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Dreams and disillusionment: engagement in and disengagement from militant extremist groups

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Abstract

People engage in terrorism and similar forms of violent extremism for a variety of reasons, political or non-political. The frequent failure to achieve what they expected or dreamed about is also usually the source of their disillusionment, and subsequently, a main reason to disengage from violent extremism. Individuals involved in terrorism often come from a diversity of social backgrounds und have undergone rather different processes of violent radicalisation. Profiles of terrorists do not work as a tool to identify actual or potential terrorists because such profiles fail to capture the diversity and how people change when they become involved in militant extremism. This study suggests a more dynamic typology of participants in militant groups, based on dimensions which represent dynamic continuums rather than static positions. During their extremist careers individuals may move from resembling one type initially into acquiring more of the characteristics of other types at later stages. When it comes to prevention and intervention measures, one size does not fit them all. The typology may be used as an aid to develop more specific and targeted strategies for preventing violent radicalisation and facilitating disengagement, taking into account the diversity and specific drivers behind different types of activists.

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Notes

  1. For example, the Report of the Official Account of the Bombings in London on 7th July 2005 [19] stated: ‘What we know of previous extremists in the UK shows that there is not a consistent profile to help identify who may be vulnerable to radicalisation. Of the 4 individuals here, 3 were second generation British citizens whose parents were of Pakistani origin and one whose parents were of Jamaican origin; [one] was an Algerian failed asylum seeker; [another] had an English mother and Jamaican father. Others of interest have been white converts. Some have been well-educated, some less so. Some genuinely poor, some less so. Some apparently well integrated in the UK, others not. Most single, but some family men with children. Some previously law-abiding, others with a history of petty crime. In a few cases there is evidence of abuse or other trauma in early life, but in others their upbringing has been stable and loving’ [19: 31].

  2. One striking example is the leader of the London 7-7 (2005) bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, who was well educated and a well-regarded community activist involved in voluntary work for youths and children [17: 102-4].

  3. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amnesty-international/the-story-of-maajid-nawaz_b_370528.html; http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/maajid-nawaz.html.

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  1. Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and Norwegian Police University College, Oslo, Norway

    Tore Bjørgo

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  1. Tore Bjørgo
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Correspondence to Tore Bjørgo.

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Bjørgo, T. Dreams and disillusionment: engagement in and disengagement from militant extremist groups. Crime Law Soc Change 55, 277–285 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-011-9282-9

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