None of those mean someone will radicalize for sure, nor do the absence of those factors mean it won't happen, but they're the things that typically coincide. First, here are a few of the societal factors that are typically associated with a higher risk of radicalization:. And here are a few of the individual risk factors. Again, it's not an exhaustive list, and people still have individual agency, but this is meant to help you get a sense of what the experts look for:.
I have bad news: There is no standard model of the radicalization process — although understandably that hasn't stopped scholars and law enforcement agencies from trying to construct one. The process differs by individual, and since there is also no standard profile of the "typical" radicalized individual, there is no one single model of how individuals radicalize.
Even if we focus just on Westerners who become violent jihadists, those individuals tend to come from wildly different backgrounds. You probably have an image in your head of the "typical" radicalized individual: male, 18 to 24 years old, angry, devout, ultra-conservative Muslim, etc.
You know, this guy:. The profiles differ even more depending on whether you're looking at the United States or Europe, and even from one country to another within Europe.
Just consider, as examples, these three individuals. As you read their stories, you may start to see that there's no such thing as a standard path to radicalization:. Gray, who was born to Christian parents, eventually became disillusioned , left the air force, converted to Islam, and began working as a bricklayer.
As reported by the Daily Beast , "At [age] 15 a process of radicalization appears to have started — apparently hidden from her parents and most of her friends — and she spent increasing amounts of time locked away in her bedroom and interacting on radical Muslim chat forums. As an Army psychiatrist, part of his job was to counsel soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD from their combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It seems the constant deluge of stories got to him, as he was reportedly motivated to kill by "a hatred of American military action in the Muslim world and a desire to protect Taliban leaders in Afghanistan. Prison, the internet, social media, and personal ties to friends and family members who are already radicalized are the most common ways people become exposed to extremist ideologies.
Whether a person is exposed to these ideas sitting alone in her bedroom reading the latest issue of ISIS's propaganda magazine and gradually being persuaded by the violent words and images on the screen; by spending time with a cellmate, friend, or loved one who is already indoctrinated and is eager to spread the "truth" of his newly acquired beliefs; or by interacting on social media with strangers whose ideas and beliefs seem profound and exciting, the common element is exposure to the ideology.
Terrorist groups like ISIS know this, which is why they focus so much on spreading their propaganda in multiple formats — digital magazines, brutally violent videos, an army of useful idiots who parrot their ideology constantly on social media, and individual recruiters who actively seek out people susceptible to radicalization.
The common perception is that radicalization happens at the mosque. But in fact, with a few notable exceptions , individuals are likely not exposed to violent extremist ideology from the imam at the local mosque. In fact, it is much more likely that an imam who sees someone in his mosque heading down the path to violence will try to intervene to correct that person's misconceptions about Islam, get the person's family involved, or even report the person to the authorities.
For this very reason, people who do embrace a violent jihadist ideology tend to stop going to the mosque. Even when security services are able to identify the radicalized individuals in their communities, it can still be difficult to predict which of those individuals are likely to take the next step and engage in terrorist violence and thus should be watched closely versus which are just passive sympathizers. Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Sign In or Create an Account. Sign In. Advanced Search. Search Menu. Article Navigation. Close mobile search navigation Article Navigation. Volume 6. Why Do People Become Terrorists? A Prosecutor's Experiences. Oxford Academic. Google Scholar. That was the attitude. Most people make assumptions based on secondary material or statements. Throughout her career, she has made the effort, and taken the time, to talk to subjects.
She is also amongst the few who have looked at terrorists, violence, and extremists across the spectrum of religions and communities. Studying terrorists is difficult work. Meetings in prison can take years to arrange. Encounters in the field can be dangerous. The contradictory requirements of US laws regarding national security and university Institutional Review Boards IRBs , which were originally established to protect human subjects from abuse by unscrupulous scientific researchers, are another obstacle.
For example, Stern says, IRB regulations and US law prevent her from asking subjects if they have joined a terrorist group. Also, she says, the bulk of government funding for academic research on terrorism goes toward large quantitative studies. She is also working on a study of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader convicted by a United Nations International Criminal Tribunal of genocide and other war crimes in his campaign of terror against civilians.
Stern has so far interviewed Karadzic in prison, in the Hague, on more than 10 separate occasions, meeting with him for 4 hours at a stretch, usually over 4 consecutive days. She is hoping to arrange additional interviews with him.
He is charismatic, but also Machiavellian. She is studying that literature, and his poetry, for clues to the man. In addition, she is conducting extensive research into the history and international politics of the war in Bosnia, searching the archives of the Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, interviewing many US and Bosnian officials, and trying to get US government documents declassified.
Both kinds of work are really important. For a variety of reasons, I am good at something most people prefer to avoid—sitting and asking violent men about why they do what they do. Series home. Explaining Violence: Lessons from Terrorists. Sara Rimer A journalist for more than three decades, Sara Rimer worked at the Miami Herald , Washington Post and, for 26 years, the New York Times , where she was the New England bureau chief, and a national reporter covering education, aging, immigration, and other social justice issues.
She has worked as a staff photographer at newspapers that include the Augusta Chronicle in Augusta, Ga.
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