In Episode 11 of RUSI’s Decoding Counterterrorism, hosts Jessica White and Raffaello Pantucci are joined by Jared Shurin and Michael Jones to discuss the essential nature of communication to both terrorism itself and to efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism and terrorism. The fields of strategic communication and marketing have been developing a knowledge base for decades on the most effective techniques to reach the maximum number of people with messages that resonate enough to change attitudes and behaviours. Much can be learned from these fields about how to design and deliver the most effective, influential messaging to build social resilience to extremism.

There have been many efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism over the past 15 years that have used strategic communications ineffectively, and the evaluative evidence base remains weak. However, what are the lessons we can learn from older fields with good track records to refine and renew effective approaches to using communications to prevent terrorism?