Hello to all of our listeners,
On September 8, 2021, the trial for the November 13, 2015 attacks began. On that day, a series of shootings and Islamist suicide attacks were carried out in the evening in Paris and its outskirts by three separate commandos. The attack that most marked the minds was the Bataclan, where a commando entered the theater during a concert by the rock group Eagles of Death Metal, and killed 90 people as well as injured dozens. Faced with such acts of barbarism and cruelty a question arises, how can we reach such extremes. How individuals can commit killings in the name of a cause, some random murders going so far as to kill themselves to take as many lives as possible.
In this podcast we aim to understand the phenomena of terrorist radicalization from a psychological perspective.
So why do individuals radicalize? One of the easiest answers to this question would be that terrorists have psychopathological disorders. However, it turns out that the first studies done on the subject showed that terrorists do not deviate from the general population on this point. So the answer is elsewhere. (1 – 2) Rather than linked to a predisposition or a mental illness, radicalization is seen as a long process. Here, we will give you the definition of Bertjan Doosje and his collaborators; for them, radicalization is the process by which people become increasingly motivated to use violent means against members of an external group or symbolic targets to achieve a change of behavior and political goals. This process can lead to people deemed “normal” to commit violent acts. (3 – 4). This process is divided into three key stages: emergence of a sensitivity to radicalization, integration into a radical group and finally the phase of action. In order to make our remarks more understandable, we will not detail the last two steps. What interests us here are the factors that influence the first step of this theoretical model, that is, what are the factors that push a normal individual towards radicalization?
At a first level: two factors must be taken into account, we are talking here about internal factors because they correspond to characteristics inherent to the person. At first, people at risk of radicalization feel a sense of insignificance which can, for example, be caused by a loss of status, humiliation or poor career prospects. This feeling is linked in this model to an uncertainty about the future. To clarify our point, these two factors refer to a loss of meaning, and to a form of deep loneliness felt by these individuals. These two factors are specific to the individual, this sensitivity to radicalization will also be favored by the social environment in which the individual finds themselves. The environment in which they live but also the friendships and family ties, or the absence of both. Human beings are first and foremost social beings, they are subject to the influence of the social environment in which they find themselves. Now, to finish on the various factors influencing the radicalization process, we find so-called societal elements. For example, the acceleration of globalization and the global threat from the political, economic and cultural domination of the West is an important factor for radical Muslims. They perceive the Western lifestyle as a cultural threat to the radical Islam, and the wars in the West pose a threat to the wider Muslim community.
To conclude our remarks, the answer to our question concerning the phenomenon of radicalization is therefore much more complex than a simple predisposition linked to an origin, a religious belief or even psychopathological disorders. It is an interlocking of multiple factors on different scales that can lead an individual to integrate radical groups. And again, it is not decided whether they will act or not.
Bibliography
1 – Corner, P. Gill, O. Mason
Mental health disorders and the terrorist: a research note probing selection effects and disorder prevalence
Stud Confl Terror, 39 (2016), pp. 560-568
View Record in ScopusGoogle Scholar
2 – A. Silke Cheshire-Cat logic: the recurring theme of terrorist abnormality in psychological research
Psychol Crime Law, 4 (1998), pp. 51-69
3 – F.M. Moghaddam The staircase to terrorism: a psychological exploration
Am Psychol, 60 (2005), pp. 161-169
4 – A. Schmid Radicalisation, de-radicalisation, counter-radicalisation: a conceptual discussion and literature review
ICCT Research Paper (2016)