This text has been translated from Norwegian with the assistance of GPT UiO
– Which research project are you most preoccupied with?
– I’ve had several balls in the air over the past few months. Together with other researchers who are – or have been – affiliated with the Centre for Research on Extremism (C-REX), we are contributing to an anthology on “Right-Wing Extremism in Norway after 22 July”. The editor is Anders Ravik Jupskås, who succeeded me as director of C-REX. The book will be published at the end of June to mark the 15th anniversary of the attacks. The anthology also summarises some of the research we have conducted during the ten years C-REX has been in operation. I am contributing a chapter on local prevention of extremism, and I am co-author of a chapter on right-wing extremist activists and their pathways into activism.
– The other thing I have worked a lot on in recent months is two parallel surveys on harassment and threats against politicians. One is aimed at members of the Storting (Norwegian Parliament), the government and the parties’ national executive committees, and is linked to my adjunct position at the Norwegian Police University College. This is the fourth time we are conducting this survey, which has been carried out at the end of each parliamentary term in 2013, 2017, 2021 and, most recently, in the winter of 2025. This is a commission to the Police University College from the Police Security Service (PST), which is responsible for protecting public officials. The report will be published in May.
– The other survey is commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and Equality and forms part of the government’s action plan against hate and harassment targeting the Sámi. Here we ask the same questions about experiences of harassment and threats to members of the Sámi Parliament and the parties’ committees on Sámi policy. This project is linked both to the Police University College and to our ongoing project on hate crime at C-REX.
– What do you hope to find out?
– From our previous surveys we know that harassment and threats can be a heavy burden for our elected politicians, with negative consequences for both their private lives and their political work. Among national-level politicians, the vast majority have been subjected to something, and around 40 per cent have experienced serious threats, such as threats to harm them or their families, damage to property, and (in a small number of cases) direct attacks. A particular concern is that among those who have been subjected to harassment or threats, there is a large proportion who restrict their public statements on controversial issues or consider withdrawing from politics altogether. This harms democratic processes and can affect who is willing to be a politician. Among Sámi politicians we see that the negative consequences are even greater. Both surveys also show that female politicians are the most strongly affected by the consequences of harassment and threats.
– Why is this important?
– The findings from the surveys of national politicians are actively used in PST’s security advice to politicians.
– We also believe that the results from the survey among Sámi politicians will be of practical use in improving their sense of security and in preventing so many Sámi politicians from holding back their views or withdrawing from politics because the strain becomes too great.
– Who are you collaborating with?
– Both surveys are based at the Police University College, where the data collection and statistical processing of the material are carried out by a research assistant, with support from several researchers.
– In the survey of Sámi politicians, I also work closely with Mikkel Berg-Nordlie at NIBR at OsloMet. He has researched Sámi politics for many years.
– What do you look for when choosing collaborators?
– I look for expertise that I lack myself. I am trained as a social anthropologist and most of my experience is from qualitative research. But I also have a foot in criminology and political science, and I have led several quantitative studies. In those cases, I need partners who can process statistical data into a format that I can interpret and analyse. I have competent colleagues at the Police University College for that. For the survey on Sámi politicians, I needed a partner with deep insight into Sámi politics and experiences. Mikkel has a Sámi background himself and is also a skilled political scientist.
– In addition, I have collaborated with several leading international researchers in my various fields of research, who have had complementary insights. I have edited several anthologies and special issues and have been able to invite top researchers to workshops. This has given me a large international research network.
– Who is this research relevant for outside academia, and what do you do to ensure they benefit from it?
– A driving force throughout my research career has been to help reduce violence, hatred and racism in society, and to build democracy, tolerance and security. Most of my research has had a clear preventive purpose. I have regarded it as a mark of quality when my research-based knowledge can be translated into practice. I have worked closely with municipalities and central authorities, the police and the correctional services, and with civil society organisations.
– I have found that the police have been particularly interested in my research, and that is why I have been a professor at the Police University College since 2004 – in an adjunct capacity for the last ten years, after I became director of C-REX. At C-REX I have, among other things, led research on prevention and interventions. My experience is that both practitioners and policymakers have considered our research highly relevant. My colleagues at C-REX and I are continually invited by international organisations, national and local authorities, and civil society organisations such as support groups for victims of terrorism.
– Do you have any examples of the research being used outside academia?
– The most concrete example is that, based on my doctoral research on active and former participants in racist and neo-Nazi environments, I started in 1997 the very first Exit project for people who wanted to disengage from these movements. This idea spread quickly to Sweden and Germany and later to many other countries, where similar Exit projects were established. The understanding that it is possible for people involved in terrorism and violent extremism to disengage and return to society has, over the last 20 years, become a key element in policy development and practical work against violent extremism (P/CVE). I believe I have contributed to this.
- Listen to Tore Bjørgo present his work
– As a pioneer in this field, I have helped to develop much of the conceptual framework used by other researchers. This includes the distinction between “deradicalisation” and “disengagement”, and how we can use push, pull and barrier factors to analyse why individuals are recruited into, and disengage from, extremist groups.
– In addition, I have helped to spread knowledge about preventing extremism among local practitioners, for example through training mentors in municipalities. Last year I helped to produce a handbook on managing extremism in prisons.
– What other research projects are you involved in?
– Over the past three years I have led a project on hate crime in the Norwegian context, with a strong research team from C-REX and NIBR. In addition, part of the Research Council of Norway funding has gone to societal partners, which in our case have been two: the police’s national centre of expertise on hate crime and the so-called Hate Crime Network. The network consists of organisations that represent groups exposed to hate crime and is coordinated by the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud.
– Together with a partner, Robert Örell, we have also built a dataset of interviews with former extremists, which is being made available to other researchers and students. There is great demand for access to these transcribed interviews, as it is difficult to persuade former extremists to take part in such interviews. Robert and I had the contacts and trust to do this. Edited audio versions are now also available as podcasts on the C-REX website.
– What do you find most interesting about being a researcher?
– It is my experience of doing something that I feel is relevant and important, and that I can help to reduce violence and extremism in society. Even though I have now begun a gradual path towards retiring from my position at C-REX, I expect – and hope – that I will continue with both research and dissemination for several years to come.