The latest CONNEKT report includes two comparative studies (one on the Balkans and another on the MENA region) based on the research findings of the project on the macro-level factors influencing violent extremism and radicalisation among youth in seven countries, and the institutional approaches addressing them. One of the findings that stands out is the interconnectedness of the factors driving youth to radicalisation. Namely, some drivers become influential in the presence of another driver, for instance, religion and territorial inequality, or economic deprivation and territorial inequality.

The findings are divided into the seven drivers the project is looking at (religion, territorial inequalities, economic deprivation, political grievances, cultural factors and leisure opportunities, digital literacy, and transnational dynamics).

There are two other featured conclusions emerging from this regional report:

Security focus. Both regions share the reliance on security structures to tackle violent extremism and are insufficiently focused on softer measures and on expanding cooperation with civil society and academic institutions.

Shared events and developments. Both regions have been affected by the wars in Syria and Iraq and have had the influence of international bodies on both the approaches the countries take and the understanding that they have of the issues of these phenomena.

This new publication is based on the previous national reports developed by the project in Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Bulgaria that were informed on data provided by a review of policies in each country, as well as interviews conducted with state actors, civil society representatives, academia and representatives of international organizations.

The editors of this new publication with the two regional reports are Florian Bieber and Lura Pollozhani (The Centre of Southeast European Studies of the University of Graz). The authors of the report on the MENA region are Khalid Mouna and Amina Er-Rifaiy (Université Moulay Ismaïl, Meknès) and the authors of the report on the Balkans region are Vlado Kambovski, Lidija Gerogieva, and Naum Trajanovski, from the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts.