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<span class="vcard">Marc Sommers</span>

Marc Sommers

Guest Author

Marc Sommers, PhD (@MarcSommers) is a consultant and Africanist, and an internationally recognized youth, CVE, peacebuilding, and conflict specialist. He has served as Senior Conflict Advisor for the State Department and Senior Research Advisor for the IGAD Center of Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (seconded by the State Dept.). He has provided strategic advice and conducted research and evaluations in 22 war-affected countries. An award-winning author, his publications include: Youth and the Field of Countering Violent Extremism, and Trust-Based, Qualitative Field Methods: A Manual for Researchers of Violent Extremism. His next book is called We the Young Fighters: Pop Culture, Terror & War in Sierra Leone (University of Georgia Press, 2023).

Articles by this author:

A crowd gathers around a man (not seen) who had been beaten by a crowd because they suspected him of taking part in a thwarted "terrorist" attack on the military base in the background, in Kati, Mali, on July 22, 2022. The Malian army said it had thwarted the alleged "terrorist" attack on the base, which is located on the outskirts of the capital and is used by the military junta that rules Mali.

The Failing Response to Violent Extremism in Africa – and the Need to Reform the International Approach

Sep. 19, 2022 Marc Sommers

Soldiers in action during a drill on day three of the China-Russia counter-terrorist Cooperation-2017 on December 5, 2017 in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China. They hold guns and speak in a circle.

Violent Extremism and the Governance Challenge

Jan. 29, 2021 Marc Sommers

A US army instructor walks next to Malian soldiers on April 12, 2018 during an anti-terrorism exercise at the Kamboinse

Militarized Counterterrorism in Africa: Moving Beyond a Failed Approach

Oct. 30, 2020 Eric Rosand and Marc Sommers