USINDO DC Open Forum July 20: "Disengaging Indonesian Jihadists: What Works"
USINDO cordially invites you to an Open Forum on
Disengaging Indonesian Jihadists: What Works
with
Dr. Julie Chernov Hwang
Associate Professor and Chair of the
Department of Political Science and International Relations
Goucher College
Wednesday, July 20
12:00 – 2:00 p.m.
USINDO Office
1625 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Suite 550
Washington, D.C. 20036
Although there is huge global interest in how to reduce the attraction of participation in Islamist violent extremist groups, there is distressingly little knowledge of what actually works to reduce participation. There are relatively few successful examples of how to prevent engagement in such groups, or to explain how and why people actually leave them.
To help correct this imbalance, USINDO is pleased to present Dr. Julie Chernov Hwang, who will acquaint us with the processes by which Indonesian Islamist extremists have successfully but quietly been disengaging from violence and reintegrating back into society. This knowledge may also provide some insight into what may reduce future recruitment. Her presentation is based on her interviews of over 100 members of Indonesian Islamist extremist groups over the past six years. She will also address how governments and civil society can play a positive role in these transitions.
Dr. Chernov Hwang is associate professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Goucher College. Her forthcoming book is entitled, “Reconsidering Violence: The Disengagement of Indonesian Jihadists”.
Please join us for this informative event.
Please RSVP HERE by noon Tuesday, July 19. This event is open and without charge. We request recording devices not be used.
Speaker’s Biography:
Dr. Julie Chernov Hwang is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. She is the author of Peaceful Islamist Mobilization in the Muslim World: What Went Right (Palgrave 2009) and the co-editor of Islamist Parties and Political Normalization in the Muslim World (UPENN 2014). In 2011, she was named Southeast Asia Fellow at the East West Center in Washington D.C. Dr. Chernov Hwang was also the recipient of USINDO’s 2011 Travel Grant, which she used to fund field research examining why militants from Indonesian Salafi-Jihadi movements disengage from violence either by leaving the movement entirely or by migrating to a non-violent role within the movement. Her forthcoming book, “Reconsidering Violence: The Disengagement of Indonesian Jihadists” is under review at Cornell University Press.