Exploring new data showing why someone joins ISIS. A discussion of the sources of extremism and how to make societies more resilient. 

Steffen Hertog is Associate Professor in Comparative Politics, LSE. His book about Saudi state-building, Princes, Brokers and Bureaucrats: Oil and State in Saudi Arabia was published in 2011. He is the co-author, with Diego Gambetta, of Engineers of Jihad: the Curious Connection between Violent Extremism and Education.

Elisabeth Kendall (@Dr_E_Kendall) is Senior Research Fellow in Arabic & Islamic Studies, University of Oxford. She is the author or (co-) editor of several books, including ReClaiming Islamic Tradition, Twenty-First Century Jihad and Literature, Journalism and the Avant-Garde: Intersection in Egypt. She also conceived of and edits the Modern Middle Eastern Vocabularies series, which includes the titles Security Arabic, Intelligence Arabic and Media Arabic.

Azadeh Moaveni(@AzadehMoaveni) is Senior Gender Analyst at the International Crisis Group. She is the author of Lipstick Jihad and other books, and has reported on women and ISIS for The New York Times. She was Middle East correspondent for a decade for Time magazine and the Los Angeles Times, and is lecturer in journalism at New York University, London. Her book-length work on gender and militancy, ISIS Brides, will be published next autumn.

Peter Neumann (@PeterRNeumann) is Professor of Security Studies, War Studies Department and Director, International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, King’s College London. Peter has authored or co-authored five books, including Old and New Terrorism, and The Strategy of Terrorism (with MLR Smith). He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles, dealing with different aspects of terrorism and radicalization, especially ‘homegrown’ radicalization in Western countries.  Shorter articles and opinion pieces have appeared in, among others, the New York Times, Der Spiegel, and the International Herald Tribune

Jawad Iqbal is a Visiting Senior Fellow in the Institute of Global Affairs at LSE. He is a member of the Governing Council of Chatham House. Jawad has produced and edited a wide range of BBC News programmes. Since leaving the BBC, Jawad has become a contributor to The Times and Financial Times.

This event is one of a series of public events linked to the Hard Truths exhibition which will be on display at LSE from 1-26 October. 

The Institute of Global Affairs (@LSEIGA) aims to maximise the impact of LSE's leading expertise across the social sciences by shaping inclusive and locally-rooted responses to the most important and pressing global challenges.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSENYT and #HardTruthsNYT

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download from Hard Truths: global extremism.

The recording of the Facebook Live of this event is available to watch at Hard Truths: global extremism.

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.