Dynamics of Radicalization

Why is it that some social movements engaged in contentious politics experience radicalization whereas others do not? The Dynamics of Radicalization offers an innovative reply by investigating how and when social movement organizations switch from a nonviolent mode of contention to a violent one. Moving beyond existing explanations that posit aggressive motivations, grievances or violence-prone ideologies, this book demonstrates how these factors gain andlose salience in the context of relational dynamics among various parties and actors involved in episodes of contention. Drawing on a comparative historical analysis of al-Qaeda, the Red Brigades, the Cypriot EOKA, the authors develop a relational, mechanism-based theory that advances our understanding ofpolitical violence in several important ways by identifying turning points in the radicalization process, similar mechanisms at work across each case, and the factors that drive or impede radicalization. The Dynamics of Radicalization offers a counterpoint to mainstream works on political violence, which often presume that political violence and terrorism is rooted in qualities intrinsic to or developed by groups considered to be radical.

...Provide[s] stimulating new directions in the study of terror and radicalization, Too often, social movement scholars treat violence as a fixed property of organizations: social movements are either violent or not. This dichotomous approach has only become more prevalent in the post 9-11 era, as scholars of terrorism examine which social or psychological characteristics of individuals make them more or less likely to join violent groups, but seldom question the existence of violent groups in the first place. The Dynamics of Radicalization provides a powerful corrective to such thinking. Through their carefully researched case studies, Alimi, Demetriou and Bosi demonstrate time and again that many of today's most famously violent groups including al-Qaeda actually started out as resistance movements engaged in nonviolent tactics. It was only over time, and through interactions with other entities, that these movements evolved into violent organizations.

Eitan Y. Alimi is Senior Lecturer of Political Sociology in the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University and author of Israeli Politics and the First Palestinian Intifada.Chares Demetriou is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the National Research University, Higher School of Economics, Moscow.Lorenzo Bosi is Assistant Professor at Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy.