Periodic Reporting for period 1 - VORTEX (Coping with Varieties of Radicalization into Terrorism and Extremism)
Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-12-31
VORTEX (Coping with Varieties of Radicalisation into Terrorism and Extremism) represents an innovative and integrative doctoral network of practitioners and academics for training of doctoral candidates in radicalization studies. The understanding of radicalization is currently trapped between securitisational approaches and socio-cultural contextual explanations, influencing political agencies, practitioners, and scholars alike. One approach focuses on immediate and short-term security needs of European societies. Another approach stresses long-term structural factors, such as socio-economic marginalization, as a breeding ground for extremism, radicalization, and extremist world views and cognitive mindsets. This DN aims not only to identify a theoretical a methodological gap between the two approaches, but also to develop new evidence-based innovative strategies to countering and preventing ideological and behavioural radicalization. VORTEX will provide an integrated and thus meaningful research programme not only but primarily for doctoral candidates to pursue their research in a fruitful and meaningful dialogue among relevant disciplines and in a dense web of supervision, training and interaction to jump start both successful and relevant careers. Bringing together a network of academic and non-academic participating organizations from 14 countries on three continents, dealing with both religious and secular radicalisation, this DN will explore and compare different varieties of radicalization in several empirical settings. Practice-based research with associated partners, connecting doctoral candidates to future job markets and audiences, will offer the opportunity to investigate radicalisations on several levels, ranging from local to global and from cognitive to behavioural. We propose an advanced learning program, combining theoretical and instrumental knowledge at transnational and interdisciplinary levels.
VORTEX’s objectives and related activities can be divided into three categories:
I. Activities relating to the character of the doctoral network
II. Activities relating to the research
III. Activities relating to research output
I. The character of the doctoral network
1. VORTEX has recruited of exceptionally competent doctoral candidates.
2. VORTEX has engaged supervisors that are experienced and possess relevant expertise.
3. VORTEX has engaged supervisors with complementary competencies, such as political scientists, psychologists, peace researchers, social workers, historians, and semioticians. They have complementary expertise in hate rhetoric, terrorism, radicalization, and more.
4. The doctoral candidates have already gained access to transnational training. All doctoral candidates have spent their first secondment at a host institution abroad.
5. The doctoral candidates not only have access to a primary supervisor but also to co-supervisors with complementary expertise.
6. The contact between the doctoral candidates and the supervisors is dense.
II. Activities relating to research
1. VORTEX, both as a whole, within each scientific WP, is committed to integrating diverse disciplines, methods, and perspectives to provide a more comprehensive, coherent, and multifaceted understanding
2. VORTEX and its WPs are interdisciplinary in nature.
3. VORTEX studies radicalization both online and offline.
4. VORTEX investigates both violent behaviours as well as their ideological and cognitive expressions.
5. VORTEX studies both religious and secular expressions of radicalisation.
III. Activities relating to research output
Lastly, VORTEX commits to provide stakeholders with refined, policy-relevant, and evidence-based insights. During the reporting period, VORTEX is at its midpoint and has not yet produced conclusive results. It is therefore difficult to assess the extent to which its research output will be policy-relevant. What can already be confirmed is that VORTEX is already making progress towards this goal through its close collaboration with relevant organisations.
I. Activities relating to the character of the doctoral network
II. Activities relating to the research
III. Activities relating to research output
I. The character of the doctoral network
1. VORTEX has recruited of exceptionally competent doctoral candidates.
2. VORTEX has engaged supervisors that are experienced and possess relevant expertise.
3. VORTEX has engaged supervisors with complementary competencies, such as political scientists, psychologists, peace researchers, social workers, historians, and semioticians. They have complementary expertise in hate rhetoric, terrorism, radicalization, and more.
4. The doctoral candidates have already gained access to transnational training. All doctoral candidates have spent their first secondment at a host institution abroad.
5. The doctoral candidates not only have access to a primary supervisor but also to co-supervisors with complementary expertise.
6. The contact between the doctoral candidates and the supervisors is dense.
II. Activities relating to research
1. VORTEX, both as a whole, within each scientific WP, is committed to integrating diverse disciplines, methods, and perspectives to provide a more comprehensive, coherent, and multifaceted understanding
2. VORTEX and its WPs are interdisciplinary in nature.
3. VORTEX studies radicalization both online and offline.
4. VORTEX investigates both violent behaviours as well as their ideological and cognitive expressions.
5. VORTEX studies both religious and secular expressions of radicalisation.
III. Activities relating to research output
Lastly, VORTEX commits to provide stakeholders with refined, policy-relevant, and evidence-based insights. During the reporting period, VORTEX is at its midpoint and has not yet produced conclusive results. It is therefore difficult to assess the extent to which its research output will be policy-relevant. What can already be confirmed is that VORTEX is already making progress towards this goal through its close collaboration with relevant organisations.
Over the years, a range of research centres, governmental agencies, academic journals, and departments devoted to the research on radicalisation have been established. Since 9/11, radicalisation has received increasing attention. Regrettably, in research, radicalisation has so far most commonly been presumed to be a unidirectional process, leading individuals, after being ideologically convinced, to endorse and employ violence. Moreover, research on radicalisation was until recently trapped between securitisational approaches, and socio-cultural, cognitive, and contextual explanations. Thus, radicalisation is seen as either 1) a security challenge caused by individuals or risk groups or 2) a process conditioned by deeper social, economic, and cultural structures. Furthermore, until recently, the lion’s share of policies and studies – and certainly public discourse – has focused on Islamist terror attacks and much research has employed the concept of radicalisation primarily to explain the habits and actions of predominantly young male second or third generation Muslims in Europe. This came at the expense of other secular and religious extremisms, of which radicalisation into right-wing extremism poses probably the greatest threat to democracies.
In view of all of this, VORTEX implements a research programme that has as a primary objective to lay the groundwork for an integrated, relevant and multidisciplinary study of radicalisation.
VORTEX’s doctoral candidates therefore
1. systematically collect primary data, both qualitative and quantitative, online and offline;
2. combine various disciplines of humanities and social sciences;
3. conduct research and take part in training in transnational and interdisciplinary settings, transcending geographical, sociopolitical, and scientific boundaries; and
4. take part in dialogues with professionals and civil society organisations engaged in prevention work.
In view of all of this, VORTEX implements a research programme that has as a primary objective to lay the groundwork for an integrated, relevant and multidisciplinary study of radicalisation.
VORTEX’s doctoral candidates therefore
1. systematically collect primary data, both qualitative and quantitative, online and offline;
2. combine various disciplines of humanities and social sciences;
3. conduct research and take part in training in transnational and interdisciplinary settings, transcending geographical, sociopolitical, and scientific boundaries; and
4. take part in dialogues with professionals and civil society organisations engaged in prevention work.