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Preventing and countering violent radicalization: A guide for first-line practitioners
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Preventing and countering violent radicalization: A guide for first-line practitioners
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Social exclusion is one of the most complex and sensitive social problems nowadays. Of all social groups, adolescents are among the most vulnerable to social exclusion, which can interfere with their social development. Consequently, the evaluation of this construct in adolescents is an important matter. The aim of this investigation was to develop the Social Inclusion for Adolescents Scale (SIAS). Firstly, five psychosocial factors were proposed, which potentially contribute to social inclusion: (1) covered needs, (2) self-efficacy, (3) social support, (4) job training, and (5) social integration. From these five factors, a set of items was created and reduced using qualitative evaluations. The final set of items was used in three studies, with a Spanish population (N = 1540) and a foreign population (N = 460), to test the psychometric properties of the scale, its dimensional structure, the measurement invariance between Spanish and foreign people, the reliability of the instrument and the evidence of the validity of its measurements. The results indicate that this scale is psychometrically reliable enough to assess social inclusion in adolescents.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-020-01201-5.
Objectives
This systematic review sought to collate and synthesize the risk and protective factors for different outcomes of radicalization. We aimed to firstly quantify the effects of all factors for which rigorous empirical data exists, and secondly, to differentiate between factors related to radical attitudes, intention, and behaviors. The goal was to develop a rank-order of factors based on their pooled estimates in order to gain a better understanding of which factors may be most important, and the differential effects on the different outcomes.
Methods
Random effects meta-analysis pooled primarily bivariate effect sizes to calculate pooled estimates for each factor. Meta-regression was used to examine the effects of a range of study-level characteristics, including the effects of using partial effects sizes as supplementary effect sizes where bivariate estimates were unavailable. Subgroup analysis was used to further analyze the extent to which the combining of effect sizes from different sources contributed to heterogeneity and estimate inflation. Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis was used to identify cases where a single study was a significant source of heterogeneity.
Results
Extensive searches in English, German and Dutch resulted in the screening of more than 10,000 items, and a final inclusion of 57 publications published between 2007 and 2018 from which 62 individual level factors were identified across three radicalization outcomes: attitudes, intentions, and actions. Effect sizes ranged from z − 0.621 to 0.572. The smallest estimates were found for sociodemographic factors, while the largest effect sizes were found for traditional criminogenic and criminotrophic factors such as low self-control, thrill-seeking, and attitudinal factors, with radical attitudes having the largest effect on radical intentions and behaviors.
Conclusions
The most commonly researched factors, sociodemographic factors, have exceptionally small effects, even when effect sizes are derived from bivariate relationships. The finding regarding the effects of radical attitudes on intentions and actions provide empirical support for existing theoretical frameworks. The consistency among the clustering of familiar criminogenic factors within the rank-order could have implications for the development of a more evidence based approach to risk assessment and counter violent extremism policies.
El fenómeno de la radicalización terrorista supone una preocupación creciente que genera incertidumbre, polarización y sufrimiento en todos los rincones del planeta. La presente guía ofrece una visión actualizada y práctica sobre los retos emergentes relacionados con este problema social. La sucesión de contenidos identifica, unifica y sintetiza los hallazgos más importantes sobre la temática, con el fin de que adquieran un carácter práctico y operativo para las futuras generaciones de profesionales de la criminología, la seguridad y la intervención psicosocial. A lo largo de nueve capítulos y estudios de caso, se abordan aspectos tales como el estatus científico de la investigación, las perspectivas teóricas existentes, los modelos transferibles para la intervención de primera línea, las herramientas de evaluación del riesgo o el conocimiento aplicado de utilidad para la prevención de la radicalización y el abandono de la violencia.
The problematic nature of certain policies and approaches to preventing and countering violent extremism has been robustly demonstrated; it is clear that rethinking the prevention of violent extremism requires concerted attention. One response to critiques of security-driven approaches has been the adoption of the language of resilience building. However, the turn to resilience has not been matched by a fundamental rethinking of approach, and may often mask troubling approaches in the language of objectivity and positivity. In rethinking the question of prevention, examining the concept of resilience is important not only to address a current trend in policy discourse, but also to benefit from the rich literature on resilience from which valuable lessons may be drawn. A critically informed concept of resilience has the potential to provide a framework of response that recognises individuals and communities as political actors who, rather than being shielded from ideologies, require the resources and channels to challenge violence, discrimination, and injustice, be it state or non-state driven. This article, through examining the current use of "resilience" in PVE policies, makes a modest attempt to draw on lessons from applying resilience in other contexts to articulate possible features of a critically informed approach to preventing violent extremism.
What fuels radicalization? Is de-radicalization a possibility? The Three Pillars of Radicalization: Needs, Narratives, and Networks addresses these crucial questions by identifying the three major determinants of radicalization that progresses into violent extremism. The first determinant is the need: individuals’ universal desire for personal significance. The second determinant is narrative, which guides members in their “quest for significance.” The third determinant is the network, or membership in one’s group that validates the collective narrative and dispenses rewards like respect and veneration to members who implement it.
In this book, Arie W. Kruglanski, Jocelyn J. Bélanger, and Rohan Gunaratna present a new model of radicalization that takes into account factors that activate the individual’s quest for significance. Synthesizing varied empirical evidence, this volume reinterprets prior theories of radicalization and examines major issues in deradicalization and recidivism, which will only become more relevant as communities continue to negotiate the threat of extremism.
The present research examines the social cognitive processes underlying ideologically-based violence through the lens of the 3N model of radicalization. To test this theory, we introduce two new psychometric instruments-a social alienation and a support for political violence scale-developed in collaboration with 13 subject matter experts on terrorism. Using these instruments, we test the theory's hypotheses in four different cultural settings. In Study 1, Canadians reporting high levels of social alienation (Need) expressed greater support for political violence (Narrative), which in turn positively predicted wanting to join a radical group (Network), controlling for other measures related to political violence. Study 2a and 2b replicated these findings in Pakistan and in Spain, respectively. Using an experimental manipulation of social alienation, Study 3 extended these findings with an American sample and demonstrated that moral justification is one of the psychological mechanisms linking social alienation to supporting political violence. Implications and future directions for the psychology of terrorism are discussed.
Se analizan las claves psicosociales para la comprensión y prevención del reclutamiento yihadista. Tras unos supuestos básicos de partida, se describen algunas claves contextuales y demográficas que es necesario conocer para lograr una adecuada comprensión del proceso de reclutamiento. Posteriormente, se pasa a la sección central del capítulo, donde se describe el proceso general del reclutamiento yihadista, sus fases y las variables implicadas. En la última parte del documento se exponen las implicaciones prácticas para la prevención del reclutamiento y la radicalización yihadista, así como para la desmovilización de radicales violentos y terroristas.
Juveniles who become radicalized pose a great threat for society. Although research on radicalization is accumulating, a quantitative review of risk factors for youth radicalization is lacking. Therefore, a series of meta-analyses were conducted on k = 30 studies (247 effect sizes) to examine risk factors for radicalization in youth, yielding significant effects for 15 out of 17 risk domains, ranging in magnitude from r = .080 to r = .482. Medium positive effects were found for activism, perceived in-group superiority and perceived distance to other people, while small effects were found for gender, personality, delinquency and aggression, lower educational level, negative peers, in-group identification, perceived discrimination, perceived group threat, perceived procedural injustice, perceived illegitimacy of authorities, and other, whereas the effect for poverty was very small. Moderator analyses showed that the risks of negative parenting and societal disconnection were smaller for right-wing radicalization than for religious or unspecified radicalization. The risks of personality and perceived group threat were greater for willingness to carry out extremist acts and extremist behavior than for attitude towards radicalization. Further, when the percentage of ethnic minorities in the sample increased, the risks of personality, negative parenting, and societal disconnection for radicalization were larger.
Extremism and radicalization towards violence are urgent topics in many countries. Numerous research projects are carried out, of which many focus on risk factors only. In contrast, this article contains a systematic review of the rare international research on protective factors. After screening more than 2,000 documents, we found 17 reports containing 21 analyses that specifically addressed potential protective effects and provided quantitative data. Most studies addressed religious/ethnic extremism; far-right, far-left, and mixed forms were less frequent. Thirty different protective factors showed significant effects. Many were found in single analyses, but there were various replicated factors such as self-control, adherence to law, acceptance of police legitimacy, illness, positive parenting behavior, non-violent significant others, good school achievement, non-violent peers, contact to foreigners, and a basic attachment to society. Most findings are similar to what we know from more general research on youth violence, but there are also some protective factors that seem to be more specific, particularly with regard to religious/ethnic extremism. In conclusion, it is suggested to relate the topic of extremism and violent radicalization more strongly with other fields of developmental and life course criminology. For further progress on this path, more research on protective factors and integrated theoretical concepts are needed. This will also contribute to effective prevention.