Dialogue About Radicalisation and Equality

DARE aims to significantly increase understanding of why and how young people become radicalised and our capacity to effectively counter radicalisation. It does this through integrating research, policy and practice objectives in a three stage process of: 1) critical review of existing knowledge, policy and interventions in radicalisation and counter-radicalisation; 2) generation of new empirical research on young people’s encounters with, and responses to, messages and agents of radicalisation; and 3) integration of research findings to develop, pilot and evaluate two educational toolkits and a de-radicalisation programme evaluation tool to enhance the effectiveness of counter-radicalisation interventions. Through its focus on Islamist and anti-Islam(ist) radicalisation DARE addresses both ‘religious fundamentalism’ and ‘violence and hate crime’ dimensions of the topic call and explores how radicalisation processes interact to produce cumulative effects. It takes as its focus young people as a group that is targeted by recruiters and conventionally understood to be receptive to radicalism. It also places emphasis on gender dimensions of radicalisation. DARE recognises that improving knowledge on radicalisation has urgent implications for societal security but contributes to the wider objectives of the ‘Reversing inequalities and promoting fairness’ call through recognising that social inequality and discrimination give rise to perceived injustice which may motivate engagement with radical ideologies and actions. DARE’s primary concern is to address the long term social roots and effects of radicalisation and to engage young people themselves in countering radicalisation through its, innovative, attention to non-radicalisation alongside radicalisation trajectories. The DARE Consortium brings together academic and civil society organisations to ensure integration of its academic, policy and practice elements and includes members from 9 EU and 4 non-EU countries.