27 December 2020, NIICE Commentary 6631
Fahmida Alam
In the present world, the youth are getting radicalizaed which poses an alarming threat to the society that we live in. If we try to trace down the causes or influencing factors that are driving the youths towards radicalization, we cannot put them under a single cause or category. Radicalization refers to the process by which a person associates himself with a kind of ideology and becomes a part of the movement that promises to bring socio-political changes to the society or advocate for a greater good. No single reason or factor can explain why people join violent extremist groups or radicalized at an unprecedented rate even from the well-educated and well-off part of society.
A common misconception is that marginalized people existing in society are more vulnerable and prone to being radicalized. But in recent times, well-educated individuals who are not that socioeconomically deprived or repressed are being involved in these terror attacks as well. According to the French sociologists, socio-economic marginalization is responsible for people to become radicalized. Individuals can’t be characterized under a socio-economic profile as there are many underlying factors and potential risk factors that push people to join these groups or movements. The forces of globalization have weakened the traditional values and culture. Thus, individuals suffer from a sort of identity crisis now more than ever. Many people go looking for answers, a new identity to associate themselves with. Besides, the simultaneous discrimination and different treatment of being an outsider for minorities, especially in the western countries is the reason why people look for a way out and rebel against the system. Sometimes, government policies have an adverse effect on people’s mindsets too. For example, European Muslims struggle to hold onto their religious beliefs and adjust to westernized society together.
The formation of the Muslim ummah or neo-ummah, an imagined global community of all Muslims in a world with weakened traditionally bound identities and communities against an alternative to Western society is more convenient than ever. Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a radical Islamist militant group to establish a Sharia Law based state system across the world. ISIS follows a violent route to reach its goal, they don’t come out in public but send messages via online or social medias. However, they have been able to gather a lot of members in the past years through their inductive recruitment process. The concept offers Muslim solidarity, bringing together the young, suffering Muslim generations in Europe with that of those suffering in conflict-torn areas of the world. For example, the discrimination of Muslims in western societies makes them feel alienated from society. These imagined communities misuse the helplessness of an individual and invoke them to join the terrorist group to fight for a cause. Since people join them to fight for a cause e.g. ‘the West is at war with Islam’; they are motivated on a personal level. Thus, it becomes hard to bring them back. Individuals embracing radical ideologies are more vulnerable to opt for violent means and no one would be aware of it.
However, people don’t become radicalized in search of an identity, rather personal reasons often play an important role in this. An individual’s trauma, loss of a person/property, any painful event can push people down this road. The empiricist school also supports this assumption. According to Danish terrorist researcher, Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen, they are the misfits who have a troubled background or a record of involvement with petty crime or with drug abuse. On the other hand, the sense of community and peer pressure also affects an individual to be attracted to these terror groups or movements. According to social network theorists, people who live within a community hold a firm belief of belonging within the group inside themselves. And the recruitment process occurs within these communities. Also, peer pressure is responsible for the radicalization process of youths in Europe. The groups of friends and peers’ egg each other on and become convinced that violent action is necessary through gradual rhetorical escalation within themselves. From family members to friends to members of the community, the recruiters or leaders try to gather people under the wing by preaching their ideologies.
At present, the forces of globalization made the recruitment process very easy and accessible for people. Also, Nesser’s argument of leaders being the only recruiter stands weak in the fast-paced globalized world as recruitments take place virtually. Religious sentiment can foster a breeding ground for terrorist organizations. Due to the bottom-up recruitment process, it’s not that easy to trace down the general or mastermind of the group. The inclusion of well-educated people in the terrorist groups makes it hard to find them since they know how to maintain a dual personality or able to hide in plain sight. ISIS is a notable example. The members of ISIS can be found across the world. Their strategy remains anonymous and undetected. Radicalized groups are good at framing strategies out and operate through the dark web, where the recruitment process takes place very often. Apart from religious identity development, personal connections, belief and social marginalization play an important role. There’s no way to characterize individuals under certain criteria. There isn’t any framework which initiates the individuals into the radicalization process.
