On the 26th of September 2010, experts from varying academic backgrounds gathered in Doha, Qatar for a two-day workshop titled Perspectives on Terrorism, Resistance and Radicalisation. This workshop was organized by Al Jazeera Centre for Studies in partnership with the Economic and Social Research Council, UK and the European Muslim Research Centre, Exeter University.
The terms terrorism, resistance, and radicalism have been exhausted in the media and are a source of uncertainty amongst academics and the general public. The goal of this Workshop was to conduct a full and frank exchange of views and to build bridges between the varying points of views of experts from Europe, the United States and the Arab World. The Workshop was also intended to pave the way for a second bigger meeting of experts in the following year of 2011 to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
For those few days, academics and politicians enjoyed the opportunity of meeting and learning from each other to discuss their individual point of views on terrorism, resistance and radicalization. The experts were selected across varying disciples and from different regions, in addition to different political leanings. As Stuart Croft, moderator, astutely pointed out all the experts came together as individual researchers without the added burden of representing their respective organizations and institutions; this gave the participants a greater freedom to express their individual opinions.
The Workshop was constructed around four topical sessions scheduled over two days. Each session was compromised of five brief presentations from a panel of experts, followed by vigorous discussion and debate. As expected the few genuine consensuses were reached instead many new questions were raised.
Based on the presentations of the 24 panelists and the discussions that followed, this report identifies three main categories that sum up the various themes brought up.