Relating to Radicalism: Family and Upbringing Experiences in Radicalization and De-radicalization

Omschrijving

Research on radicalization was dominated by a security perspective for a long time (Schmid & Price, 2011). However, this perspective did not provide us with insights into family dynamics when a child radicalizes. In the last six years, the pedagogical perspective became more known within research and policy-making. Scholars and policy makers embraced the idea that, in addition to a security perspective, radicalization can also be seen as a matter of adolescent development that perhaps could be influenced by socialization (Aasgaard, 2014; Gielen, 2015; Hermens, Van Kapel, Van Wonderen & Booijink, 2016; Pels, 2014). This new and alternative perspective on studying radicalization processes provided us with new insights into young people’s development of ideals, radicalization, and de-radicalization, and the potential influence of parents on these processes that may benefit further scientific research, policy on preventing radicalization, and social work on this highly difficult subject matter. This concluding chapter will share insights that this study provided. To obtain knowledge about the radicalization process and the potential role parents play within it, an empirical explorative study was conducted. Traditionally, most research is based on secondary sources such as autobiographies, newspapers, court documents, police records, and (jihadi) videos (Borum, 2011; Neumann & Kleinmann, 2013) and less on conversations with people who have extreme ideals (Horgan, 2014). This dissertation contributed to existing studies on radicalization by including in-depth interviews with people who pursue extreme ideals, former radicals, and their family members who experienced the radicalization process from up-close. Still, it was challenging to find and get in touch with adolescents and young adults who have extreme ideals (as defined in Chapter 1). Social media, and more specifically Facebook, were explored as a means to find and approach potential respondents.

Chapter 2 provided us with evidence that Facebook can be a facilitator in finding and approaching potential respondents who are hard to find in the offline world because such persons do not trust anybody outside their own networks. Facebook made a hidden population visible; as well, this chapter showed that an approach via private Facebook message gave respondents the power to open, ignore, delete, or contemplate the request in their own time, making the approach anonymous and less 141 intrusive. Facebook could therefore be a useful tool in research when searching and approaching hidden populations. After using Facebook for finding and approaching potential respondents, interviews were conducted with 155 people: 73 Dutch, Belgian, Danish, and British youth with (former) extreme left-wing, extreme right-wing, and extreme Islamic ideologies, 71 family members, 4 friends, and 7 teachers and youth care professionals. In the interviews we searched for factors that play a possible role in radicalization. Radicalization factors have often been researched, but scholars usually focus on a single ideology infused by the presumption that radicalization is triggered by the ideology itself. Consequently, it remained unclear whether push and pull factors are similar for youth with divergent ideologies.

In Chapter 3 we looked for parallels in the radicalization processes toward various ideologies, and found that young people with extreme left-, right-, and Islamic ideals named similar push and pull factors that, in their view, caused them to radicalize. Apparently parallels in the radicalization process toward different extreme ideologies exist. The respondents also pointed out group-specific push and pull factors. Personal exclusion, for example, seemed to play a bigger role in radicalization toward extreme rightwing groups than toward other ideologies. Apart from the factors that play a possible role in radicalization, this dissertation focused on de-radicalization. De-radicalization remained theoretically underdeveloped, as few empirical insights are available.

Chapter 4 therefore explored what pathways in and out of radicalization look like according to former radicals and their family members. The chapter showed that the radicalization process can be characterized as a journey marked by a sequence of transitions from child- to adulthood. The concepts of journeys and transitions were helpful in making sense of the radicalization process. The journey metaphor connects the radicalization and deradicalization processes as two aspects of the same journey: a rite of passage into and out of a radical group as young people search for their place in society. As this research also aimed to provide insights into the role that parents may play in radicalization and de-radicalization processes,

Chapter 5 explored how parents 142 responded when their children started to develop extreme ideals. According to our respondents, many parents did not react upon the radicalization of their child because they did not recognize the signals or did not know how to handle them. An uncertainty existed within these parents, and they did not know to whom to turn for support.

Chapter 6 elaborated on these findings and explored the parental response further. It was found that parents often change their reactions toward extremist ideals during the radicalization process, and respond differently than one would expect from their general parenting style, because they do not know how to handle the situation.

Chapter 7 explored how formers and their family perceived the potential parental influence on radicalization and de-radicalization. The study showed that both formers and their family members gave little weight to the influence of parents: Most parents felt they were not able to influence their children’s ideal development. Does this mean that parents do not play any role? Chapter 7 showed that family climate may indirectly offer a fertile ground for radicalization, as some formers came from turbulent family backgrounds. Parents were then often not aware of the child’s whereabouts, they were incapable of interfering due to their own troubles, or parents were absent. Moreover, Chapter 7 showed that parents could indirectly influence the de-radicalization process by supporting their children and providing them with counterarguments and alternative perspectives. The importance of relating to others This study aimed to assess why young people feel that they radicalized and deradicalized. In the current debate on radicalization, a dichotomy has come to exist: Some experts argue that radicalization is prompted by a psychological process (DeJacimo, 2015; Kouwenhoven & Blokker, 2015; McCauley & Moskalenko, 2010; Weenink, 2015), while others believe that radicalization is impelled by the ideology itself (Francis, 2015; Silber & Bhatt, 2007; Spencer, 2008). This dichotomy seems rather counterproductive, as our research found evidence that both psychological and ideological factors are at play. Moreover, psychological and ideological frameworks both approach radicalization as an individual quest, while this study shows that a third factor plays an important role in radicalization and de-radicalization processes. 143 This third factor would be relational: Apart from personal quests, grievances, and alluring ideologies, the process of radicalization also seems to be a quest for belonging. It is about who these young people relate to, who influences them, and how they relate to and are influenced by their friends and family. Where psychological factors refer to individual internal factors, the relational factor addresses the interaction between the individual and the social context in which a young person radicalizes. For example, when young people develop their ideals solely in correlation with their friends, this also tells us something about the relationship they have with their parents and the (lack of) influence parents may have. Young people who grow up in a family context where they feel they cannot turn to or relate to their parents, may search for answers and belonging outside the home. No direct parental influence – radicalization This dissertation aimed to study the potential influence that family has on radicalization and de-radicalization.

Chapter 7 shows that, according to former radicals and their family members, parents do not have a direct influence on radicalization and deradicalization. This finding contrasts with the belief of some politicians and policymakers who consider parents to be blamed for their children’s’ radicalization. Former Mayor of London Boris Johnson (2014), for example, stated that young people were being radicalized in the home by their parents or stepparents. Nowadays, parents more often are considered to be victims of their children’s radicalization, mourning the loss of a child who left for an extremist group and unable to prevent this (Gielen, 2015). According to our respondents, parents indeed do not often play an active part in the radicalization of their children: In only two cases we saw parents who educated their children in extreme beliefs. However, similar to previous findings (Buurman & De Graaff, 2009; Gielen, 2008; Vollebergh, 1995), this study found that the ideals of the adolescents and young adults sometimes were a derivative of their parents’ ideology or religion, though adhered to and disseminated much more strongly. Parents then liked the political or religious interest of their child initially, but showed dismay as soon as they realized their child had become extreme in his/her ideals. There were also cases in which the adolescent or young adult adhered to an 144 ideology that was completely at odds with his/her parents’ ideals. This finding suggests that parents in Belgium and the Netherlands most often do not directly influence the radicalization of their child. Still, this research shows that in many cases there was a problematic family situation, providing fertile ground for radicalization. In these families we saw a lack of stability, warmth, and support, which led these young people to look for support elsewhere, outside of the home. Extremist groups welcomed them with open arms and provided them with a surrogate family (Ezekiel, 2002).