‘Radicalisation’: The Transformation of Modern Understanding of Terrorist Origins, Psychology and Motivation.

Our understanding of how people become involved in terrorism and violent extremism has transformed since the turn of the century. That transformation occurred at the same time that ‘radicalisation’ took over as the dominant framework for considering questions around terrorist psychology, motivation and recruitment. Today, radicalisation is typically seen to refer to a complex and dynamic process which results in individuals coming to embrace a violent ideology in support of a political or religious cause. The concept of radicalisation has become an almost universal element in contemporary efforts to understand and combat terrorism. This chapter outlines the rise and development of theoretical models and research on radicalisation. It highlights some of the major research breakthroughs but also focuses on where very significant gaps remain in our understanding. The chapter cautions that we need to be careful in terms of how we think about the broader role of radicalisation. A subtle – and dangerously unquestioned - assumption has spread that ‘radicalisation’ as a phenomenon is the major root cause of terrorism. When different radicalisation models are used to design or justify a variety of counter-terrorism policies and programmes, care is needed to look beyond the headline banner of radicalisation and pay attention to the factors identified within those models as key drivers.

Silke, Andrew and Brown, Katherine (2016) ‘‘Radicalisation’: The Transformation of Modern Understanding of Terrorist Origins, Psychology and Motivation.’, in Jayakumar, Shashi (ed.) State, Society, and National Security: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century. © 2016 with permission from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.