Project description
A method to understand and prevent violent radicalisation
Despite the efforts of governments to fight violent extremism, this remains a growing threat. The EU-funded MULTIPREV project will introduce and test empirically the first comprehensive multi-theoretical framework to study the violent radicalisation and deradicalisation processes. MULTIPREV will understand the nature of radicalisation, develop intervention programmes and an innovative methodology to estimate radicalisation and deradicalisation processes through a platform for data collection from five continents. The project will conduct interviews to explore the mechanisms influencing radicalisation inside and outside prisons in 10 countries: Spain, Iraq, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Morocco, Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan. It will also develop evidence-based programmes designed to prevent radicalisation and conduct deradicalisation in prisons.
Objective
The UN has recently proclaimed 2020-2030 the Decade of Action and its top priority is fighting violent
extremism. This call is grounded in the insufficient progress achieved despite the vast efforts from
Governments and scholars to tackle this issue. The main shortcomings of previous approaches are (1)
theoretical (poor consensus about the nature and causes), (2) empirical (infrequent access to populations of
interest), and (3) methodological (research designs that do not allow to test for causality, no comparative
studies, over-reliance on qualitative data). I am going to introduce and test empirically the first
comprehensive multi-theoretical framework for the study of radicalization leading to violence and deradicalization
by understanding its nature to develop intervention programs. In part one (WP1) I will develop
a multi-theory model for the nature and mechanisms underlying radicalization leading to violence and
deradicalization. In WP2 I will develop an innovative methodology to assess these processes by a platform
for data collection including dynamic and interactive measures of radicalization and deradicalization in large
samples in five continents. WP3 will examine the mechanisms underlying radicalization outside and inside
prisons in 10 nations (Spain, Iraq, Indonesia, Sri-Lanka, Colombia, Morocco, Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia,
Jordan) through interviews, combined with online cross-sectional and longitudinal experiments to allow the
inference of causality. WP4 will focus on the development of evidence-based programs designed to prevent
radicalization in prisons and to conduct de-radicalization with incarcerated violent extremist offenders. The
contributions of this framework are twofold: a) advancing the scientific understanding of violent extremism
by collecting unique empirical data from samples of violent extremist offenders collected worldwide, and b)
providing novel evidence-based strategies and tools for predicting and preventing violent extremism.
Fields of science
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Funding Scheme
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantHost institution
28015 Madrid
Spain