Rajan Basra is a Senior Research Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) and a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of War Studies.

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. 

Research interests:

• Terrorism
• Radicalisation
• Crime-terror nexus
• Prisons

He is currently working on a project interviewing ex-prisoners to understand how imprisonment shapes attitudes to terrorism. He is also examining hostage negotiations with terrorist groups and how terrorists acquire firearms

 

Publications

• ‘Review of Evidence: Prison-based Interventions Targeting Violent Extremist Detainees’, Cross-Border Conflict Evidence Policy Trends (XCEPT), 2022; available here.
• ‘The Importance of Prisons to Terrorist Groups and Movements’, Cross-Border Conflict Evidence Policy Trends (XCEPT), 2022; available here.
• ‘The Future is Now: The Use of 3D-Printed Guns by Extremists and Terrorists’, Global Network on Extremism & Technology (GNET), 2022; available here.
• ‘Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures? Jihadist Recruits in Western Europe’ in Letizia Paoli, Cyrille Fijnaut, Jan Wouters (eds.), The Nexus Between Organized Crime and Terrorism: Types and Responses (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2022); available here.
• ‘Organisierte Kriminalität und Terrorismus: Das Beispiel Alan Ryan’ (Organised Crime and Terrorism: The Case of Alan Ryan), in Jana Kärgel (ed.), Terrorismus im 21. Jahrhundert (Bonn: BPB, 2021); available here.
• ‘Prisons and Terrorism: 5 Key Challenges’ in Christiane Höhn, Isabel Saavedra and Anne Weyembergh (eds.), The Fight Against Terrorism: Achievements and Challenges (Liber Amicorum Gilles de Kerchove) (Brussels: Bruylant, 2021) (co-author with Peter R. Neumann); available here and here.
• ‘Prisons and Terrorism: Extremist Offender Management in 10 European Countries’ (London: ICSR, 2020) (with Peter R. Neumann); available here.
• ‘Extremist Offender Management in England and Wales’ (London: ICSR, 2020); available here.
• ‘The YouTube Browsing Habits of a Lone Actor Terrorist’, Global Network on Extremism & Technology (GNET), 2020; available here.
• ‘Les jihadistes européens et le Nexus criminalité-terrorism’, in Bernard Rougier (ed.), Les Territoires Conquis de L’Islamisme (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2020) (with Peter R. Neuman); available here.
• ‘Drugs and Terrorism: The Overlaps in Europe’ (London: ICSR, 2019); available here.
• ‘Terrorism and Drugs in Europe’, Background paper commissioned by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addictions (EMCDDA) for the 2019 EU Drug Markets Report (Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2019); available here.
• ‘Terrorist Financing Since 9/11’, in David Martin Jones (ed.), Handbook on Terrorism and Insurgency Post 9/11 (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2019), pp. 79-91 (with John Holland-McCowan); available here.
• ‘Islamic State Propaganda and Attacks: How Are They Connected?’, Perspectives on Terrorism, Volume 13, Issue 5, 2019, pp. 39-60 (with Nate Rosenblatt and Charlie Winter); available here.
• ‘How the Synagogue Shooting in Germany Fits Into a Global Pattern of Far-Right Terrorism’, TIME Magazine, 10 October 2019 (with Blyth Crawford and Florence Keen); available here.
• ‘The New Crime-Terror Nexus in Europe’, in Andreas Gofas (ed.), Terrorism and European Security Governance (Florence: European University Institute, 2018) (with Peter R. Neumann); available here.
• ‘Crime as Jihad: Developments in the Crime-Terror Nexus in Europe’, CTC Sentinel, Volume 10, Issue 9, 2017, pp. 1-6 (with Peter R. Neumann); available here.
• ‘Caliphate in Decline: An Estimate of Islamic State’s Financial Fortunes’ (London: ICSR, 2017) (with Peter Neumann, John Holland McCowan, and Stefan Heißner); available here.
• ‘Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European Jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus’, Perspectives on Terrorism, Volume 10, Issue 6, 2016, pp. 25-40 (with Peter R. Neumann); available here.
• ‘Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European Jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus’ (London: ICSR, 2016) (with Peter R. Neumann and Claudia Brunner); available here.

See Dr Basra's PURE Profile