Authors: Isabella Pirlogea, Dana Dolghin
How to Explain Radicalization? A Comparison on the Driving Factors of the Far-Right, the Far-Left, Separatist and Religious Extremism is a book based on the research findings of a three year research program funded under the Research and Innovation Horizon2020 grants of the European Commission. Its main goal was to provide an updated, well-informed and nuanced picture of the contemporary factors influencing radicalisation pathways towards violent extremism and terrorism in the European landscape. Different kinds of extremism are taken into consideration (far-right, far-left, separatist and religious extremism) through a mixed research approach that combined a qualitative study with textual-statistical analyses. One of the most relevant outcomes of our research on current radicalization studies is that, for all types of extremisms analysed, the process of radicalisation is understood as an event that occurs at the intersection between a personal trajectory and a permissive, or enabling, environment. Cumulative extremism dynamics and new radicalising mediums and ‘host’ spaces are noted as further trends to be monitored. Our colleagues Isabella Pirlogea and Dana Dolghin have driven the research on the Far-Right Chapter, together with Kevin McDonald and Necla Acik from MiddleSex University, United Kingdom. They research and expertise led them to issues that include gamification, new technology and digital recruitment, social media tropes and mainstreaming of extremist content online, hate communities and youth radicalisation.
