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Understanding Political Radicalization

Understanding Political Radicalization : The Two-Pyramids ModelClark McCauley and Sophia MoskalenkoBryn Mawr CollegeThis article reviews some of the milestones of thinking about Political Radicalization , asscholars and security officials struggled after 9/11 to discern the precursors of terroristviolence. Recent criticism of the concept of Radicalization has been recognized, leading to a2-pyramids model that responds to the criticism by separating Radicalization of opinion fromradicalization of action. Security and research implications of the 2-pyramids model arebriefly described, ending with a call for more attention to emotional experience in under-standing both Radicalization of opinion and Radicalization of : Radicalization , terrorism, violent extremism, 2-pyramids model, lone wolfAfter the shock of the 9/11 attacks, security officials in theUnited States struggled to understand the process by whichindividuals and groups move to terr

Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). However, any opin-ions, findings, recommendations, or conclusions in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect views of the DHS. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Clark McCauley, Department of Psychology, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010.

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Transcription of Understanding Political Radicalization

1 Understanding Political Radicalization : The Two-Pyramids ModelClark McCauley and Sophia MoskalenkoBryn Mawr CollegeThis article reviews some of the milestones of thinking about Political Radicalization , asscholars and security officials struggled after 9/11 to discern the precursors of terroristviolence. Recent criticism of the concept of Radicalization has been recognized, leading to a2-pyramids model that responds to the criticism by separating Radicalization of opinion fromradicalization of action. Security and research implications of the 2-pyramids model arebriefly described, ending with a call for more attention to emotional experience in under-standing both Radicalization of opinion and Radicalization of : Radicalization , terrorism, violent extremism, 2-pyramids model, lone wolfAfter the shock of the 9/11 attacks, security officials in theUnited States struggled to understand the process by whichindividuals and groups move to terrorism.

2 The hope was to get to the left of the boom to predict and, ideally, toprevent future to be the wordused to refer to the human developments that precede terroristattack. This article aims to provide an overview of thinkingabout enormous and still expanding literature on radicalizationcannot be fully represented here. The first section of the articlereviews milestones in terrorism research since the 9/11 were determined on the basis of contribution topsychological theorizing of Radicalization and salience to officials. Salience was largely determined from theauthors experience at academic and government-sponsoredconferences, where certain contributions seemed to resonatemore with security officials.

3 Owing to limitations of space andknowledge, the article focuses on Radicalization to jihadi ter-rorism, leaving aside important work on right-wing and left-wing terrorism in the United States ( , Freilich, Chermak, &Gruenewald, 2014; Taylor, Currie, & Holbrook, 2013).Review of the milestones leads to recognition of challengesto the concept of Radicalization , which are identified in thesecond section of the article and addressed in the third sectionwith presentation of a two-pyramids model of of the model for security policy and for futureresearch are identified in the last two in Radicalization ResearchThe attacks of September 11, 2001, produced a spate ofresearch on terrorism, and the milestones begin from this , it is useful to identify several earlier perspectives that setthe stage for Radicalization research.

4 Most notable is Cren-shaw s (1981) view of the causes of terrorism that distin-guished individual motives and beliefs, group-level decision-making and strategy, and the wider Political and social contextin which terrorism occurs. This three-way distinction of indi-vidual, group, and mass factors is echoed in much of worth noting is the decline of theorizing that explainedterrorists as crazy as suffering some form of diagnosablepsychopathology. Twenty years before 9/11 it was alreadyrecognized that pathology is no more likely among terroriststhan among nonterrorists of similar background (Crenshaw,1981). Similarly, it was already clear that poverty is not auseful explanation of Radicalization : Many terrorists perhapsmost of 1970s terrorists who grew out of student unrest camefrom middle-class and professional families (Crenshaw, 1981).

5 The Staircase to Terrorism (2005)Moghaddam (2005), in The Staircase to Terrorism, offered an early metaphor of Radicalization as a six-floorever-narrowing stairway to terrorism. The ground floor isperception of injustice and relative deprivation; the firstfloor is search for options; the second floor is anger at theperceived perpetrators of injustice; the third floor is a moralEditor s article is one in a collection of articles published ina special issue ofAmerican Psychologisttitled Psychology of Terrorism (April 2017). John G. Horgan served as guest editor with Anne E. Kazakas advisory editor. Neil D. Shortland provided scholarly McCauley and Sophia Moskalenko, Department of Psychology,Bryn Mawr research was supported by the Department of HomelandSecurity (DHS) through the National Consortium for the Study ofTerrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START).

6 However, any opin- ions , findings, recommendations, or conclusions in this document arethose of the authors and do not necessarily reflect views of the concerning this article should be addressed to ClarkMcCauley, Department of Psychology, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr,PA 19010. E-mail: Psychologist 2017 American Psychological Association2017, Vol. 72, No. 3, 205 2160003-066X/17/$ that justifies terrorism; the fourth floor is join-ing a terrorist group; and the fifth and last floor is dehu-manizing enemy civilians to make them legitimate targets staircase metaphor is a stage model set at the indi-vidual level: Each floor must be traversed to get to the nexthigher floor, and the order of floors is fixed.

7 The differencebetween justifying terrorism (third floor) and joining aterrorist group (fourth floor) is the difference between rad-ical opinion and radical action. This key difference appearsas just one more step in the staircase Psychology of Terrorism(2005)Horgan s (2005) book-length treatment of the psychologyof Radicalization inThe Psychology of Terrorismdistin-guished three psychological issues: the psychology of be-coming a terrorist, the psychology of being (persevering as)a terrorist, and the psychology of disengaging from terror-ism. The second and third issues are beyond the scope ofthis review. With regard to becoming a terrorist, Horganrecognized the importance of the distinction between radicalideas and violent action: In Northern Ireland, and even onthe marches described earlier, the number of people whobecame involved in a direct way with the PIRA [ProvisionalIrish Republican Army] was minimal.

8 The obvious questionthen is why? (p. 101).Horgan (2005) emphasized three ideas in the progressionto terrorist action. First, the progression to terrorism isusually gradual, from involvement in legal activism to smallacts in support of terrorism (courier, reconnaissance) toshooting and planting bombs. Second is a sense of dissat-isfaction or disillusionment with the individual s currentpersona or activity (p. 103) that makes an individual moreopen to influence. Circumstances making an individualmore open to influence can include loss of loved ones,work, home, or way of life; these circumstances have beencalledunfreezingin social psychology,biographical avail-abilityin sociology, andcognitive openingin social move-ment theory.

9 Third is the idea that community support forviolent action that affords status to militants can help mo-tivate three ideas say something about the trajectory toterrorism but are perhaps yet too general to understand whyactivists and terrorists are few. Not every individual whoexperiences unfreezing in a community that gives status tomilitants will start down the slippery slope to Islam Rising: Muslim Extremism in theWest(2005)In his bookRadical Islam Rising: Muslim Extremism inthe West,Quintan Wiktorowicz (2005) reported his study ofthe Muslim activist group al-Muhajiroun and its charismaticleader Omar Bakri Mohammed in the United Kingdom( ).

10 The study was conducted in 2002, when reaction tothe 9/11 attacks made activism in support of jihad study was notable for bringing a social movementperspective to Understanding how individuals joined al-Muhajiroun. Social movement theory (SMT) is not a singleintegrated theory but a congeries of ideas that have beenfound useful in Understanding movements for liberal causessuch as civil rights and feminism. SMT includes attention tomobilizing structures, Political opportunities, framing, andrepertoires of contentious from these concepts, Wiktorowicz (2005) arrivedat a four-stage model of Radicalization . First is acognitiveopeningto new people and new ideas that follows experi-ence of personal disconnection (unfreezing), personal griev-ance (discrimination), or group grievance (oppression ofMuslims).


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