Introduction
« Radicalization” is a term that is increasingly at the heart of societal and political debates in recent years. A concept unfortunately more and more used in relation to the terrorist attacks in the Western world, which has led to think that its root is Daesh’s terrorism.
Why should we focus on radicalization? It is a phenomenon that causes many people to depart, and often the most vulnerable: adolescents, marginalized young people and isolated people, or prisoners. This process of radicalization is therefore potentially present in various spheres of the life of individuals, such as in school, but also more perniciously in the private sphere with the use of social networks.
Radicalization and de-radicalization
Radicalization is defined by El Difraoui & Uhlmann (2015) as “a process that leads an individual to break with the society in which he lives to turn to a violent ideology, in this case jihadism.” While de-radicalization “aims to undo the process of radicalization and encourage the reintegration of the individuals concerned into society.”
If understanding radicalization is no longer a problem, de-radicalization remains a major issue, and its implementation rather ineffective. To answer to this, social psychology brings us new elements.
Contributions of social psychology
Currently, the belief that a “lone wolf” can commit an attack alone is strongly questioned. Indeed, without the support of a larger entity to organize his action, the individual would not make it to the end of his approach. Social psychology tackles radicalization’s process from the point of view of membership.
At first, the theory of social identity (Tajfel, 1970) invites us to consider radicalization as a break in the existence of the individual. The desire to leave a group identified as devalued pushes him or her to adopt a new identity often accompanied by a new name and commitment to a religious doctrine. Through this integration, the new recruit accepts, more or less consciously, to comply with the rules and to ban any behavior that goes against the founding values of this community (orthodoxy and conformity phenomena). Finally, the individual must prove his commitment to the community by converting or reaffirming the attachment to religion, which in this case is Islam. This indoctrination also involves participation in preparatory acts to be ready on D-Day.
Throughout these lines, we understand how the group will gradually grasp the identity of the individual by making him give up what he was. How to intervene then to deconstruct this devastating belonging?
From a scientific point of view, research in this topic is rare and contradictory. However, two questions seem recurrent: the question concerning how to overcome indoctrination, and how to work on identity without manipulating. This is a question of deconstructing the beliefs of the individual without implanting false memories and without completely destroying his foundations.
Faced with the failures of the French approaches, we are interested in the German model “Hayat” (2014). This program is intended for radicalized people, already radicalized on Germany, returning, or still on various jihadist territories. All the interest of this program rests on the global management of these individuals by proposing a family intervention (emotional level), a deconstruction of the founding stories of extremists (ideological dimension), as well as support for administrative procedures and professional reintegration (pragmatic component).
Thanks to this, we understand the importance to coordinate interventions between professionals and to accompany these individuals and their families in all the sectors of life. This in order to allow them to not feel even more neglected by the system in wich they do not find their place.
El Difraoui, A., & Uhlmann, M. (2015). Prévention de la radicalisation et déradicalisation : les modèles allemand, britannique et danois. Politique étrangère, 4, 171-182.
Pascal Moliner, (02/06/2017), “Radicalisation, déradicalisation… Que savons-nous ?” The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/radicalisation-deradicalisation-que-savons-nous-au-juste-78495.
Anaïs Ricateau & Fiona Péan