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This study aims to understand the Red Pill movement as displayed on YouTube, by exploring mechanisms used to convey these ideologies, and the extent to which these, if at all, legitimize and encourage violent acts. Netnography along with observation and transcription was used for visual and oral data collection. Thematic analysis was utilized for the analysis which was based on Sykes and Matza’s together with Cohen’s neutralization techniques. Although these techniques were found in the data, they could not effectively link to violence. Instead, three new neutralization techniques, denial of agency, appeal to biology, and appeal to greatness could be linked to violence. While the connection between cause and effect is far more complex, this study provides an insight of the neutralization techniques used within this community. The use of these techniques may weaken individual’s social controls, radicalize them, and effectively lead them to legitimize violence specifically against women.

Title: They are searching for the holes in their bodies and souls – desistance from violent Islamic extremism, a qualitative approach.   This essay aims to provide a deeper understanding and insight into why individuals choose to leave violence-promoting Islamist environments. The choice of method has been qualitative. The essay consists of four semi-structured interviews with key informants. The interview material has been transcribed and coded individually by both authors. The study has taken an integrated theoretical approach where the main framework consists of a life course perspective supported by Hirschi’s theory of social bonds, Merton’s theory of strain and Sutherland’s theory of differential associations. The main findings show that possible turning points with regards to desistance related to violence-promoting Islamist environments primarily consists of aspects related to belonging and social contexts. In other words, this essay shows that social relations are an integral part with regards to desistance. The findings closely correspond to those of previous studies within the field. The findings are supported by the study’s theoretical framework where pro-social community interactions strengthen the social bonds to society through differential associations, this in turn leads to a decreased amount of strain. / Uppsatsen syftar till att ge en djupare förståelse och insikt till varför individer väljer att avhålla sig från våldsbejakande islamistiska miljöer. Valet av metod har varit kvalitativt. Uppsatsens teoretiska utgångspunkt utgörs av ett integrerat perspektiv innehållande Life Course Theory, Mertons teori om Strain, Hirschis sociala band och Sutherlands differentiella associationer. Uppsatsens underlag består av fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer med nyckelinformanter. Intervjumaterialet har transkriberats och kodats individuellt av båda författarna. Resultaten visar att vändpunkter i förhållande till utträden från våldsbejakande islamistiska extremistiska grupperingar i huvudsak utgörs av aspekter relaterade till tillhörighet, sammanhang och disillusionment. Resultaten korresponderar väl till tidigare forskning inom området och kan förklaras utifrån uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk, där en pro-social gemenskap skapar sociala band genom differentiella associationer - resultaten därav blir minskade upplevelser av strain.

The emerging phenomenon of Western women Islamic converts learning radicalized ideology through social media constitutes a challenge to cyber policy makers hampered by a lack of gender-nuanced radicalization research. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative case study was to develop a greater understanding of how the differential reinforcement tenet of social learning theory may help to explain the conversion and radicalization of Western women towards a fundamentalist Islamic ideology through their participation in the social media. Key research questions explored how participation in online social media may create vulnerability towards radicalization and exploitation. The blogs of 3 different Western women converts were selected from the social media website Tumblr for the period of January 2014 through September 2015. Approximately 21,700 posted entries were subjected to a deductive coding process and thematic analysis. Key findings indicated that fervent activism, strong commitment to the digital community, and a tepid response to world terrorist attacks were potential vulnerabilities for targeted radicalization. Additionally, authors increased the number of their ideology-related posts in response to increased reader interactions. Finally, reader responses did not appear to alter the bloggers' static and strongly held positions on cultural gender roles. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include a starting point for the development of a formal adolescent cyber educational program, new metadata delimiters for the identification and engagement of vulnerable women, and as an example of the use of public policy theoretical frameworks for homeland security research.

Much of the academic discussion on the topic of radicalization and terrorism in the Balkans has been centered on the conditions and the processes by which individuals become radicalized and indoctrinated, even to a point of engaging in violence. Comparatively speaking, this ethnographic research addressed the factors that prompt Kosovo's Muslim extremists, a small number of them engaged in the conflict, to disengage from terrorist groups fighting in the Syrian and the Iraq conflict. Data were collected from 12 government officials with direct knowledge on the issue of disengagement from terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria. Cognitive dissonance theory served as the theoretical framework for this ethnographic study, while the conceptual framework was built around social, psychological, and physical factors associated with disengagement from terrorism. Interviews served as primary methods of data collection. The content analysis technique was applied to identify emergent themes. The findings highlighted the crucial role of psychological and social factors in individuals' decision to abandon terrorist organizations engaged in the Iraq and the Syrian conflict. The findings also suggested that affecting ideological values of extremists or terrorist groups may not be sufficient. Recommendations include incorporating a combination of â??softâ?? and â??hardâ?? power measures in addressing the issue of disengagement from terrorist groups. The findings generated from this study may inform the development of more efficient counter-radicalization and counterterrorism policies in Kosovo and the Balkans in general. The findings may also add value to the global literature on disengagement from terrorism.

The aim of this is thesis is to study and understand the development within the gaming community in the latter half of 2014, where a harassment campaign against the female developer Zoe Quinn led to an industry-spanning controversy that divided large sections of the gaming community, and how this fed into a far-right radicalization of certain groups of young male gamers. This thesis focuses on the idea that the controversy in question helped mobilize these games into an online social movement that aimed to “take back our games” from the perceived outside threats of feminism and political correctness, and how they through that process became an easy target for assimilation within large far-right and white supremacist movements. To prove this, data have been collected from two points: from the comment section on YouTube of the pre-controversy 2013 trailer of the video game Wolfenstein: The New Order, and from the YouTube comment section of the post-controversy 2017 trailer of the sequel, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. These points have been chosen to interpret the difference in reaction between the two games, and whether or not the controversy had a mobilization and radicalizing influence. To study social movements, Sidney G. Tarrow’s definition of what a social movement is and contentious collective action will be the main theoretical thread of the thesis, but it will be supplemented with theories from W. Lance Bennet and Alexandra Segerberg’s study of online collective action, Cass R. Sunstein’s work on in-group radicalization, along with further theories.

The aim of this study was to examine what judicial and profession related obstacles and difficulties that arise due to the role that social services have in preventing radicalization and violent extremism and what views social service workers and managers have regarding their involvement in this work. Specifically, the aim of the paper was to explore the understanding social services professionals have about the phenomenon that is radicalization and violent extremism and how this impacts the service they provide to individuals. Furthermore, the study wanted to investigate what methods and actions are carried out in order to detect and prevent individuals from becoming radicalized. Six separate semi-structured interviews were carried out consisting of four social services workers and two managers. The participants were selected from four different municipalities. After conducting the interviews four main themes regarding radicalization and violent extremism were identified, namely; understanding and reasoning, preventive and active measures, obstacles and difficulties, social services in a changing world. New institutionalism theory was applied to the result in order to improve the understanding of the role social services have regarding this issue. The studies main findings were that social workers and managers view radicalization as a process. This process can be carried out alone or as a member of a group. Radicalized individuals are hard to detect and therefore social services struggle to identify them. Fieldwork officers working together with school personnel have the best chance of detecting radicalization at an early stage. There is no method especially adapted to radicalization and violent extremism being used by the social services. Many participants describe being uncertain as to what their role should be with directives and regulations leaving room for interpretation and misunderstanding.

La présente étude a pour but d'analyser le discours féminin francophone dans les textes d'Assia Dejbar,de Calixthe Beyala, d'Aminata Sow Fall et de Nedjma. L'intitulé de la recherche rend compte de deux concepts majeurs: l'interlangue et la radicalisation. Nous fondons notre réflexion en trois grandes paries, la première, définit l'interlangue et interroge l'existence ou non d'objectifs communs à son utilisation par les femmes romancières. La deuxième partie, analyse à travers de nouvelles approches théoriques et critiques sur la langue, les romans Nulle part dans la maison de mon père, Femme nue, femme noire, La Grève des bàttu et L'Amande. La troisième partie quant à elle, traite de la notion de radicalisation par la mise en évidence de la langue du corps, reflétée dans l'ensemble de l'écriture. La lecture des textes littéraires a permis de les scinder en deux catégories. D'une part, il y a les romans qui fustigent et luttent au moyen d'une langue pudique et réservée, et, d'autre part, ceux qui dénoncent et s'affirment, à travers une langue extrêmement transgressive et violente. / The present study aims at analyzing the female speech in the texts of Assia Dejbar, Calixthe Beyala, Aminata Sow Fall and Nedjma. The title of the research accounts for two major concepts: interlanguage and radicalization. We base our reflection on three main bets, the first one, defines the interlanguage and questions the existence or not of objectives common to its use by women novelists. The second part, analyzes through new theoretical and critical approaches on language, novels Nowhere in my father's house, Naked woman, black woman, The strike of the battu and the almond. The third part deals with the notion of radicalization by emphasizing the language of the body, reflected in the whole of writing. The reading of the literary texts allowed to divide them into two categories. On the one hand, there are novels that lash and fight by means of a modest and reserved language, and, on the other hand, those who denounce and affirm themselves, through an extremely transgressive and violent language.

The quality of peace at the end of civil war has emerged as an important concept for understanding persistent security threats. This study seeks to bridge two well established fields by asking: Does the failure to implement a peace agreement encourage terrorism? I argue that the psychological effect of a failing peace agreement shapes the individual’s propensity to terrorism by enhancing the appeal of a frame which favors “radical” action to advance the group’s struggle for recognition. Terrorism can be simultaneously an emotionally driven response at the individual level, and a rational choice at the group level. This paper employs mixed methods. A cross-case study measures the spatial/temporal variation in peace settlement implementation and the intensity of terrorism between/within 34 post-accord settings. A within-case study leverages temporal variation to illustrate how four violent non-state actors responded to perceptions of salient loss at various points in the Mindanao peace process. While each organization used terrorism strategically, the strategies were not always linked to peace settlement implementation. This study advances understanding of the event-driven relationship between implementation failure and terrorism, the process by which “radical” frames convert an individual’s emotional reaction into political violence, and the dynamic integration of quantitative and qualitative research.

Author: Giorgi Kaishauri Study programme: International Security Studies Master's thesis: EU-wide CVE Programs: Exploring the Gap between Theory and Practice Abstract The aim of this research was to determine congruence between the EU-initiated P/CVE program, CT MORSE, and prominent theoretical and empirical insights present in the academic literature on P/CVE. This research presents an exploratory qualitative study which employs a deductive approach to explore a potential gap between counter-radicalization theory and counter- radicalization practice as observed in a major EU project. The data collected and analyzed in this research suggests a partial correlation between academic insights and project's activities. Three out of eight determinants of effective P/CVE strategy discussed in the literature - community engagement, community resilience, and the role of women, are fully accounted for by the project, while the other three - dialogue, identity formation, and personnel expertise are partially present in the form of their constituting elements. Individual resilience and inclusion of former radicals receive neither implicit, nor explicit focus in the project's undertakings across the globe. Moreover, the data suggests that existing congruence is not completely arbitrary, however, a substantially deeper...