RUSI Europe is key partner in the Radicalisation Awareness Network Policy Support (RAN PS) in the Western Balkans project. Funded by the European Commission, this multi-year project provides support for preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) work in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

The RAN PS Western Balkans aims to gather a community of experts from academia, think tanks, public and private sector institutions and civil society organisations to support policymakers in developing and implementing evidence-based national and local P/CVE policies. RAN PS Western Balkans aims to achieve this by:

• providing data;
• enhancing uptake of EU best practices and approaches;
• strengthening strategic and operational cooperation within the region and with the EU on terrorism and P/CVE.

Activities of the RAN PS Western Balkans project include capacity-building events, specialised papers, and research-related meetings on a range of topics including:

• Ideologies and Polarisation;
• Prison, Radicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration;
• The Online Dimension and Strategic Communications;
• The Local Dimension, Communities and Resilience Building; and
• Victims and Survivors of Terrorism.

RUSI Europe co-leads the project’s research and knowledge generation functional unit, convening Thematic Research Meetings and producing policy and research papers on preventing and countering violent extremism in the Western Balkans. RUSI Europe is mobilising its broad network of international strategic communication and PCV/E research experts to inform policymaking on specific aspects of preventing and countering violent extremism.

RAN Policy Support in the Western Balkans is an expansion of the European Commission’s RAN Policy Support project, which started in January 2021 to support EU policymakers on preventing and countering violent extremism. The RAN PS consortium is experienced in advising public bodies and national authorities in non-EU countries, in collaborating with non-state actors, and sharing extensive expertise in strategic communications and P/CVE work.