Analyzing the Roots of Radical Extremism: A Political Science Essay

This essay examines radical extremism, defining it as religious or political fanaticism, and terrorism as the unlawful use of violence, often targeting civilians. It explores the challenges in combating terrorism due to its evolving nature and advanced methods. The essay delves into the psychological an...Read More

Radical Extremism 1
Radical Extremism
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Radical Extremism
Extremism is a term that refers to religious or political fanaticism. Extremists hold
radical views when it comes to politics or religion. Terrorism is a term that lacks a universal
definition. It could be generally referred as the unlawful use of violence or threats especially
to the civilians. Terrorists usually target and harm the civilians in pursuit of certain political
or religious ideologies. In the contemporary world, terrorism has become a matter of concern
in all areas of the globe. Countries are working together to end terrorism. Although there are
several measures that put to end terrorism, it has become a challenge to eliminate it
completely. This is because of the very nature of terrorism and the new characteristics that it
tends to gain with time. It would be simple to end terrorism if it followed similar patterns.
Terrorists of the modern day have devised ways of ensuring that they succeed. They seem to
have devised very advanced method of carrying out attacks such that it becomes difficult for
the police and other law enforcement forces to thwart their plans before it is too late. To
understand and deal with the problem of terrorism, it is important to understand the meaning
of terrorism. As noted above, there is no single definition of terrorism that has been
universally accepted. Most scholars doubt that one will ever be developed. The definition that
seems to attract most acceptance is on Crenshaw in 1992 who defined terrorism as unlawful
attack of small groups of individuals in order to have a wider influence.
Looking terrorism at practical terms, we realize that it involves small organizations
who are determined to use unlawful force so that they can bring about political or social
change. Terrorist tend to live a life that is not only stressful but isolated. An example of an
extremist group is the Al Qaeda and other jihadist groups that are affiliated to it. One may ask
themselves what motivates individuals to become terrorists. Most terrorists, especially the
jihadists are not afraid to die in the process (Silke 2008). In fact, they may aim to die by
being suicide bombers. It appears that these individuals are ready to do almost anything for
the ideology the group that they are affiliated to be achieved. The modern nature of terrorism
is not only advanced but also complicated. One can never determine who is likely to be a
terrorist and who is not. Terrorist groups are recruiting people from almost any nationality of
the world. Their techniques have become so advanced that one can no longer be able to tell
what the nature of terrorism is like. In a nutshell, terrorism is dynamic. Radical extremism
refers to the process through which one is ‘programmed’ to be a terrorist. The process of
radicalisation us almost like that of programming. Just like a device will behave like it is
programmed, terrorist devote themselves to whatever the will of the terrorists’ group is. The

Radical Extremism 3
reasons why people are involved in radical extremism is going to be the principle focus of
this paper. Various researches will be critiqued to help understand this.
Psychological Reasons for Extremism
When we look at the nature of terrorism, it is hard to consider individuals who carry
out search acts as rational. Most people would be tempted to think that the terrorists are not
functioning well mentally. The society teaches us that harming or killing others both wrong
and immoral. Social norms call for peaceful coexistence among human beings. Therefore,
individuals who seem to be gaining joy from the suffering of others may be considered to be
mentally unwell. Some of the terrorists, especially the jihadists believe that they are doing the
right thing by killing innocent people. This may add to the question of the wellbeing of the
mind. It is not only the general members of the public who feel this way. Extensive research
has been carried out to determine the mental wellbeing of radical extremists. Most of this
research has found out that these persons suffer from certain psychological conditions. These
are mainly psychopathic and paranoid personality disorders. Most of the research that has
been carried out concerning the mental wellbeing of radical extremists has been borrowed
from the activities of the past. Acts of aggression terrorist characteristic were observed even
in the previous centuries. Let us take an example of an activity of the past that modern
psychologists borrow from in an attempt to understand the nature of terrorism. After the
second world war, some members of the Nazi regime were arrested. While awaiting to be
charged, they were assessed by a professional psychologist. The assessment revealed that
most of these convicts were power hungry individuals who did not have any human feeling.
When analysing radical extremist, one may ask themselves what happens until a
person no longer has any human feeling. It is only such a person who would comfortably
butter people who have not wronged him/her in any way. It is only the discipline of
psychology that can best answer this question. Attribution theory helps understand the
changes that occur in a person for them to become radical extremists. The theory argues that
human beings have a tendency of viewing their behaviour as arising from environmental and
societal influences while they tend to view the behaviour of others as stemming from internal
forces (Jamieson and Flint 2015). Internal forces include personality. When trying to
understand the process of terrorism and radical extremism, it is good to start by appreciating
that terrorists are psychologically different from the normal population. Although they are
psychologically different, there exists numerous researches to show that most terrorists do not

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have any psychological abnormality. An act of violence or radical extremism cannot be used
to conclude that an individual is psychologically abnormal. On the centrally, psychologist
argue that most of individuals who are terrorists are stable psychologically (Ragazzi 2017). If
they were not stable, then it would be challenging for them to coordinate terrorist activities.
There are several instances where psychologists have interacted with terrorists on a
face to face accounts. Most of these psychologists have concluded that they found no
psychological abnormalities in these individuals. Although this is the case, this is not to mean
that every radical extremist enjoys good mental health. There are some terrorists who have
various psychological abnormalities. Even in cases where these are found in a terrorist group,
they are outliers. In other words, these are just an exception rather than the norm/ rule. It is
worth noting that people who engage in terrorism come from very different racial, economic
and cultural backgrounds. Due to this, there are different reasons that may influence a person
to become a terrorist. This means that the factors that made an individual join a radical
extremist group may or may not influence the reasons why another person joins. Despite the
different background and nature of terrorists, research carried out in the last four decades
have shown some common relativity in the background of radical extremists. It is worth
noting that becoming a terrorist is a gradual process. In addition, going through the different
stages of radical extremism occurs over a long duration of time. However, considering the
common factors found by research in the last four decades would help to better understand
the nature of terrorism and radical extremism. It is not all of the factors that would be
necessary conspicuous in the journey of every radical extremist. However, most these factors
will appear in every terrorist in varying degrees. The next section will focus on these factors.
They will help understand the why some people become involved in radical extremism.
Gender and Age
There exists no scientific evidence to show that genetics may predispose someone to
becoming a radical extremist. The biological approaches that have attempted to explain why
some individuals and not others become radical extremists appears to be very flawed. The
most significant factors to consider when analysing why some people and not others become
radical extremists are age and gender. There exist some important relationships between these
two factors and radical extremist recruits of many terrorist groups. When considering these
two factors, there is a very important finding that has been made. This is that most of the
members who are involved in radical extremist are young. The term young is here to refer to

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a person who is either a teenager or is in their early twenties. When it comes to the issue of
gender, the largest percentage of people who become radical extremists are males. Let us
have a closer look at this. It is a well-established fact that young males are likely to engage in
dangerous and high-risking activities in all spheres of life. Extensive research shows that
most of the people who engage in crime are young males who are between the age of 15 and
25 years (Silke, 2008). This is an important finding. There also exists evidence to show that
this has been observed across cultures. Most crimes are committed by teenagers and young
adults than by any other age group in the population. Adolescence comes with an increased
feeling to offend. Research has shown that the peak age of offending in males is usually
between 15 and 18 years. As a male grows older, this need dramatically decreases.
There is a widespread consensus that young men are likely to be more involved in
crime than young women. This applies both to the frequency of the crimes and the nature of
the severity. Studies have indicated that the ratio of young men to women when it comes to
violent behaviour ranges between 2:1 to 4:1 (Silke 2008). The ration becomes higher when
we consider violent crimes or activities. Establishing the reason why young men are more
predisposed to engaging in crime is not an easy task. There has been research carried out to
identify why young adolescent involved themselves in criminal activities. The research is
however limiting because it has mainly focused on analysing the behaviour of people who
started violent behaviour in adolescent and persisted into adulthood. Although research shows
that adolescent males are likely to be offenders of some sort, it also indicates that the
tendency to offend greatly reduces when a person reaches the age of 28 years. When it comes
to radical extremism and terrorism, the factors that influence young men to involve
themselves in offending activities may also influence a few of them join terrorist
organizations.
Although most members of terrorists’ groups are young men, there are some recruits
who are female and some who are older. Let us take an example to illustrate this. Between
the year 2001 and 2005, a total of 242 terrorists were identified in Europe (Durodie 2016). Of
these, 5 were women. The review of these jihadists also revealed that their ages varied from
16 to 59 years (Durodie 2016). Despite this, the review showed that most of the jihadists were
either teens or in their mid-twenties. It is also important to note that it is possible for a person
from any country or racial background to become a terrorist. Extensive evidence has revealed
that terrorists hail from almost any part of the globe. Let us take a few examples from across
the globe. These examples will revolve around Al-Qaeda and affiliated jihadists. Most of the

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attacks that have been carried out recently in Europe were carried out by people who were
either nationals or had lived in Europe before. This pattern has also been observed in Africa.
Al-Shabaab, an affiliate group of the Al-Qaeda is based in Somalia. This group has recruited
some young Kenyans and used them to attack Kenya. It appears as if these terrorist
organisations aim to use individuals who are knowledgeable about the terrain so to increase
the chances that their operation will succeed. Despite this, most of the terrorists who have
been identified in terror attacks are mostly young men. Although women may be part of a
terror organization, they are rarely involved in the actual perpetration of a terror attack. In a
nut shell, being a young male is one of the factors that predispose and individual to radical
extremism.
Social Factors for Radicalization
There exist numerous evidences to show that the social identity of an individual plays
a great role in explaining involvement in radical extremism. People who become radicalised
are more likely to be those who come from the sections of the society that share significantly
similar ideologies with the terrorists’ groups. Let us take an example with the jihadists. A
person is more likely to become a jihadist if they subscribe to the Muslim faith or if they
relate strongly with the values of the Muslim religion. This does not mean that the Muslin
faith allow terrorism. It is only a couple of individuals who decide to interpret the religion of
the Muslims in a manner that is not true. Most of the recruits report that before they joined a
jihadist group, they felt a very strong connection to other Muslims all over the globe. This
sense of connection for other Muslims influenced those individuals to think of world
population of the Muslims. There exists research to show that people who believe that their
religion is more important than their nationality are more likely to become involved in radical
extremist activities. A research carried out in the United Kingdom in the year 2001
represented some interesting findings. The research found out that Muslims were more likely
than members of other religion to regard religion as the source of their primary identity. They
are two main aspects of social identity when it comes to the jihadists. One is religion and the
other is loyalties among groups. These are going to be discussed next.
There is a general belief that religion is the main reason behind Islamic terrorism. As
noted above, the Muslim religion does not teach aggressive behaviour or terrorism. Although
thus is the case, there exists numerous evidences to show that Muslim religion is the main
motivation towards radicalisation (Townshend 2018). This is not because the Muslim religion

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supports radicalisation. Rather it is believed to emanate from a radical view of some
teachings of the Quran. Let us take an example with the global Salafi jihad group of
Morocco. The group advocates that the nation should adopt the native religion as it was
handed down by prophet Mohammed. Due to this, they refer to the local authorities as a
political heresy that should be wiped out through violent jihad activities. The group also
advocates for the removal of all other forms of power to give way for Islamic states to be
formed. It is clear from this example that most of these people are motivated by religion.
Although the radical extremist group may have a global goal that is related to religion,
people who join the organizations are not necessarily Muslims. For instance, there exists
evidence to show that only about 20% of the members of jihadists groups went through
primary and secondary Muslim education while 80% of the other members went through
secular schools (Sageman 2016). This research refutes the general belief that only persons
who have gone through madrassa lessons as part of their primary and secondary education
can become radicalized. Most people believe that madrassa classes brainwashes students so
that they put so much emphasis on religion and treat it as the basis of doing everything else.
However, there exists evidence to show that about 50% of all the radical extremist report
being devoted to the Muslim faith when they were youths (Silke 2008). It has also been
shown that about 10% of these individuals were Christians when they were young but
converted to Muslims when they were older (Silke 2008). One of the reasons that influences
non-Muslims to join extremist seems to be loneliness and the need to belong. There are many
instances when the people who were recruited to these groups were living far away from their
families and old friends. In most of these cases, these individuals were living in a foreign
place and they felt isolated from the rest of the community. Most of the individuals joined the
mosque because of the need to belong. Initially, they just worshipped with the rest of the
Muslims (Silke, 2008). However, they became entrenched in to the Muslim religion with time
and were recruited by the radical extremists’ groups. It is worth noting that among the
Salafist Muslims, there are some who do not support global jihad. In facts, the people who
support such make up a small percentage of the Salafist group.
As observed above, loyalties to groups is another main way through which people join
radical extremist groups. The people who join these groups through this method comprise a
significant section of the total number of the terrorists. Rarely does a person join a jihad
groups in an isolated manner. In most cases, people around the world join radical extremist
organizations as small groups (Combs 2017). It is through these small groups that members

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are gradually radicalized. In most cases, members of a group interact with each other for a
very long time. In the process, they become great friends and develop great mutual intimacy.
This process ensures that an individual no longer feels alone or secluded from the rest of
society. During the group interaction, members slowly but surely adopt the ideologies of the
most radical members of the group (Thomas 2016). The radicalization occurs through a
process that has been termed as risky shift. When an individual is away from their friends and
family members, they start losing the connection/ strong relationship with them. This
relationship is then replaced by that of the group members. Due to this, the religion the group
intensifies and soon every member of the group becomes susceptible to radicalization. This is
due to the strong sense of group identity that has developed among the group members. It is
also worth noting that most of these peers are of the same age group. This has been shown to
increase the level of group activity and enhance radicalization.
Inequality and Perceived Injustice
Inequality in terms of distribution of resources have been shown to be a significant
factor contributing to radical extremism. A significant number of the people who join the it
would therefore be true to conclude that marginalization and some forms of discrimination
make some people join radical extremist groups. Marginalization and discrimination are
going to be discussed next. Marginalisation explains the reason why a significant number of
people joined terrorist groups when they were outside their country of origin. Research shows
that about 80% of individuals who joined these groups had been isolated from the cultures,
family members and friends for a significant amount of time (Monaghan and Molnar, 2016).
If the persons who are marginalized believe that they being discriminated against, they tend
to adopt any idea that opposes the social system. This is the reason why people who are
marginalised are more likely to join radical extremist groups when compared to those who
are not marginalised. The main reason why they join the extremist group is to help change the
social system. Particularly, these individuals feel a great urge to end some form of
discrimination (real/ perceived) that exists in the society. This makes feel them that extremist
groups would offer a perfect opportunity for this. Let us take an example with Jihadist groups
of the west. These believe that the Muslim population of the west is being discriminated
against. The discrimination is on the basic of economic endowment, educational
opportunities and little political representation.

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Injustice is another key factor that motivates people to join extremist groups.
Researchers have argued that the psychology of vengeance contributes significantly to an
understanding of the reasons why some people become radicalised. It has long been known
that for most terrorists, vengeance is a main motivation behind radicalization (Laqueur 2017).
Unjust events contribute to terrorism. People who join terrorist groups for such reasons do
not necessarily experience the injustice themselves. The events do not even revolve around
people who are close to them. Most of the terrorists who joined these groups this way report
that they witnessed the unjust activities on the television. They neither know the people who
lived at the place where the injustice took place and neither are, they related. The motivation
behind joining a terror group is that they identified with the victims of the unjust action. This
entitlement combined with the perceived injustice forms a strong motivation to join a radical
extremist group. When u just actions happen, there are some other factors that influence a
person to become a radical extremist. One of these is the propaganda that us spread by the
terror groups. These terror groups send out some propaganda that has a little amount of truth
and greatly exaggerated information. Some people fall prey of this propaganda and join
terrorist groups. Most of the people who join the groups as a result of this usually do after
coming into contact with this propaganda. The propaganda usually involves graphics showing
how the Muslim groups are suffering. Islamist jihadist usually draw great attention to these
conflicts. After such attention is gained, they provide the conflict as the reason why they are
perpetrating violence.
Extensive research has revealed that exposure to the death related imagery containing
the jihadi propaganda has played a great role in influencing some people to join the terror
groups (Martin 2017). Psychologist argue that this create what is referred to as ‘mortality
salience’ in individuals. There exists evidence to show that this mortality salience increases
the likelihood that one will identify more with their country, friends, religion etc. For
instance, some research has found out that mortality salience makes Americans give support
to other whites who upheld racist view. In another instance, research showed that mortality
salience made Muslim students in the middle East have some support towards fellow students
who had suicide bombing thoughts. There also exist evidence to show that people who have
had mortality salience were more likely to engage in suicide bombings themselves. One
important factor that makes vengeance an important factor in radicalisation is the willingness
to suffer that some individuals have. These people are mostly Muslims. There exists evidence
to show that this readiness for vengeance may have great negative consequences both to the

Radical Extremism 10
persons themselves and to the people who are the target of their vengeance. The person who
is undertaking the actions of revenge usually quotes positive attribute as the reasons
motivating them to engage in radicalization.
There are several ways through which vengeance is viewed to have the intended
effect. One of these ways is through reverting the injustice that was being carried out. The
vengeful individuals also believe that they have regained their self-worth after they have
perpetrated the act of revenge. Thirdly, acts of revenge are viewed as important because they
play a role in preventing injustices in the future. Terrorists hold a radical view that there will
be no harmful acts that will not go unavenged. The only irony in all of this is that they chose
to carry out their revenge by harming innocent individuals and property. They may also lose
their own lives in the process. They believe that acts of revenge will not only stop the unjust
activities in the future but will also stop the desire to engage in such activities. In addition,
the persons carrying out the revenge mission believe that their acts will make even those
people who have never been involved in the unjust act never to contemplate about engaging
in the acts. It is worth noting that some individuals are more likely to engage in revenge than
others. Let us take a few examples to illustrate this. Men are more likely to engage in
activities of revenge than women (Nacos 2016). The biological difference between men and
women tend to elicit sharp different characteristics between them. Another example revolves
around the young and the older people. Here, the youth and the young people are more ready
to engage in activities of revenge than are the older generation. This leads to some surprising
conclusion. This is that young men are the most likely to engage in activities of vengeance.
This helps explain why most of the recruits of extremist groups are young males.
Status and Rewards
In addition to providing a platform where people can carry out their revenge, there are
also other enticements that are offered by the terrorists’ groups to attract members of the
public to join their activities. Although there are numerous disadvantages of joining terrorist
groups, there are some perceived benefits that the people contemplating to join these groups
may look at. One of these benefits is that in some communities, people who engage in
terrorist activities are regarded as brave and courageous (Jongman, 2017). For instance, there
are some communities in Palestine that hold great respect for people who have joined terror
groups. To understand this better, it is important to note that there are some communities who
do not refer to members who join these groups as terrorists. Rather they view them as

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warriors of freedom fighters. In most cases, people who join the terror groups are appreciated
by the communities where they hail from. This therefore means that for most communities
where the members of terror group come from, their actions are seen as a good thing. In fact,
a teenager or a young man who joins these groups usually has a very good standing in their
communities. Someone who is learned and civilised may not understand this well. It would
help to imagine oneself in the situation of Palestinians in order to better understand this.
Some radical extremists from Palestine report having a higher social status after joining the
terror groups. Members from their communities congratulate them and commend them for
their ‘good work.’
In addition to the elevated social status, there are other rewards that may motivate an
individual to join a jihad/ radical extremist group. These include increased excitement and
risk-taking. Some of these factors may sound awkward but they are part of the reason why
some people, mostly young men join the terror groups. Research shows that young men are
excited when they participate in activities that involve high risk talking and ones that are
dangerous in nature (Jackson 2018). The propaganda that is spread by radical extremist
exaggerate the life of a terrorist. They present it as one that is exciting, adventurous and
involving high risk taking. In addition, they exaggerate the information in a manner likely to
make the young people, especially men believe that the lifestyle is a very meaningful one.
For instance, the videos that are shared by the terrorists show that they practice using all kind
of gadgets and weapons. They usually use the footage of an actual attack. The overall picture
that is likely to be in the mind of a young person after they view the pictures and videos is
that of an exciting and high-risk taking life. This plays a role motivating them to join the
terror groups.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is not easy to define terrorism. There is not universal definition of the
term that has been agreed upon. Even then, there is a definition that has been adopted by most
researcher. The definition is as follows. Terrorism refers to a style of forming little groups
that have carry out attacks on small groups of people with the aim of making the effect felt by
a wider audience. Terrorism has become not only advanced but complicated in the modern
days. most countries of the world believe that terror activities are highly illegal, unlawful and
should be looted completely from the face of the earth. There is a principle that these
countries have adopted, that is, never negotiating with the terrorists. Since the looting out the

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terrorists is not an easy process, countries have collaborated with each other to help reduce
the cases of terrorism. One may ask themselves what motivates an individual to become a
terrorist. Most people believe that terrorists must be suffering form psychological illness. The
argument put across to support this is that no sane individual would do what the terrorists do.
Extensive evidence has revealed that although some terrorists may suffer from some
psychological problems, many of them are mentally ok. In fact, a terrorist must be mentally
well for them to have the ability to plan and carry out terror activities. Age and gender are
important factors in influencing some people to join terror groups. Extensive evidence reveals
that the younger generation is more likely to be radicalized when compared to the older
individuals. In fact, most of people who ate radicalised are young people between the age of
15 and 25. When it comes to gender, men are more likely to engage in terror activities when
compared to women. We can therefore conclude that most of the people who are radicalised
are young men who are between the age of 15 and 25 years.
Rewards and status are some other factors that motivate people to become radicalized.
The terror groups usually spread some propaganda to exaggerate the life of a terrorists. It is
shown to bed one that is not only exciting but also involves high risk taking and is dangerous
in nature. Young men may feel attracted to engage in such activities. In the modern day, most
young men lack employment opportunities. This makes them fall prey to such propaganda.
Research has also shown that the radical extremists’ groups also spread some propaganda to
provoke engage from members of the community. For instance, they may produce photos
showing the people who suffered as a result of some injustice. This has been shown to
influence a large number of young people into joining such an organisation. People who
engage in terrorism for vengeance purposes may not have been directly affected by the act of
injustice.

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