The Radicalisation Spectrum: How an Individual’s Susceptibility to Influence – Not Ideology – Incubates Radicalisation Towards Non-violent and Violent Extremism
My paper 'The Radicalisation Spectrum' has been published in the National Security Journal.
Proposing a new perspective, I argue that in group-based environments, radicalisation occurs on an ideologically-agnostic omni-directional spectrum of engagement vs disengagement where susceptibility to influence – not a commitment to a particular ideology at the outset – is a precursor to violent extremism.
For fellow pracademics, PCVE and PRVE practitioners, I propose taking a risk intelligence approach, based on Dr. Gavriel (Gav) Schneider's Presilience© framework, to expanding the conventional 'Deter-Disengage-Prevent-Counter' paradigm to include 'Dissuasion' at the outset. This is because a dissuasive approach leverages the social protective factors already in place within communities, pre-emptively degrading the ability for violent extremists to influence susceptible people towards violence.
Read the full paper online at the National Security Journal here [OPEN-ACCESS].
