Religious Extremism and Radicalisation from a Migration and Integration Theory Perspective (RADIKAL)
DeZIM Research Community
Project staff: Kai-Sören Falkenhain (IKG), Daniela Hertel (IKG), Eric Nissen (IKG), Valentina Oraha (IKG), Lene Baumgart (IKG), Felicitas Wagner (IKG), Eylem Kanol (WZB), Alice Bobée (SHK, WZB), Thomas Tichelbäcker (SHK, WZB), Yu Fan (SHK, WZB), Stefanie Nebel (SHK, WZB), Jan Osenberg (SHK, WZB)
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Project description:
The core question of the cooperation project "RADIKAL" was the question of the connection between migration, religion and radicalisation. The theoretical and empirical analysis aimed at understanding the connection between migration experiences, acculturation processes, perceptions and experiences of discrimination and the formation of political and religious convictions, especially extremist attitudes.
Migration processes were understood primarily as acculturation processes, in which people develop social, political and religious convictions on the basis of their experiences during acculturation. It was assumed that it is precisely here that extremist, fundamentalist and polarised (i.e. radicalised) convictions can arise.
Based on existing theories and data, the project first developed theoretical models on the causal relationship of the core concepts. These were then empirically examined using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. This made it possible to use the project's findings to identify empirically sound models that provide an evidence-based foundation for prevention and intervention.
The project focused on Muslim young people who are radicalised or have been radicalised; whether in a particularly severe way (terror) or less severe (cognitive as well as emotional closeness to extremist as well as fundamentalist groups or worldviews). The analysis was also intended to enable a comparison with other areas of phenomena.
The project consisted of two phases: In the first phase, a coding scheme on the central concepts (migration, integration/acculturation, discrimination, religious attachment and orientation) was created independently of later individual case analyses of complete biographies in order to integrate existing and new data on the biographies of young people. In the second phase, migration and integration-related risk factors in particular were elaborated with a view to radicalisation and attachment to extreme groups. Based on the data from the first phase, highly radicalised persons with a particularly fundamentalist orientation were identified (qualitative case reconstruction). Based on this data, a quantitative examination of the significance of certain risk and explanatory factors was carried out.
The results of expert interviews with state and civil society stakeholders from the fields of religion, security, youth work, prevention and deradicalisation, among others, were to expand the evaluation of the project findings and serve as a basis for the development of joint strategies of sensitive prevention, as well as new ways of youth work.
Participating network partners: Institute for Conflict and Violence Research (IKG), Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB)
Funding: Federal Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (Third-party funding)