Don’t Kill the Messenger: Perceived Credibility of Far-Right Former Extremists and Police Officers in P/CVE Communication

Abstract

Former extremists and terrorists (‘formers’) are seen as key messengers and mentors in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE). Their assumed effectiveness rests on their unique, intrinsic source credibility due to their biography. Having ‘walked the walk’ and ‘talked the talk’, it is widely assumed that such individuals are ideal to present counter messages. Formers are typically viewed as more credible and effective messengers in contrast to other messengers, in particular the police, when targeting ‘hard-to-reach’ audiences. This study presents findings from an experimental survey that tested whether far-right former extremists and police officers are perceived as credible sources in P/CVE communications among the general population and among a far-right milieu. Challenging wide-held assumptions in the P/CVE field, the present study found that far-right former extremists are perceived as neither credible nor lacking credibility among the general population, nor are they perceived as credible among a far-right milieu. Further, police officers were found to have the highest credibility in P/CVE communication. The paper outlines policy options for engaging with former extremists in P/CVE: detailing ways to embed former extremists with messengers who have institutional expertise.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Shandon Harris-Hogan, Kate Barrelle, and Andrew Zammit, "What Is Countering Violent Extremism? Exploring Cve Policy and Practice in Australia," Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression 8, no. 1 (2015).

2 RAN, Ex Post Paper. Dos and Don’ts of Involving Formers in Pve/Cve Work (Radicalization Awareness Network, 2017).

3 Ryan Scrivens et al., "Combating Violent Extremism: Voices of Former Right-Wing Extremists," Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 45, no. 8 (2022); Hedayah, Mapping the Experiences of Formers to Streamline the Process of Engaging in Cve (Abu Dhabi: Hedayah Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism, 2017).

4 RAN, Ex Post Paper. Dos and Don’ts of Involving Formers in Pve/Cve Work (Radicalization Awareness Network, 2017), 2

5 For an overview see: Daniel Koehler, "Involvement of Formers in Countering Violent Extremism: A Critical Perspective on Commonly Held Assumptions," in Frühere Extremisten in Der Präventionsarbeit. Perspektiven Aus Wissenschaft Und Praxis, ed. Maria Walsh and Antje Gansewig (Bonn: Nationales Zentrum Kriminalprävention, 2019).

6 John Morrison et al., A Systematic Review of Post-2017 Research on Disengagement and Deradicalisation (London: Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST), 2021), 6.

7 David Parker and Lasse Lindekilde, "Preventing Extremism with Extremists: A Double-Edged Sword? An Analysis of the Impact of Using Former Extremists in Danish Schools," Education Sciences 10, no. 4 (2020); Maria Walsh and Antje Gansewig, "A Former Right-Wing Extremist in School-Based Prevention Work: Research Findings from Germany," JD Journal for Deradicalization Winter, no. 21 (2019).

8 Douglas Weeks, "Doing Derad: An Analysis of the U.K. System," Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 41, no. 7 (2017).

9 In this study, we use the widely employed public health model to classify different types of P/CVE programs, ranging from primary (no radicalization, resilience building), secondary (early intervention in case of radicalization), and tertiary (deradicalization, disengagement, and rehabilitation) programming. For a discussion of the terminology used in this field, see: Daniel Koehler, "Terminology and Definitions," in Routledge Handbook of Deradicalisation and Disengagement, ed. Stig Jarle Hansen and Stian Lid (London and New York: Routledge, 2020).

10 Andrea L P Pirro, "Far Right: The Significance of an Umbrella Concept," Nations and Nationalism n/a, no. n/a (2022): 3.

11 Brian Hilligoss and Soo Young Rieh, "Developing a Unifying Framework of Credibility Assessment: Construct, Heuristics, and Interaction in Context," Information Processing & Management 44, no. 4 (2008): 1468.

12 Hedayah, "Mapping the Experiences of Formers to Streamline the Process of Engaging in Cve," 8-9.

13 Kurt Braddock and John F. Morrison, "Cultivating Trust and Perceptions of Source Credibility in Online Counternarratives Intended to Reduce Support for Terrorism," Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 43, no. 6 (2018); Kurt Braddock, Weaponized Words. The Strategic Role of Persuasion in Violent Radicalization and Counter-Radicalization (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), 98.

14 Patrick Belanger and Susan Szmania, "The Paradox of Source Credibility in Canadian and Us Domestic Counterterrorism Communications," International Journal of Communication 12 (2018): 1466.

15 Ibid.

16 Todd C. Helmus and Kurt Klein, Assessing Outcomes of Online Campaigns Countering Violent Extremism: A Case Study of the Redirect Method (Santa Monica: RAND, 2018), 16.

17 Marina Tapley and Gordon Clubb, The Role of Formers in Countering Violent Extremism (The Hague: International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, 2019), 11.

18 Tina Wilchen Christensen, "Civil Actors’ Role in Deradicalisation and Disengagement Initiatives: When Trust Is Essential," in Routledge Handbook of Deradicalisation and Disengagement, ed. Stig Jarle Hansen and Stian Lid (London and New York: Routledge, 2020), 152.

19 "How Extremist Experiences Become Valuable Knowledge in Exit Programmes," Journal for Deradicalization 2015, no. 3 (2015).

20 Walsh and Gansewig, "A Former Right-Wing Extremist in School-Based Prevention Work: Research Findings from Germany."; Parker and Lindekilde, "Preventing Extremism with Extremists: A Double-Edged Sword? An Analysis of the Impact of Using Former Extremists in Danish Schools."

21 Walsh and Gansewig, "A Former Right-Wing Extremist in School-Based Prevention Work: Research Findings from Germany."

22 Parker and Lindekilde, "Preventing Extremism with Extremists: A Double-Edged Sword? An Analysis of the Impact of Using Former Extremists in Danish Schools."

23 Daniel Koehler, "Involvement of Formers in Countering Violent Extremism: A Critical Perspective on Commonly Held Assumptions," in Frühere Extremisten in Der Präventionsarbeit. Perspektiven Aus Wissenschaft Und Praxis, ed. Maria Walsh and Antje Gansewig (Bonn: Nationales Zentrum Kriminalprävention, 2019); John Morrison et al., A Systematic Review of Post-2017 Research on Disengagement and Deradicalisation (London: Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST), 2021), 6.

24 See for example: Paul Thomas, "Failed and Friendless: The Uk’s ‘Preventing Violent Extremism’ Programme," The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 12, no. 3 (2010); Asim Qureshi, "Prevent: Creating “Radicals” to Strengthen Anti-Muslim Narratives," Critical Studies on Terrorism 8, no. 1 (2015); Charlotte Heath-Kelly, Lee Jarvis, and Christopher Baker-Beall, Counter-Radicalisation: Critical Perspectives (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge Critical Terrorism Studies; New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015); Martin Innes, Colin Roberts, and Trudy Lowe, "A Disruptive Influence? “Prevent-Ing” Problems and Countering Violent Extremism Policy in Practice," Law & Society Review 51, no. 2 (2017); Bob McDonald and Yaser Mir, "Al‐Qaida‐Influenced Violent Extremism, Uk Government Prevention Policy and Community Engagement," Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research 3, no. 1 (2011).

25 Alex Murray, Katrin Mueller-Johnson, and Lawrence W Sherman, "Evidence-Based Policing of UK Muslim Communities: Linking Confidence in the Police with Area Vulnerability to Violent Extremism," International Criminal Justice Review 25, no. 1 (2015).

26 Lorraine Mazerolle et al., "Police Programmes That Seek to Increase Community Connectedness for Reducing Violent Extremism Behaviour, Attitudes and Beliefs," Campbell Systematic Reviews 16, no. 3 (2020).

27 See for example: Sara K. Thompson and Elisabeth Leroux, "Lessons Learned from Dual Site Formative Evaluations of Countering Violent Extremism (Cve) Programming Co-Led by Canadian Police," Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism (2022); Norman Bettison, "Preventing Violent Extremism—a Police Response," Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice 3, no. 2 (2009); Derek M. D. Silva, "Police and Radicalization," in The Handbook of Social Control, ed. M. Deflem (2019).

28 Daniel Koehler, "Deradicalisation in Germany: Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism," Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, no. 128 (2021).

29 Marc Allroggen and Thea Rau, "Inanspruchnahme Von Angeboten Der Extremismusprävention," Forensische Psychiatrie, Psychologie, Kriminologie 15, no. 3 (2021).

30 Kurt Möller et al., Evaluation Des Aussteigerprogramms Für Rechtsextremisten Des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (Apr Nrw) (Esslingen: Ministerium für Inneres und Kommunales (MIK) des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, 2015).

31 See for example: Alex P Schmid, "Strengthening the Role of Victims and Incorporating Victims in Efforts to Counter Violent Extremism and Terrorism," ICCT Research Paper August 2012 (2012); Rachel Briggs and Sebastien Feve, "Review of Programs to Counter Narratives of Violent Extremism," (London: Institute for Strategic Dialogue, 2013); RAN-VVT, Handbook: Voices of Victims of Terrorism (Radicalization Awareness Network (RAN) Working Group of Voice of Victims of Terrorism, 2020).

32 Helena Knupfer and Jörg Matthes, "An Attack against Us All? Perceived Similarity and Compassion for the Victims Mediate the Effects of News Coverage About Right-Wing Terrorism," Studies in Conflict & Terrorism (2021).

33 See for example: Håvard Haugstvedt and Svein Erik Tuastad, "“It Gets a Bit Messy”: Norwegian Social Workers’ Perspectives on Collaboration with Police and Security Service on Cases of Radicalisation and Violent Extremism," Terrorism and Political Violence (2021); Jo Finch et al., "Social Work and Countering Violent Extremism in Sweden and the Uk," European Journal of Social Work 25, no. 1 (2022).

34 Philip Meyer, "Defining and Measuring Credibility of Newspapers: Developing an Index," Journalism Quarterly 65, no. 3 (1988).

35 Chanthika Pornpitakpan, "The Persuasiveness of Source Credibility: A Critical Review of Five Decades’ Evidence," Journal of Applied Social Psychology 34, no. 2 (2004); Kathleen R. Case et al., "Source Credibility and E-Cigarette Attitudes: Implications for Tobacco Communication," Health Communication 33, no. 9 (2018).

36 Zakary L. Tormala, Pablo Briñol, and Richard E. Petty, "When Credibility Attacks: The Reverse Impact of Source Credibility on Persuasion," Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 42, no. 5 (2006); Pornpitakpan, "The Persuasiveness of Source Credibility: A Critical Review of Five Decades’ Evidence."; James C. McCroskey and Thomas J. Young, "Ethos and Credibility: The Construct and Its Measurement after Three Decades," Communication Studies 32, no. 1 (1981); James W. Neuliep, Stephanie M. Hintz, and James C. McCroskey, "The Influence of Ethnocentrism in Organizational Contexts: Perceptions of Interviewee and Managerial Attractiveness, Credibility, and Effectiveness," Communication Quarterly 53, no. 1 (2005); Dominic A. Infante, "The Construct Validity of Semantic Differential Scales for the Measurement of Source Credibility," ibid.28, no. 2 (1980).

37 Danielle Lupton and Clayton Webb, "Wither Elites? The Role of Elite Credibility and Knowledge in Public Perceptions of Foreign Policy," APSA Preprints (2021).

38 Ibid.

39 Homer H. Johnson and Ivan D. Steiner, "The Effects of Source on Responses to Negative Information About One’s Self," The Journal of Social Psychology 74, no. 2 (1968); Homer H. Johnson and Richard R. Izzett, "Relationship between Authoritarianism and Attitude Change as a Function of Source Credibility and Type of Communication," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 13, no. 4 (1969); Erwin Bettinghaus, Gerald Miller, and Thomas Steinfatt, "Source Evaluation, Syllogistic Content, and Judgments of Logical Validity by High-and Low-Dogmatic Persons," ibid.16, no. 2 (1970); John Harvey and Daniel G Hays, "Effect of Dogmatism and Authority of the Source of Communication Upon Persuasion," Psychological Reports 30, no. 1 (1972); Pornpitakpan, "The Persuasiveness of Source Credibility: A Critical Review of Five Decades’ Evidence."

40 Anjuli Van Damme and Lieven Pauwels, "Explaining Support for Vigilantism and Punitiveness: Assessing the Role of Perceived Procedural Fairness, Ethnocentrism, Authoritarianism and Anomia," Social Conflicts, Citizens and Policing (Governance of Security Research Paper Series) (2012).

41 Neuliep, Hintz, and McCroskey, "The Influence of Ethnocentrism in Organizational Contexts: Perceptions of Interviewee and Managerial Attractiveness, Credibility, and Effectiveness."

42 Tara D Warner and Shawn Ratcliff, "What Guns Mean: Who Sees Guns as Important, Essential, and Empowering (and Why)?," Sociological Inquiry 91, no. 2 (2021); Michael D. Anestis et al., "An Examination of Preferred Messengers on Firearm Safety for Suicide Prevention," Preventive Medicine 145 (2021).

43 Lupton and Webb, "Wither Elites? The Role of Elite Credibility and Knowledge in Public Perceptions of Foreign Policy."

44 Matthew A. Baum and Tim Groeling, "Shot by the Messenger: Partisan Cues and Public Opinion Regarding National Security and War," Political Behavior 31, no. 2 (2009).

45 Pornpitakpan, "The Persuasiveness of Source Credibility: A Critical Review of Five Decades’ Evidence."

46 Baum and Groeling, "Shot by the Messenger: Partisan Cues and Public Opinion Regarding National Security and War."

47 Koehler, "Involvement of Formers in Countering Violent Extremism: A Critical Perspective on Commonly Held Assumptions."

48 See for example: Jonatan Schewe and Daniel Koehler, "When Healing Turns to Activism: Formers and Family Members’ Motivation to Engage in P/CVE," Journal for Deradicalization, no. 28 (2021).

49 Christer Mattson and Thomas Johansson, "Becoming, Belonging and Leaving–Exit Processes among Young Neo-Nazis in Sweden," Journal for deradicalization 2018, no. 16 (2018); John Horgan et al., "Walking Away: The Disengagement and De-Radicalization of a Violent Right-Wing Extremist," Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression 9, no. 2 (2016); Sarah V. Marsden, Reintegrating Extremists. Deradicalisation and Desistance (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).

50 Lupton and Webb, "Wither Elites? The Role of Elite Credibility and Knowledge in Public Perceptions of Foreign Policy."

51 Anestis et al., "An Examination of Preferred Messengers on Firearm Safety for Suicide Prevention."; Sabrina Karim, "Does the Messenger Matter for Improving Post-Conflict Governance? Results from Two Field Experiments on Security Sector Reform in Liberia," in Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) 19 (Paris, France, 2017).

52 "Does the Messenger Matter for Improving Post-Conflict Governance? Results from Two Field Experiments on Security Sector Reform in Liberia."

53 Anestis et al., "An Examination of Preferred Messengers on Firearm Safety for Suicide Prevention."

54 Neuliep, Hintz, and McCroskey, "The Influence of Ethnocentrism in Organizational Contexts: Perceptions of Interviewee and Managerial Attractiveness, Credibility, and Effectiveness."

55 Michael R. Maniaci and Ronald D. Rogge, "Caring About Carelessness: Participant Inattention and Its Effects on Research," Journal of Research in Personality 48 (2014); Michael J. Williams, "Prosocial Behavior Following Immortality Priming: Experimental Tests of Factors with Implications for Cve Interventions," Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression 9, no. 3 (2017).

56 Franz Faul et al., "Statistical Power Analyses Using G* Power 3.1: Tests for Correlation and Regression Analyses," Behavior Research Methods 41, no. 4 (2009); J. Cohen, Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences, 2nd ed. (Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, 1988).

57 Meyer, "Defining and Measuring Credibility of Newspapers: Developing an Index."

58 Katherine A. McComas and Craig W. Trumbo, "Source Credibility in Environmental Health – Risk Controversies: Application of Meyer’s Credibility Index," Risk Analysis 21, no. 3 (2001).

59 See Table 1 for descriptive statistics of the resultant credibility composite. Individual item descriptive statistics are available upon request.

60 Joana Neto and Félix Neto, "Ethnocentrism: A Short Form Measure (Sfgene-7)," SAGE Open 12, no. 2 (2022).

61 Lazar Stankov et al., "Sociopsychological Correlates of Militant Extremist Beliefs in a Postconflict Society: The Importance of Ethnocentrism and Quality of Interethnic Contacts," Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 23, no. 8 (2020).

62 See Table 1 for descriptive statistics of the resultant ethnocentrism composite. Individual item descriptive statistics are available upon request.

63 Stefan Malthaner and Peter Waldmann, "The Radical Milieu: Conceptualizing the Supportive Social Environment of Terrorist Groups," Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 37, no. 12 (2014); Emily Winterbotham and Elizabeth Pearson, The Radical Milieu: A Methodological Approach to Conducting Research on Violent Extremism, Researching Violent Extremism Series (Resolve Network, 2020).

64 Stankov et al., "Sociopsychological Correlates of Militant Extremist Beliefs in a Postconflict Society: The Importance of Ethnocentrism and Quality of Interethnic Contacts."

65 See Donald P. Green and Peter M. Aronow, "Analyzing Experimental Data Using Regression: When Is Bias a Practical Concern?," Available at SSRN 1466886 (2011). for a discussion of the use of regression in experimental data.

66 Ethnocentrism index values, one or more standard deviation above the mean, are referred to as “high,” and those one or more standard deviation below are referred to as “low” hereafter.

67 See for example: Walsh and Gansewig, "A Former Right-Wing Extremist in School-Based Prevention Work: Research Findings from Germany."

68 Knupfer and Matthes, "An Attack against Us All? Perceived Similarity and Compassion for the Victims Mediate the Effects of News Coverage About Right-Wing Terrorism."

69 Vidhya Ramalingam, "On the Front Line: A Guide to Countering Far-Right Extremism" (2014).

70 Briggs and Feve, "Review of Programs to Counter Narratives of Violent Extremism."; Belanger and Szmania, "The Paradox of Source Credibility in Canadian and Us Domestic Counterterrorism Communications."; Bibi Van Ginkel, "Countering and Preventing the Threat of Terrorism and Violent Extremism: From the International and European to the National and Local Levels," Resilient Cities, Countering Violent Extremism at Local Level. In cooperation with CIDOB (Barcelona Center for International Affairs), University of St. Andrews and Europe for Citizens. Barcelona (2017).

71 Braddock and Morrison, "Cultivating Trust and Perceptions of Source Credibility in Online Counternarratives Intended to Reduce Support for Terrorism."

72 See for example: Daniel Koehler and Verena Fiebig, "Knowing What to Do: Academic and Practitioner Understanding of How to Counter Violent Radicalization," Perspectives on Terrorism 13, no. 3 (2019).

73 See for example: Daniel Koehler, "From Superiority to Supremacy: Exploring the Vulnerability of Military and Police Special Forces To extreme Right Radicalization," Studies in Conflict & Terrorism (2022).

74 See for example: Joel David Taylor, "’Suspect Categories,’ Alienation and Counterterrorism: Critically Assessing Prevent in the UK," Terrorism and Political Violence (2018).

75 Daniel Koehler, Structural Quality Standards for Work to Intervene with and Counter Violent Extremism (Ministry of the Interior, Digitisation and Migration Baden-Württemberg, 2017); Gordon Clubb et al., Selling De-Radicalisation: Managing the Media Framing of Countering Violent Extremism (Oxon: Routledge, 2021).

76 David C. Hofmann and Lorne L. Dawson, "The Neglected Role of Charismatic Authority in the Study of Terrorist Groups and Radicalization," Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 37, no. 4 (2014).

77 Gordon Clubb et al., Selling De-Radicalisation: Managing the Media Framing of Countering Violent Extremism (Oxon: Routledge, 2021).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniel Koehler

Daniel Koehler is the Founding Director of the German Institute on Radicalization and De-Radicalization Studies (GIRDS) and Editor in Chief of the Journal for Deradicalization.

Gordon Clubb

Gordon Clubb is Associate Professor in Terrorism at the University of Leeds

Jocelyn J. Bélanger

Jocelyn J. Bélanger is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at New York University Abu Dhabi

Michael H. Becker

Michael H. Becker is a doctoral student in the Department of Justice, Law, and Criminology at American University.

Michael J. Williams

Michael J. Williams is the Founding Director of The Science of P/CVE