Center for Security Studies

Suche

Transformative Radicalization

Transformative Radicalization

Applying Learning Theory to Islamist Radicalization

Autor(en): Alex Wilner, Claire-Jehanne Dubouloz
Journaltitel: Studies in Conflict & Terrorism
Reviewed:  
Band: 34
Ausgabe: 5
Seiten: 418-438
Verlag(e): Routledge
Publikationsjahr: 2011

While a consensus has emerged concerning the role radicalization plays in persuading Westerners to participate in terrorism, little research investigates the cognitive processes inherent to radicalization processes. Transformative learning theory, developed from the sciences in education and rehabilitation, offers an interdisciplinary lens with which to study the processes of personal change associated with radicalization. Transformative radicalization explains how triggering factors lead to critical reflection of meaning perspectives and personal belief systems that guide and alter behavior. Using an autobiographical account of the radicalization process, this study offers a plausibility probe of an inherently interdisciplinary and novel theoretical framework.