Youth radicalization and violent extremism: a study of pathways in the post-war context of Sri Lanka

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article intends to explore the pathways from youth radicalization into violent extremism in the post-war context of Sri Lanka based on the qualitative evidence collected from four provinces in 2018. Our results show that lack of opportunities, fragmented social and ethnic identity, complex identity formation, corruption, low quality of governance, marginality in economic and political spheres, ethnoreligious politics, and securitization of state appear to be key potential driving factors that are more likely to propel radicalization and violent extremism in the post-war scenario. The article finds the causal mechanism among the potential push factors and how each of these drivers are interconnected and influence one another negatively. Based on the evidence, we argue that no single pathway implicates radicalization into violent extremism –various forms of vulnerabilities, including individual, group, and socio-economic and political, are more likely to increase the propensity to radicalization. It informs that post-war Sri Lanka’s youth radicalization into violent extremism is multifaceted, contextually driven, and constantly evolving and exist in a complex reality. In deeply divided societies, collective crisis plays a critical role in radicalization, suggesting that policy measures considering violence prevention must pay attention to address community grievances and marginalization.