Prof. Peter Neumann

Senior Fellow

Peter Neumann is Professor of Security Studies at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, and served as Founding Director of its International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) from 2008 to 2018. In 2017, he was the OSCE’s Special Representative on Countering Violent Radicalisation.

Books and Writing

Neumann’s latest book in English is Bluster: Donald Trump’s War on Terror which was published by Hurst and Oxford University Press in early 2020. Prior to this, he authored Radicalized: New Jihadists and the Threat to the West (IB Tauris, 2016), which originally came out as Die neuen Dschihadisten (Ullstein 2015) in German, and has been translated into several other languages. Other books include Old and New Terrorism (Polity Press, 2009); and The Strategy of Terrorism (with M.L.R. Smith) (Routledge, 2008).

He has written more than a dozen peer-reviewed journal articles dealing with different aspects of terrorism and radicalization, and edited Routledge’s 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, countering terrorist finance, terrorist defectors, and terrorist recruitment in Europe. Most recently, he co-authored “Prisons and Terrorism: Extremist Offender Management in 10 European Countries” (London: ICSR, 2020) with Rajan Basra.

ICSR’s ground breaking research on foreign fighters – for which he served 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).

Earlier reports include, among others, “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European Jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus” (ICSR, 2016; with Rajan Basra), ‘Victims, Perpetrators, Assets: The Narratives of Islamic State Defectors’ (London: ICSR, 2015), “Countering Online Radicalization in America” (Bipartisan Policy Center, 2012), and “Preventing Violent Radicalization in America” (Bipartisan Policy Center, 2011).

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 served as investigator for the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland.

In 2017, he was the OSCE’s Special Representative for Countering Violent Radicalisation. He has also advised the Club de Madrid, the association of former Presidents and Prime Ministers, since 2005, and served as 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” in 2014. He has testified before a full session of the UN Security Council as well as several 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 Global Center on Cooperative Security, and the Google Innovation Fund, and advised the Governor of the German state of North-Rhine-Westphalia as part of the so-called “Bosbach Commission”.

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 five PhD students, and has taught courses on terrorism, counterterrorism, intelligence, radicalization and counter-radicalization at King’s College London and Sciences Po (Lyon). He served as Adjunct Faculty at Georgetown University in Washington DC from 2011-16.

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.

Publications

Periodicals (selected)

• ‘Corona and Bioterrorism: How Serious Is the Threat?’, War on The Rocks, 22 June 2020. Available here.
• ‘Donald Trump’s Failed War on Terror’, Politico, 27 October 2019. Available here.
• ‘Terror, Amok, Hassverbrechen: Wovon sprechen wir eigentlich?‘, Der Spiegel, 5 January 2019. Available here.
• ‘Defeating Extremism the Balkans‘, Euractiv, 3 May 2018. Available here.
• ‘Islamic State’s nature and dynamics are certain to change’, The Security Times, February 2018. Available here.
• ‘London attack: How are extremists radicalised?’, BBC News, 5 June 2017. Available here.
• ‘Kalifat geht, Terror bleibt’, FOCUS Magazin, 4. September 2016. Available here.
• ‘Media Freedom and Responsibility in Terrorism Coverage’, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 22 August 2016 (with Georg Mascolo). Available here.
• ‘La violencia y sus causas’, El Pais, 26 October 2015 (with Vaira Vike-Freiberga). Available here (Spanish original) and here (English translation).
• ‘ISIS Is Killing Muslims, Not Protecting Them’, CNN, 22 September 2015. Available here.
• ‘How to curb the threat of homecoming jihadist fighters’, New Scientist, 2 July 2014. Available here.
• ‘Suspects into Collaborators’, London Review of Books, 3 April 2014. Available here.
• ‘Why Nobody Saw 9/11 Coming’, New York Times, 27 March 2004. Available here.
• ‘Der Anti-Abenteurer’, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 13 January 2013.
• ‘Al Qaeda’s Most Dangerous Franchise’, Wall Street Journal, 10 May 2012 (with Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens). Available here.
• ‘A Call Against Online Extremism’, Politico, 2 December 2012 (with Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton). Available here.
• ‘Inside ISIS: So finanziert sich die Terrorbande’, BILD, 1 December 2015. Available here.
• ‘Does Iran Want Another Lebanon?’, New York Times, 8 September 2004 (with Joshua Kilberg). Available here.
• ‘Syrien: Die perverse Logik der Nicht-Intervention’, Cicero, 10 Janaury 2013. Available here.
• ‘Wider Lessons from the IRA: Helping Terrorists Evolve’, International Herald Tribune, 3 August 2005.
• ’Can Terrorists Be Tamed?’, International Herald Tribune, 10 January 2007. Available here.
• ‘A Crisis of Identity and the Appeal of Jihad’, International Herald Tribune, 5 July 2007. Available here.
• ‘Table Tennis for the Taliban’, Der Spiegel, 28 January 2010. Available here in English; and here in German.
• ‘Passagierselektion macht es Terroristen leicht’, Der Spiegel, 29 December 2010. Available in German here.
• ‘Warum ISIS für Europa immer gefährlicher wird’, BILD, 3 July 2015. Available in German here.
• ‘Osama Bin Laden’s Death Hurt Al Qaeda… But Now It Hunts with Lone Wolves’, The Sun, 1 May 2012.

Monographs and Edited Volumes

• Bluster: Donald Trump’s War on Terror (London and New York: Hurst and Oxford University Press, 2020)
• Der Terror ist unter uns: Dschihadismus und Radikalisierung in Europa (Berlin: Ullstein, 2016)
• Radicalized: New Jihadists and the Threat against the West (London: I.B. Tauris, 2016)
• Die neuen Dschihadisten: ISIS, Europa und die nächste Welle des Terrorismus (Berlin: Econ, 2015)
• Radicalization: Major Works Collection (Routledge, 2015) (Ed.)
• Old and New Terrorism (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009).
• ‘Joining Al Qaeda: Jihadist Recruitment in Europe’, Adelphi Paper 399, International Institute for Strategic Studies, January 2009.
• The Strategy of Terrorism (London: Routledge, 2008) (with M.L.R. Smith)
• Britain’s Long War: British Strategy in the Northern Ireland Conflict, 1969-98 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)
• Al Gore: Eine Biographie (Hamburg: DVA, 2000)
• IRA: Langer Weg zum Frieden (Hamburg: Europäische Verlagsanstalt, 1999)

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

• ‘Old and New Terrorism’ in Diego Muro and Tim Wilson (eds.), Contemporary Terrorism Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020).
• ‘Les jihadistes européennes et le nexus criminalité-terrorisme’ in Bernard Rougier (ed.), Les territoires conquis de l’islamisme (Paris: PUF, 2020), pp. 333-50 (with Rajan Basra).
• ‘Comparison and Experiences and Best Practice Drawn from Research in Other Countries: Countering Violent Extremism in Europe’ in Anthony Richards et al (eds.), Jihadist Terror: New Threats, New Responses (London: IB Tauris, 2019).
• ‘Don’t Follow the Money: The Problem with the War on Terrorist Financing’, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2017. Available here.
• ‘Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European Jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus‘, Perspectives on Terrorism, 10(6) (2016) (with Rajan Basra).
• ‘Operation Crevice’ in Fernando Reinares and Bruce Hoffman (eds.), Leader-led Jihad (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014) (with Ryan Evans).
• ‘Algorithmen und Agenten‘, Internationale Politik, November7December 2014.
• ‘How Rigorous is Radicalization Research?’, Democracy and Security, 9(4) (2013), pp. 360-82.
• ‘The Trouble with Radicalisation’, International Affairs, 89(4) (2013), S. 873-93.
• ‘Options and Strategies for Countering Online Radicalization in the United States’, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 36(6) (2013), S. 431-59.
• ‘Locating Al Qaeda’s Center of Gravity: The Role of Middle Managers’ (with Ryan Evans and Raffaello Pantucci), Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 34(9) (11) (2011), pp. 825-42.
• ‘Anglo-American Perceptions of Osama bin Laden after 9/11’ in Lawrence Freedman and Jeffrey Michaels (eds.), Scripting Middle East Leaders: The Impact of Leadership Perceptions on US and UK Foreign Policy (London: Bloomsbury, 2012) (with Fernande van Tets).
• ‘The government’s response’ in James Dingley (ed.), Combating Terrorism in Northern Ireland (New York and London, 2009).
• ‘The rise of the paramilitaries’ in James Dingley (ed.), Combating Terrorism in Northern Ireland (New York and London, 2009).
• ‘Negotiating with Terrorists’, Foreign Affairs, 86(1) (2007), pp. 128-38.
• ‘Al Qaeda in Europe: Policy Priorities after the Iraq War’ in Dan Hansen and Magnus Ranstorp (ed.), Cooperating Against Terrorism: EU-US Relations Post September 11 (Stockholm: SNDC, 2007).
• ‘Russia, the European Union and the Fight against Terrorism’ in Aurel Braun (ed.), Building Trust and Strengthening Democracy: NATO-Russia Relations in the 21st Century (New York and London: Routledge, 2007).
• ‘Europe’s Jihadist Challenge’, Survival, 48(2) (2006), pp. 71-84.
• ‘The Bullet and the Ballot Box: The Case of the IRA’, Journal of Strategic Studies, 28(6) (2005), pp. 1-35.
• ‘The Strategy of Terrorism: The Framework and Its Fallacies’ (with M.L.R. Smith), Journal of Strategic Studies, 28(4) (2005), pp. 571-95.
• ‘Missing the Plot? Intelligence and Discourse Failure’ (with M.L.R. Smith), Orbis, 49(1) (2005), pp. 95-107.
• ‘Motorman’s Long Journey: Changing the Strategic Setting in Northern Ireland’ (with M.L.R. Smith), Contemporary British History, 19(4) (2005), S. 413-35.
• ‘From Revolution to Devolution: Is the IRA Still a Threat to Peace in Northern Ireland?’, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 13(1) (2005), S. 79-92.
• ‘Bringing in the Rogues: Political Violence, the British Government and Sinn Fein’, Terrorism and Political Violence, 15(3) (2003), S. 154-71.
• ‘Winning the “War on Terror”? Roy Mason’s Contribution to Counter-Terrorism in Northern Ireland’, Small Wars and Insurgencies, 14(3) (2003), S. 45-64.
• ‘The Myth of Ulsterization in British Security Policy in Northern Ireland’, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 26(5) (2003), S. 365-77.
• ‘The Imperfect Peace: Explaining Paramilitary Violence in Northern Ireland’, Low-Intensity Conflict and Law Enforcement, 11(1) (2002), S. 116-38.

Policy Reports

• ‘Prisons and Terrorism: Extremist Offender Management in 10 European Countries’ (London: ICSR, 2020) (with Rajan Basra); available here.
• ‘Countering Extremism and Radicalisation that Lead to Terrorism: Ideas, Recommendations and Good Practices from the OSCE Region’, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), 29 September 2017; available here.
• ‘Caliphate in Decline: An Estimate of Islamic State’s Financial Fortunes’ (London: ICSR, 2017) (with Rajan Basra, John Holland McCowan, and Stefan Heißner); available here.
• ‘Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European Jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus’ (London: ICSR, 2016) (with Rajan Basra and Claudia Brunner); available here.
• ‘Victims, Perpetrators, Assets: The Narratives of Islamic State Defectors’ (London: ICSR, 2015); available here.
• ‘#Greenbirds: Measuring Importance and Influence in Syrian Foreign Fighter Networks’ (London: ICSR, 2014) (with Joseph Carter and Shiraz Maher), available here.
• ‘Countering Online Radicalization in America’ (Washington DC: Bipartisan Policy Center, 2012); available here.
• ‘Preventing Violent Radicalization in America’ (Washington DC: Bipartisan Policy Center, 2011); available here.
• ‘Prisons and Terrorism: Radicalisation and De-radicalisation in 15 Countries’ (London: ICSR, 2010); available here.
• ‘Countering Online Radicalisation: A Strategy for Action’ (London: ICSR, 2009) (with Tim Stevens); available here.
• ‘Recruitment for the Islamist Militant Movement in Europe’ (Brussels: European Commission, 2008) (with Brooke Rogers).
• ‘Securing the Peace: The Normalisation of Security Arrangements in Northern Ireland’ (Belfast: Independent Monitoring Commission, 2006) (with Ben Bowling and Cian Murphy).