Alex Schmid

Alex Schmid      (academic, “terror expert”)
Born	3 November 1943 Chur, Switzerland
Nationality	Dutch
Interests	• “extremism” • “Violent extremism” • “Non-violent extremism”
Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence/Director In office May 2006 - Present Employer Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence Preceded by Magnus Ranstorp  Officer-in-Charge In office 1999 - 2005 Employer UN/Office On Drugs and Crime Location Vienna

Alex Schmid is a "terror expert" who has argued that there is no valid distinction between "non-violent extremism" and "violent extremism".

Career

In May 2006 he was appointed to a Chair in International Relations at St Andrews University as well as succeeding Magnus Ranstorp as Director of its Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV). Since 2009, he is the editor of the journal Perspectives on Terrorism.

 

Quotes by Alex Schmid

Page	Quote	Date	Source
"Extremism"	“the distinction between “non-violent extremism” and “violent extremism” is not a valid one.”	May 2014	International Centre for Counter-Terrorism
"Non-violent extremism"	“It can even be argued that ‘non-violent extremism’ is a contradiction in terms. While there can be non-violent and violent radicals, it makes, in my view and based on the distinction between radicalism and extremism elaborated above, less sense to distinguish between violent and non-violent extremists.”	March 2013	Radicalisation, De-Radicalisation, Counter-Radicalisation: A Conceptual Discussion and Literature Review
Nonviolence	“preventing violent extremism is not enough; rather all extremism – Islamist and other – ought to be prevented, given the bloody track record of extremism in power in the twentieth century and beyond. Rather than distinguishing between non-violent and violent extremists, we should distinguish between extremists and non-extremists and support the latter against Islamists at home and abroad. Governments should challenge and resist all extremism, whether it is violent or not, whether it is Islamist or not.”	May 2014	International Centre for Counter-Terrorism

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.