COVID-19 has accelerated the spread of conspiracy thinking, especially through social networks, highlighting how anxiety, uncertainty and the reordering of democratic state-citizen relations can feed susceptibility to violent extremist thinking and action. What does this tell us about the evolving challenges of violent extremism?
The not-so-new ‘new world order’
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the normative social order of democratic societies in profound ways, with lockdowns, public health mandates, a range of restrictions on movement and behaviour and the rapid development of new-generation vaccines.
This has occurred amidst an environment of risk and uncertainty that threatens the sense of security, stability and resilience for many populations, especially those inexperienced in coping with other kinds of crises such as wars or natural disasters.
