Radicalization

Abstract

Social movement scholars challenging the dominant normative use of conflating radical beliefs with violent means have started to refer to radicalization as an individual or organizational process that leads to a shift from nonviolent forms of action to violent ones in order to promote or oppose political, social, and/or cultural change. Their approach has the main merit to de‐exceptionalize and de‐essentialize radicalization processes by: (i) considering political violence as a component of broader repertoires of action, not equating violent forms of action with nonviolent ones, but rather transcending an artificial compartmentalization of different forms of actions; (ii) interpreting political violence as emerging from interactive processes within heterogeneous arenas of actors, in which strategic choices become intertwined with self‐reinforcing dynamics; and (iii) locating political violence within larger political and social conflicts as well as shifting forms of control and political arenas that create opportunities for and constraints upon political actors.