Dr. Julie Chernov Hwang
Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Goucher College; Senior Research Fellow, Soufan Center
2022, 2023, 2024
Julie Chernov Hwang is an associate professor of political science and international relations at Goucher College and a Senior Research Fellow at the Soufan Center. She is a recipient of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Award (2023-2024) for which she will examine the role of social networks and strong social ties in terror cell construction. She is an expert on terrorist behavior in Southeast Asia—from motivations for joining extremist groups, to the pathways into such groups, to commitment, role assignment, disengagement, reintegration, and deradicalization. She is the author of Becoming Jihadis: Radicalization and Commitment in Southeast Asia (Oxford University Press, 2023); Why Terrorists Quit: The Disengagement of Indonesian Jihadists (Cornell University Press, 2018); Peaceful Islamist Mobilization in the Muslim World: What Went Right, (Palgrave Press, 2009); and the co-editor of Islamist Parties and Political Normalization in the Muslim World (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014). Her articles have been published in Political Psychology, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence, Asian Survey, Asian Security, Contemporary Southeast Asia, Soufan Center IntelBriefs, Asia-Pacific Issues, Southeast Asia Research, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, RSIS Commentaries, CTC Sentinel, the Middle East-Asia Project, and Lawfare.
Dr. Chernov Hwang is also a member of AVERT and a Senior Research Associate at the Graduate School for Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. She serves on the board of 4 leading terrorism studies journals–Terrorism and Political Violence, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Journal of Asymmetric Conflict and Deradicalization. She has briefed officials from the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, US Embassy in Jakarta, the Department of State, the Joint Improvised Threat Defeat Organization, the US Army Civil Affairs Division, and the Combatting Terrorism Center at West Point. She has given public lectures at leading universities and think tanks in the United States, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, and the UK.
My network of professionals working on countering hate in all its forms grew exponentially after attending Eradicate Hate in 2021. The myriad voices represented at Eradicate Hate, from big tech companies to academic researchers to those with lived experience, reinforced to me the importance of cross-cutting and collaborative approaches to counter hate and its devastating impacts on society. I’ve been fortunate to sustain and build those networks with many of those I met at Eradicate Hate in 2021.
