Description
Why is it that some social movements engaged in contentious politics experience radicalization whereas others do not? The Dynamics of Radicalization offers an innovative reply by investigating how and when social movement organizations switch from a nonviolent mode of contention to a violent one. Moving beyond existing explanations that posit aggressive motivations, grievances or violence-prone ideologies, this book demonstrates how these factors gain and lose salience in the context of relational dynamics among various parties and actors involved in episodes of contention. Drawing on a comparative historical analysis of al-Qaeda, the Red Brigades, the Cypriot EOKA, the authors develop a relational, mechanism-based theory that advances our understanding of political violence in several important ways by identifying turning points in the radicalization process, similar mechanisms at work across each case, and the factors that drive or impede radicalization. The Dynamics of Radicalization offers a counterpoint to mainstream works on political violence, which often presume that political violence and terrorism is rooted in qualities intrinsic to or developed by groups considered to be radical.
Table of Contents
PrefaceAcknowedgmentsList of Figures and TablesAcronymsChapter One: Introduction: Social movements, Contentious Politics, and Radicalization Chapter Two: Theorizing and Comparing Radicalization: A Relational FrameworkChapter Three: The Italian Extra-Parliamentary Left Movement and Brigate Rosse (1969-1978)Chapter Four: The Cypriot Enosis Movement and EOKA (1945-1959)Chapter Five: The Salafi Transnational Jihad Movement and al-Qaeda (1984-2001)Chapter Six: Processes of Radicalization: Dissimilarities in SimilaritiesChapter Seven: Non-Radicalization and Radicalization in ReverseChapter Eight: The Relational Dynamics of Radicalization: ConclusionAppendix: Sub-Mechanism Types and DefinitionsNotesReferencesIndex
