Determining multi-level led causes and testing intervention designs to reduce radicalisation, extremism and political violence in north-western Europe through social inclusion

Determining multi-level led causes and testing intervention designs to reduce radicalisation, extremism and political violence in north-western Europe through social inclusion

In recent years, research on extremist identity politics and political violence in Europe has focused on patterns of violent radical Islamism and far-right radicalisation among young men. This research has brought to the fore problems of identity, belonging, inter-generational change, alienation, marginalisation, inequality, masculinity and miseducation. These findings point to matters of space and place that compound existing exclusionary discourses based on ethnicity, religious identity, socio-economic status and politics. Moreover, far right movements and violent Islamists not only have similar breeding grounds but they arguably also feed off each other’s rhetoric and activism in particular local urban areas. However, there are significant gaps in understanding the interplay between these different forms of local extremism, as no study has yet to investigate the synergies or reciprocity between Islamist and radical right extremism in a comparative European context. Moreover, there is no detailed understanding of the relationship between the individual and structural factors that also take into consideration the psychosocial circumstances affecting already vulnerable people. There remains a fundamental lack of appreciation of the wider struggles of social inclusion that affect the radicalisation experience in urban areas. It is a central concern for all vulnerable people concerning radicalisation, where questions of personal and political identity combined with issues of intergenerational change affect the paths individuals can take. DRIVE will produce a range of policy-orientated research findings to better understand how exactly social inclusion impacts on radicalisation for far right and Islamist groups in different parts of North-Western Europe, the targeted groups and geographical focus of this project. The findings from this project will help to determine European-wide policy solutions that concentrate on social inclusion in de-radicalisation initiatives.