civil society.
• An international literature review on multi-agency extremism prevention projects was started to deliver an international picture and to get an overview on the implementation and effectiveness of such multi-agency approaches to extremism prevention involving the police and other security agencies.
• Furthermore, interviews with stakeholders from civil society actors and representatives from law enforcement agencies will be conducted in order to identify obstacles for corporations but also opportunities for future joint projects.
• Additionally, the project will stimulate new forms of cooperation and strengthen already existing joint ventures to prevent and prosecute right-wing extremist activities. Therefore, workshops with different thematic focuses will be held to facilitate an exchange and structured dialogue between the police and civil society actors. More information on these conferences is provided here.
• The project will finally deliver a catalogue of recommendations for political action.