Security expert to present lecture on why terrorists give up

A leading security expert will discuss why terrorists give up at a University of Wolverhampton lecture.

George Kassimeris, Professor of Security at the University, will present his inaugural lecture on Tuesday, 2 May 2017.

Professor Kassimeris has been researching and writing on terrorism and political violence for more than 20 years and has successfully built a reputation as the leading expert on Greek terrorism and one of the best recognised European scholars working in the field.

The free lecture will take place in the Mary Seacole Building (MH002) in Nursery Street, Wolverhampton from 5.30-6.30pm. There will be a drinks reception afterwards in the Lord Swraj Building.

Professor Kassimeris, from the University’s Faculty of Social Sciences, said: “Despite the adage ‘once a terrorist always a terrorist’, terrorists can and frequently do give up committing acts of violence. This is a crucially important observation that offers much potential insight to policymakers and counterterrorism officers battling with the current generation of terrorists, who should consider what lessons we can learn from terrorists who desist. Addressing the question of why individual members of a terrorist organisation give up their violence has become increasingly important as the jihadist threat evolves into a less hierarchical and more diffuse cellular system.”

In the lecture, Professor Kassimeris will argue: “Given the potential value of such analysis for counterterrorism efforts, understanding individual exit from a terrorist organisation should be viewed as having the same urgency as understanding the reasons why people join such organisations in the first place and why they choose to remain in them.”

Kassimeris’s research on terrorism has received funding from the Leverhulme Trust, the British Academy, the Nuffield Foundation, the European Union and the Smith Richardson Foundation. He has lectured widely on terrorism and political violence, including invited lectures and keynote speeches in Britain, the United States, Canada, France, Serbia, Spain, Turkey and Greece.

A political journalist before joining the academia, Kassimeris comments regularly for current security affairs for the BBC and other international media. His journalism has appeared in a wide range of publications including the Wall Street Journal Europe, The Financial Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Independent, The Economist Intelligence Unit, The World Today, The South China Morning Post, and The Times Literary Supplement.

All are welcome to attend. To book a place, email: FOSSresearch@wlv.ac.uk

Professor George Kassimeris profile.

ENDS

Picture: Professor George Kassimeris

For more information please contact the Media Relations Office on 01902 32 2736 or 01902 518647.

Date Issued: Tuesday, 25 April 2017