Seven years after the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) occupation of Iraq, over one million Iraqis remain displaced. Among these are a notable proportion of people affiliated with, or perceived to be affiliated with, the terrorist group – and many of them fear retribution if they return home.

In this panel event, Dr Joana Cook and Associate Professor Kristen Kao will present their research on the return and reintegration of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who are associated with ISIS.

In a discussion moderated by Dr Rajan Basra, they will highlight the stigma surrounding returnees, the diverse needs of children from ISIS-affiliated families, attitudes towards justice amongst the Iraqi population, and what the future holds for Iraq if this issue is not resolved.

Register to attend online: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fBG1jt-lRqSdAHb60ij5yg

Register to attend in person: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/affiliated-with-terrorism-tickets-1026889091917

Presented by the XCEPT research programme, in King's College Department of War Studies, as part of King's Culture's Lost and Found season.

Speakers

Dr Joana Cook is an Assistant Professor of Terrorism and Political Violence at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), Leiden University (Netherlands), a Senior Project Coordinator/Editor in Chief at the International Centre for Counterterrorism (ICCT, Netherlands), and an Adjunct Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University (US). Her research focuses primarily on terrorism and counterterrorism, with a specialisation in the roles of women, children, and gender dynamics. More recently, she has also focused on non-state actor governance. You can read more about her work at www.joanacook.com.

Kristen Kao is an Associate Professor with the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. Kristen has published work on post-conflict reconciliation, non-state authorities, and forced migration in top journals including the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, and World Development, as well as the Oxford Handbook of Politics in Muslim Societies, among others. Kristen is an expert in in-depth interviewing, large-n surveys, and experimental design. Since 2006, she has been conducting fieldwork-based studies in the Middle East and Africa. She has been an advisor to the Carter Center, the National Democratic Institute, and the World Bank, and is a country expert for Freedom House. Kristen was a Fulbright Scholar in Egypt and a Boren Fellow in Jordan and Kuwait.

Dr Rajan Basra is a Research Fellow at the XCEPT project, a Senior Research Fellow at ICSR, and a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. He researches how terrorists think and act, focusing on the terrorist threat in Europe, the relationship between regular crime and terrorism, and the role of prisons in radicalisation and recruitment. Dr Basra has presented his research at the United Nations Security Council, the European Council, and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and is a member of the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN). He completed his PhD in War Studies at King’s College London, for which he won a 2021 King’s Outstanding Thesis Prize. He holds an MA in Terrorism, Security, and Society from King’s College London and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Warwick.