Exiting far-right extremism: a case study in applying the developmental core need framework

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article presents a case study of voluntary exit from a far-right group in the United States. Our analysis of ‘Tom’ (a pseudonym) foregrounds the role of psychological development in ‘Tom’s' narrative of disengagement. While developmental factors are sometimes referenced in the radicalization/deradicalization literature, they are often reduced to risk factors or early environmental adversities that are viewed as predictors for subsequent involvement in extremism. By contrast, we offer a deeper understanding of psychological developmental factors as a ‘core need.’ While the core need originates in normative development and attachment history, it also arises out of an individual’s idiographic context and unique path through development, helping to establish identity security and acting as the tacit background driver across entry and exit. In this case study, and in our qualitatively informed model, the developmental core need is crucial to understanding the often idiosyncratic processes of radicalization, disengagement, and deradicalization.