Beatrice de Graaf

• Distinguished Professor at Utrecht University

The climate crisis calls for radical action, but what drives people to engage in climate protest? We recruited respondents during protests of Extinction Rebellion in the Netherlands and examined how intentions to engage in normative action (e.g., protest march), moderate nonnormative action (e.g., roadblock), and openness to more extreme nonnormati...

On 2 July 2022, the Dutch government submitted a request for advice to the Advisory Council on International Affairs (AIV) on the subject of hybrid threats. The request for advice notes that hybrid activities represent a growing threat to national and international security. How can the government – and Dutch society – be better prepared for such t...

Facing the looming threat of the climate crisis, climate movements using strategies of nonviolent civil disobedience have recently attract attention. To better understand what drives such groups to protest possibly in law-violating ways, we conducted qualitative interviews among 106 people involved with Extinction Rebellion in the Netherlands. Thes...

Een exploratief onderzoek naar de lesbrief van TerInfo Op 24 februari 2022 begon de Russische invasie in Oekraïne. Beelden van de oorlog gingen al snel rond op sociale media en hielden Nederlandse kinderen bezig. Met vragen kwamen zij de klas binnen. Uit eerder onderzoek is gebleken dat docenten het lastig vinden om disruptieve momenten te bespreke...

In this manuscript, we introduce a theoretical model of climate radicalization that integrates social psychological theories of perceived unfairness with historical insights on radicalization to contribute to the knowledge of individuals’ processes of radicalization and non-radicalization in relation to climate change. We define climate radicalizat...

Eight seasoned researchers from the Dutch humanities and social sciences draw on their experiences as public/applied scientists to offer 10 recommendations to young scholars (and science policymakers) on how to increase the societal impact of their academic work

This article investigates the phenomenon and practice of intercountry adoption from a historical perspective by using applied history methods. In particular, we employed the method of historicizing current concerns, such as the notion of abuses, and contextualizing them in history. With these methods, we contributed to the Dutch governmental assess...

In this article, we review the psychology of religion and radicalization. In doing so, we note that both macro-level approaches (that study structural conditions in society) and micro-level approaches (that focus on psychological coping and personal appraisal of individual conditions) fail to adequately explain radical behavior of members of extrem...

In geval van dreiging is het verleidelijk om de noodtoestand af te kondigen. Ofschoon de noodtoestand een juridische grondslag kent, is de uitwerking en doorwerking ervan niet op voorhand duidelijk. De auteurs laten zien dat de betekenis van noodmaatregelen van land tot land verschilt, en dat de noodtoestand vooral door politiek-bestuurlijke a...

This contribution presents a short overview on the impact of the Capitol Riots riots in Europe. Fear of a similar mass-mediated contagion was explicitly expressed by most of the European leaders. Echoes and acclamation for the riots in the U.S. were indeed heard on websites, QAnon-sites, and within circles of Trump supporters in Europe as well. An...

The Cambridge History of Terrorism provides a comprehensive reference work on terrorism from a distinctly historical perspective, offering systematic analyses of key themes, problems and case studies from terrorism's long past. Featuring expert scholars from across the globe, this volume examines the phenomenon of terrorism through regional case st...

This article investigates how 12 upper-elementary school teachers dealt with the occurrence of a terrorist attack in their city during school hours and in the immediate aftermath. All teachers were interviewed shortly after the terrorist attack about their goals, dilemmas, and pedagogical strategies employed in the classroom. We found that during t...

In this paper, we address the question on how societies coped with pandemic crises, how they tried to control or adapt to the disease, or even managed to overcome the death trap in history. On the basis of historical research, we describe how societies in the western world accommodated to or exited hardship and restrictive measures over the course...

This paper holds that ISIS employed a substantial, administratively cohesive, operable police organization that took care of ‘ordinary’ public order and law enforcement tasks. While the Departments of Public Security (emni) and Religious Compliance (hisba) have been at the center of most media coverage and popular literature on the Islamic State, I...

Lesbrief naar aanleiding van de avondklokrellen 23-25 januari 2021 Utrecht, 1 februari 2021 Inleiding: wat vormt de aanleiding van deze lesbrief? Op 23 januari 2021 stelde de Nederlandse regering de avondklok in. Dit betekent dat er vanwege het gevaar van coronabesmetting niemand meer na negen uur 's avonds op straat mocht zijn. Diezelfde avond raa...

Full text: https://ageofrevolutions.com/2021/01/15/red-white-and-blood-white-terror-and-great-fear-1789-2021/

This article introduces three historical situations where governments, or more accu- rately, specific leaders in office, shaped the international context in dealing with a transboundary crisis—and were in turn crucially affected in their reign by this crisis. The question at stake is: under what conditions did leaders (and their governments) engage...

The literature on meaning has recently been enriched by Baumeister’s and von Hippel’s evolutionary account delineating why nature selected human minds to use meaning. This is an important contribution to the fascinating study of meaning. Here we aim to complement the Baumeister and von Hippel article by arguing that humans engage in psychological p...

In this Research Paper, ICCT – The Hague Research Fellow Beatrice de Graaf emphasises the importance of effective communication and performance in the fight against terrorism and the fear it aims to induce. Essentially, terrorists and states are conducting ‘influence warfare’, a battle to convince and persuade the different target audiences to rall...

Op maandag 18 maart 2019 opende Gökmen T. het vuur in de sneltram naar station Utrecht Centraal, ter hoogte van het 24 Oktoberplein. Omdat het aanvankelijk onduidelijk was of het om een schietincident ging of om een terroristische aanslag, nam de gemeente Utrecht vergaande maatregelen. Zo mochten kinderen en volwassenen de scholen en universiteit n...

Beatrice de Graaf: al eeuwenlang raast af en toe een pandemie over de wereld. In de strijd tegen COVID-19 kunnen we leren van vroegere voorbeelden. Dat geldt zeker voor de nauwe internationale samenwerking in de negentiende eeuw. Dankzij uitwisseling van kennis en kunde wisten regeringen en wetenschappers veel ziektes te verslaan. In het jaar 810 l...

In July 1815, after the second defeat of Napoleon, Paris was a hub for allied activities – and a site of discontent and anxiety for its French inhabitants. The allied ministers sought to defuse the French spirit of revolution – not solely through treaties, but through a military occupation of France. This novel type of collective action was managed...

Nir Arielli. From Byron to bin Laden. A History of Foreign War Volunteers. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA)2018. 295 pp. $35.00; £25.95; €31.50. - Volume 64 Issue 3 - Beatrice de Graaf

In this article, a case for developing a Christian approach to (in)security is offered, hinging on the idea that there is an end to evil. It is argued that there still is merit in combining the human longing for securitas with a biblical sense of certitudo. First, a short selection of religious or ecclesiastical thought and action on the topic of s...

Beatrice de Graaf argues that new ideas on a ‘balance of power’ were a very distinctively novel way of not just theorizing, but also putting into practice ideas on collective security after 1815. This principle of moderation was to calm down the tide of evil passions and revolutions, but also an instrument to secure the highly asymmetrical division...

On behalf of the mayor of Arnhem, an interdisciplinary research team of Utrecht University evaluated the local anti-radicalization program in the city of Arnhem. The report maps the social network and contacts between the local partners, measures the knowledge and skills of the street-level professionals involved, and evaluates the the inter-organi...

This book is a timely and significant examination of the role of counter-messaging via social media as a potential means of preventing or countering radicalization to violent extremism. In recent years, extremist groups have developed increasingly sophisticated online communication strategies to spread their propaganda and promote their cause, enab...

Securing Europe after Napoleon - edited by Beatrice de Graaf February 2019

Cambridge Core - Diplomatic and International History - Securing Europe after Napoleon - edited by Beatrice de Graaf

The notion of a European security culture is introduced here to analyse the political constellation emerging after the Congress of Vienna. As an alternative to the focus on international diplomacy and high politics defined by interests of state, the notion of security culture serves to identify the institutional structures within which interests ar...

Securing Europe after Napoleon - edited by Beatrice de Graaf February 2019

Queen of Peace. Emperor Wilhelm II, Queen Wilhelmina, and the End of the First World War A hundred years ago, on 10 November 1918, Emperor Wilhelm II fled occupied Belgium, in the face of a revolution and impending civil war in Germany. The Dutch government has always claimed a complete lack of pre-knowledge, and surprise at the Emperor’s arrival...

Eind december 2017 heeft de Burgemeester van Amsterdam aan externe deskundigen gevraagd de ‘Amsterdamse aanpak voor bestrijding van radicalisering en terrorisme nader tegen het licht te houden’. In aanvulling op het onderzoek van de Taskforce naar de bedrijfsvoering rond het gelijknamige programma zou ook de inhoud hiervan moeten worden besproken....

After the Vienna Congress in 1815, the Allied ministers did not return home, but continued their negotiations in Paris. They deliberated on the measure of reparation payments and arrear payments that France owed to the other European states. The new peace also rested on financial securities. The United Kingdom of the Netherlands assumed a large par...

This study commissioned by the Scientific Research and Documentation Center (WODC) of the Dutch Ministriy of Justice and Security analyses the experiences of Western-particularly Western European-countries upon declaring a state of emergency in response to terrorist threats. Its purpose is to identify relevant lessons that the Netherlands can learn...

In this report, the authors examine the extent to which counter-narrative initiatives via social media can be effective in preventing people from radicalization or can de-radicalize people. Specifically, they formulate the following research questions: (1) How can we conceptualize narratives and counter-narratives? (2) How are narratives and cou...

About the Book This book seeks to understand the processes of reintegration of former Jihadist detainees, as well as the role that the police and other frontline professionals play in this process. Over the past few decades the number of people who have been detained under the suspicion of terrorist activities has grown significantly. This has re...

Terrorism and radicalization studies. An explosive research field Studying terrorism and radicalization is quite problematic because of a lack of reliable sources. Finding out what motivates terrorists often boils down to educated guessing. The author describes the search for an academic definition of terrorism and summarizes the development of thi...

In this article, a case for developing a Christian approach to (in)security is offered, hinging on the idea that there is an end to evil. It is argued that there still is merit in combining the human longing for securitas with a biblical sense of certitudo. First, a short selection of religious or ecclesiastical thought and action on the topic of s...

After the release. Observations and dilemmas in dealing with (former) detainees with a jihadist background Over the last decades the number of people who have been detained on the suspicion of terrorism has significantly grown. This has resulted in an increased scholarly interest in the topic of prisons and terrorism. However, the main focus of aca...

This chapter elaborates on the different strategies of some of the main actors in the Breivik trial, particularly the defendant and his defence team, and the Attorney General and the prosecution’s team. The main sources are Breivik’s compendium 2083: A European Declaration of Independence, an accurate word-for-word transcript of the court proceedin...

This is one of the first scientific studies on the societal reintegration of jihadist former detainees. They showed that the reintegration process isn't without problems. ”Upon release" (Na de vrijlating) provides a unique insight into how detainees with jihadistic backgrounds return to society. When a former detainee is released from prison, it...

In contemporary wars, with public opinion impacting heavily on outcomes, strategic narratives provide a grid for interpreting the why, what and how of the conflict. This book asks how public support for the deployment of military troops to Afghanistan was garnered, sustained or lost in thirteen contributing nations. Public attitudes in the US, Cana...

Second-tier Diplomacy: Hans von Gagern and William I in their Quest for an Alternative European Order, 1813–1818 This article supplements Anglo- or Prussian dominated readings of the Vienna Conference by focusing more on its beginnings, on alternative scenarios of a Dutch-German union and on the process of diplomatic bargaining by secondary agents....

This paper analyzes the Dutch deployment in Uruzgan between 2006 and 2010 with an eye to the challenge of garnering public support for protracted military missions abroad. The hypothesis is that public support can be shaped and sustained by strategic narratives regarding the use of force. Ringsmose and Børgesen's model on strategic narratives is di...

Since 9/11, the state of the art in counter-terrorism (CT) research, CT measures and CT impacts has taken off. Nevertheless, countering terrorism as a branch of fear management is still a discipline to be developed. In this ICCT Research Paper, authors Prof. Dr. Edwin Bakker and Prof. Dr. Beatrice de Graaf attempt to lessen this gap. The Paper iden...

In this article, the violent threat emerging from “menacing loners” and autonomous cells in The Netherlands is being historicized and contextualized by providing quantitative and qualitative insight into this threat and illuminating some of the most dramatic incidents. Although beyond the core purpose of this mainly empirical article, some tentativ...

Since 9/11, the state of the art in counter-terrorism research, counter-terorism measures and counter-terrorism impacts has taken off. Nevertheless, countering terrorism as a branch of fear management is still a discipline to be developed. In this Research Paper, authors Prof. Dr. Edwin Bakker and Prof. Dr. Beatrice de Graaf attempt to lessen this...

In debates on the preemptive measures of the war on terror, criminal law is often regarded as the antithesis to exception—a conventional mode of response that acts on the basis of past harm. Since September 11, 2001, however, significant new terrorism laws have been adopted in most countries in order to make possible the disruption and prosecution...

On 24 August 2012, the judges of the Oslo District Court passed their final verdict in the case of Anders Behring Breivik, declaring Breivik criminally sane and legally responsible for the killing of 77 people during the bombing of government buildings in Oslo and the shooting spree on the island of Utøya on 22 July 2011. This ICCT – The Hague Rese...

Security History is a new field in historical research. Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories have attracted since some years great attention, both in historical and in social research. A thorough study of those both opposed and mirroring key phenomena and concepts does not exist. This contribution tries to outline a sketch of the development of the...

This introduction offers a brief historiographic account on current histories of security. A case is made for historians to rely more on and profit from recent theories and concepts in political science, most notably the concepts invented by the Copenhagen School on securitization. Furthermore, an attempt is made to 'historicize security' and provi...

In this paper we introduce the fight against anarchism at the end of the 19th century as a security dispositive. An analysis of the emergence of the dispositive of the Black International conspiracy and the rise of new modes of governance in the wake of the fight against violent anarchism in the Netherlands is presented as a bottom-up process of se...

In this paper the emergence and effect of international anarchism during the late nineteenth century in the Netherlands is analysed as a security and conspiracy dispositive. The dispositive was invoked by anarchists and police officials alike, who used new techniques of suggesting threat and imagining danger. It was legitimized by the late nineteen...

Security is not just the outcome of physical or political circumstances and incidents. People and organisations have to attribute meaning to those circumstances and incidents. They have to be incorporated into political, administrative, and bureaucratic decision-making processes and procedures. The history of security is not usually described in th...

Security is not just the outcome of physical or political circumstances and incidents. People and organisations have to attribute meaning to those circumstances and incidents. They have to be incorporated into political, administrative, and bureaucratic decision-making processes and procedures. The history of security is not usually described in th...

In this article we scrutinize the construction of complex threat perceptions and security conceptions in relation to the introduction of security measures by the security services. We find that for most of the history of the Dutch security services, political control and interference was limited to the decision to establish or shut down an institut...

In this paper the emergence and effect of international anarchism during the late nineteenth century in the Netherlands is analysed as a security and conspiracy dispositive. The dispositive was invoked by anarchists and police officials alike, who used new techniques of suggesting threat and imagining danger. It was legitimized by the late nineteen...

Onderzoek naar de maatschappelijke effecten van bestuurlijk optreden bij terreurdreiging en extreem geweld

Politische Gewalt und Terrorismus stellen nicht nur ein Phänomen der Moderne dar, sondern besitzen auch eine (Rechts-)Geschichte. Unter dem zentralen Aspekt der rechtlichen und polizeilichen Reaktionen auf politische Kriminalität präsentiert dieser Band exemplarische Studien zur Geschichte des politischen Verbrechens in Mitteleuropa, den Niederland...