Daniel Koehler - Director
Daniel Koehler studied religion, political sciences and economics at Princeton University and Free University Berlin. After having finished the postgraduate program ‘Master of Peace and Security Studies’ at the University of Hamburg top of his class he specialized on topics such as terrorism, radicalization, and de-radicalization. He worked as a de-radicalization and family counselor in multiple programs and developed several methodological approaches to de-radicalization, especially family counselling programs around the world. He published numerous articles and chapters on the topic. In addition, he gave expert interviews for leading international news outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, Rolling Stone Magazine, Associated Press, or the London Sunday Times. Daniel Koehler is also the co-founder of the first peer reviewed open access journal on de-radicalization, which he created together with the German Institute on Radicalization and De-Radicalization Studies (GIRDS) in 2014.
Between June 2015 and July 2019, GIRDS Director Daniel Koehler was a Fellow of George Washington University’s Program on Extremism at the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security.
In 2016 he was appointed to be the first court expert on de-radicalization in the United States of America at the District Court in Minneapolis. He has since then conducted risk assessment and de-radicalization evaluations of terrorist offenders in prison and trained expert personnel from various US Government agencies.
Since 2016 he also works with the Ministry of the Interior in Baden-Württemberg/Stuttgart to help coordinate the state wide prevention network against violent extremism and radicalization.
In July 2017 Daniel became a member of the Editorial Board of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism in The Hague.
In November 2019 he was appointed as Research Fellow at the new Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at the “Center for University Excellence (CUE)” of the American University in Washington D.C.
If you wish to contact Daniel Koehler for interviews or other requests please write a message to contact[at]girds.org.
Selected publications:
Monographs:
- The Radical’s Journey: How German Neo-Nazis Voyaged to the Edge and Back& (together with Arie Kruglanski and David Webber). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019
- Understanding Deradicalization. Methods, Tools and Programs for Countering Violent Extremism. Oxon/New York: Routledge, 2016
- Right-Wing Terrorism in the 21st Century. The National Socialist Underground and the History of Terror from the Far-Right in Germany. Oxon/New York: Routledge, 2016
Selected Articles and Papers:
- Fake it till you make it? Representation of Special Operations Forces capabilities in jihadist propaganda videos. In: Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 1-18.
- Violent Extremism, Mental Health and Substance Abuse among Adolescents: Towards a Trauma Psychological Perspective on Violent Radicalization and Deradicalization. In: The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology
- Switching Sides: Exploring Violent Extremist Intergroup Migration Across Hostile Ideologies Political Psychology, online first, doi.org/10.1111/pops.12633
- A Threat from Within? Exploring the Link between the Extreme Right and the Military ICCT Policy Brief. International Centre for Counter-Terrorism The Hague (2019).
- Knowing What to Do: Academic and Practitioner Understanding of How to Counter Violent Radicalization (together with Verena Fiebig), in: Perspectives on Terrorism (2019), 13(3), 44-62
- Violence and Terrorism from the Far-Right: Policy Options to Counter an Elusive Threat. ICCT Policy Brief. International Centre for Counter-Terrorism The Hague (2019).
- Recent Trends in German Right-Wing Violence and Terrorism: What are the Contextual Factors behind ‘Hive Terrorism’? In: Perspectives on Terrorism (2018), 12(6), 72-88.
- Parents’ Associations, Support Group Interventions and Countering Violent Extremism: An Important Step Forward in Combating Violent Radicalization. (together with Tobias Ehrt) In: International Annals of Criminology, (2018), 1-20. doi:10.1017/cri.2018.8
- Mapping Far-right Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Terrorism Efforts in the West: Characteristics of Plots and Perpetrators for Future Threat Assessment. (together with Peter Popella) In: Terrorism and Political Violence. (2018) doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2018.1500365
- How and why we should take deradicalization seriously. In: nature human behaviour, 1, 0095. May 26, 2017, doi:10.1038/s41562-017-0095
- Strategies of Contention. Right-Wing Extremism and ‘Counter-State Terror’ as a Threat for Western Democracies. at Sicherheitspolitik-Blog: March 2016
- Counter Extremism and Deradicalization in the German Armed Forces and Police. In: Radicals in Uniform: Case studies of Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Slovakia. A. Potočňák and R. Vicenová (ed.). Bratislava, Centre for European and North Atlantic Affairs, 2015, pp. 50-69.
- Family Counselling, De-radicalization and Counter-Terrorism: The Danish and German programs in context. In: Countering Violent Extremism: Developing an evidence-base for policy and practice. S. Zeiger and A. Aly (ed.). Perth, Curtin University: 129-136. 2015
- “De-radicalization Programs and Counter-terrorism: A Promising Agenda?:http://www.isn.ethz.ch/Digital-Library/Articles/Detail/?lng=en&id=192476 In: ISN Security Watch, July 2015.
- Violent Radicalization Revisited: A Practice-Oriented Model. In: ISN Security Watch, June 2015.
- Familienberatung als Teil der Prävention und Intervention gegen jihadistische Radikalisierung. In: Kriminalistik 5(2015): 338-344.
- Right-Wing Terrorism in Germany and Beyond. In: ISN Security Watch, May 2015.
- Rechtsterrorismus in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Ein Profil. In: Kriminalistik (3)2015, 202-208
- De-radicalization Programs as Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Extremism Tools. An Introduction into Theory and Practice. In: Panorama of global security environment 2014; Centre for European and North Atlantic Affairs. Bratislava 2015: 571-581
- Using Family Counseling to Prevent and Intervene Against Foreign Fighters: Operational Perspectives, Methodology and Best Practices for Implementing Codes of Conduct. Middle East Institute & Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique. June 2015.
- De-radicalization and Disengagement Programs as Counter-Terrorism and Prevention Tools. Insights From Field Experiences regarding German Right-Wing Extremism and Jihadism. In: Lombardi, Marco; Eman, Ragab; Chin, Vivienne; Dandurand, Yvon; de Devitiis, Valerio; Burato, Alessandro (Hrsg.); NATO Science for Peace and Security Series – E: Human and Societal Dynamics. Volume 118: Countering Radicalisation and Violent Extremism Among Youth to Prevent Terrorism. 2015. S.: 120-150, DOI: 10.3233/978-1-61499-470-1-120
- Contrast Societies. Radical Social Movements and their relationships with their target societies. A theoretical model. In: Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 7(1), 2015, 18-37; Online
- German Right-Wing Terrorism in Historical Perspective. A First Quantitative Overview of the ‘Database on Terrorism in Germany (Right-Wing Extremism)’ – DTG rwx ’ Project. In: Perspectives on Terrorism, 8(5), 48-58. Online
- The German ‘National Socialist Underground (NSU)’ and Anglo-American Networks. The internationalization of Far-Right Terror. In: Paul Jackson; Anton Shekhovtsov (eds.), The Postwar Anglo-American Far Right: A Special Relationship of Hate; Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2014: 122-141
- Right-Wing Extremist Radicalization Processes: The Formers’ Perspective. In: JEX Journal EXIT-Deutschland. Zeitschrift für Deradikalisierung und demokratische Kultur, 1/2014, 307-377.
- Deradicalization. In: Hall, Nathan et al. (eds.): The International Handbook of Hate Crime. Routledge, 2014, 420-429
- Family Counselling as Prevention and Intervention Tool Against ‘Foreign Fighters’. The German ‘Hayat’ Program. In: JEX Journal EXIT-Deutschland. Zeitschrift für Deradikalisierung und demokratische Kultur. 3/2013; 182-204
- Becoming an Extremist: Lifestyle Elements and Right-Wing Radicalization in Germany. Together with Cynthia Miller-Idriss. Conference paper presented at 20th International Conference of Europeanists, Council for European Studies, Amsterdam 2013
- Geneva Convention – article in: The Encyclopedia of Global Religion. Juergensmeyer, Mark; & Wade Clark Roof (eds.); 439-440; Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publishers, 2012
- European Union – article in: The Encyclopedia of Global Religion. Juergensmeyer, Mark; & Wade Clark Roof (eds.); 378-382; Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publishers, 2012