The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Radicalisation: the journey of a concept
Abstract
Since 2004, the term ‘radicalisation’ has become central to terrorism studies and counter-terrorism policy-making. As US and European governments have focused on stemming ‘home-grown’ Islamist political violence, the concept of radicalisation has become the master signifier of the late ‘war on terror’ and provided a new lens through which to view Muslim minorities. The introduction of policies designed to ‘counter-radicalise’ has been accompanied by the emergence of a government-funded industry of advisers, analysts, scholars, entrepreneurs and self-appointed community representatives who claim that their knowledge of a theological or psychological radicalisation process enables them to propose interventions in Muslim communities to prevent extremism. An examination of the concept of radicalisation used by the industry’s scholars shows its limitations and biases. The concept of radicalisation has led to the construction of Muslim populations as ‘suspect communities’, civil rights abuses and a damaging failure to understand the nature of the political conflicts governments are involved in.
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There are many conflicting definitions of radicalization, violent radicalization, and terrorism.
“There are many conflicting definitions of radicalization, violent radicalization (Kundnani, 2012; Sedgwick, 2010), and terrorism (Shanahan, 2010).”
From Collective case formulation in situations of violent radicalization: A critical perspective in training (2023) · cites this paper as Kundnani, 2012
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No references could be resolved yet.
Research works printed but not linked: 24
- Elkins Caroline, Britain’s Gulag: the brutal end of empire in Kenya (London, Jonathan Cape, 2005), pp. 106–07.
- Johnson Richard, 2002, Theory, Culture & Society, 19
- Laqueur Walter, 1998, Harvard International Review, 20
- Neumann Peter, Perspectives on Radicalisation and Political Violence: papers from the first International Conference on Radicalisation and Political Violence, London, 17–18 January 2008 (London, International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, 2008), p. 4.
- 10.1080/09546553.2010.491009 · DOI · Paper page
- This graph was generated using full-text searches on journal publisher websites and on the EBSCO website. A journal was included in the survey if it had published at least one article on radicalisation in the last twenty years, based on a wide-ranging literature review of the subject. No adjustment has been made for the moderate growth in the total number of articles published each year in these journals over the period of time under consideration. Biases were also potentially introduced due to variations in how different search engines handled keywords. Both British (‘radicalisation’) and American (‘radicalization’) spellings were included in the survey. The thirty journals included in the survey were: Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, British Journal of Criminology, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Brown Journal of World Affairs, Civil Wars, Comparative Politics, Criminology and Public Policy, Critical Studies on Terrorism, Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict, European Journal of Criminology, International Affairs, International Security, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Media, War and Conflict, Middle East Journal, Middle East Policy, Policy Review, Policy Studies, Race & Class, Religion, State and Society, RUSI Journal, Security Dialogue, Security Studies, Small Wars and Insurgencies, Social Identities, Social Issues and Policy Review, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence and Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions .
- Saunders Frances Stonor, Who Paid the Piper? The CIA and the cultural cold war (London, Granta Books, 1999), p. 214.
- Laqueur Walter, 2004, Policy Review, 51
- Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, 2011, Targeted and Entrapped: manufacturing the ‘homegrown threat’ in the United States
- Ali Wajahat, Clifton Eli, Duss Matthew, Fang Lee, Keyes Scott, Shakir Faiz, Fear, Inc.: the roots of the Islamophobia network in America (Washington, DC, Center for American Progress, 2011), pp. 18–19.
- 10.9783/9780812206791 · DOI
- Sciolino Elaine, 2008, New York Times
- Ibid., pp. 75–81.
- Saunders, Who Paid the Piper? op. cit.
- Wiktorowicz Quintan, 2005, Radical Islam Rising: Muslim extremism in the West, 10.5771/9781461641711 · DOI
- White House, 2011, Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States
- Malik Shiv, 2007, Prospect, 50
- Ibid., pp. 6–7.
- Kundnani Arun, 2011, Nation
- HM Government, 2010, Channel: supporting individuals vulnerable to recruitment by violent extremists –a guide for local partnerships, 9
- Mellis Colin, 2007, Amsterdam and Radicalization: the municipal approach
- Roy Olivier, 2008, Al Qaeda in the West as a Youth Movement: the power of a narrative, 2
- 10.1080/17539153.2011.623405 · DOI
- In Britain, for example, the number of potentially violent Islamist militants is said to have trebled in the years between 2003–2006; Neumann Peter, Recruitment and Mobilisation for the Islamist Militant Movement in Europe (International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, King’s College London, December 2007), p. 32. Robert Pape has used quantitative data to argue that suicide bombing is a tactic used to oppose foreign occupations carried out by democracies. However, his account is overly mechanical in the way it conceives the use of violence by non-state actors; see Pape Robert A., Feldman James K., Cutting the Fuse: the explosion of global suicide terrorism and how to stop it (Chicago, IL, Chicago University Press, 2010).
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Johnson-Lafleur, J., Zoldan, Y., Frounfelker, R. L., & Rousseau, C. (2023) · Transcultural Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/13634615221134932 · Cited by 3
Metadata
- Authors
- Kundnani, A.
- Corresponding author
- Kundnani, Arun
- ORCID
- Kundnani, Arun
- Venue
- Race & Class
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2012-09-18
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 3-25
- ISSN
- 0306-3968 (ISSN-L)
- 1741-3125
- OpenAlex
- W2328795324
- Cited by
- 577
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 87 · 2025: 64 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 53 · 2022: 50 · 2021: 63 · 2020: 58 · 2019: 50 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 13.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Race & Class (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Islamic Studies and Radicalism
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime, Deviance, and Social Control
- Keywords
- radicalization, counter-radicalization, counterterrorism policy, war on terror, Muslim minorities, conceptual history, political violence
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