[Itse]

For those interested in research...

What causes Radicalisation? Main lines of consensus in recent research.

To summarize freely:

There are many different theories about radicalization, and a grand unifying theory that fits all situations seems unlikely. There are however some things that are mostly agreed upon by researchers.

Radicalization is not born out of any one thing.

First, there are enabling factors, such as modernity. (Internet, large groups of people living together, mass transit etc. All this enables ideas to move quickly and likeminded people to find each other.) However, not all modern people turn into terrorists.

Then there motivational factors, such as poverty, sense of being excluded, experiences of being discriminated and social segregation. (Note that you don't have to collect the whole set, so for example you don't have to be poor.) However, not all modern people with problems turn into terrorists.

Then you probably need some kind of a trigger that you feel like you need to respond to, such as Western forces attacking Iraq and Afghanistan. (Or for a more historical example, 1773 Tea Act that lead to the Boston Tea Party.) However, not all modern people with problems that are triggered turn into terrorists.

Then you need some sort of an ideological factor where the ideology has inherently violent goals. (Note: studies don't seem to suggest that there is something unique about religions that causes violence, nor that there are significant differences between major religions. Secular ideologies can be just as violent.) However, not all modern people with problems that are triggered that adopt ideologies with violent goals become terrorists.

Last you have the individual factors. Some terrorists are literally crazy, but most are not. A direct quote is needed here:

Economic background, relative assimilation into ‘host’ cultures, apparent ideological background and other seemingly important factors all fail to account for why some people act violently and others do not. The background factors are as individual as those who choose this step and this in a large part explains the difficulty of theories of radicalisation to accurately predict violent behaviour.

However, this should not distract from attention given to the causes of radicalisation discussed above. For example, while the current and previous UK government warns universities that lonely Muslim students are potentially at risk of radicalisation, there is much less chance of any young person becoming radicalised if they have not viewed their life through a prism of discrimination or deprivation, have not seen particular events, such as the Iraq war, as requiring a direct and personal response and have not joined groups with violent ideologies and aims.

My take on what this suggest people should do about terrorism:

- Listen to the liberals: be firmly against discrimination and racism
- Listen to the conservatives: don't support "multicultural" policies blindly, some of those policies create segregated communities
- Listen to the left: support policies that reduce income inequality
- Listen to the right: Make life difficult for people and groups that preach violence, let the police and security agencies keep track of them and arrest them if they give any cause for doing so.

Note that this should work just as well against Muslim radicalism as it would against far right terrorism.