Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PARTICIPATION (Analyzing and Preventiving Extremism Via Participation)
Reporting period: 2021-12-01 to 2023-11-30
The overarching objective of PARTICIPATION – a 36-month Project involving 15 partners – is to identify future perspectives and trends of polarisation, extremism and radicalisation as well as the social composition of the group at risk in Europe by a participatory and provisional methodological strategy, that permits to co-create with social actors, stakeholders and policy-makers effective strategies for prevention. So, the specific objectives of PARTICIPATION are:
1. Multidimensional modelling to understand current and future trends of extremism, polarisation and radicalisation.
2. Communication dynamics: to develop an analysis of extremism, polarisation and radicalisation on-line dynamics by ICT tools (as semantic analysis).
3. Co-creation: field-work to analyse and to generate with the involvement of the social actors in different social spheres, strategies of contrasting polarisation, extremism and radicalisation.
4. Tools: to develop methodologies and policies recommendations for improving the action of policy-makers also on the basis of the previous field-work.
Basing on this approach, the purpose of the PARTICIPATION Project is to provide to the European Society and European Institutions not only a contribution to improve the knowledge of radicalisation and extremism; it aspires to make society, in its various actors and in particular the young people and women, protagonist, “subject” and not “object”, of the research process, starting from the assumption that extremism cannot be fought except through a broad mobilization of civil society, an alliance between science, university and society, and a collective awareness. Thus, PARTICIPATION Project has both scientific and democratic relevance, favouring the empowerment of social actors
1. Multidimensional modelling to understand current and future trends of extremism, polarisation and radicalisation.
2. Communication dynamics: to develop an analysis of extremism, polarisation and radicalisation on-line dynamics by ICT tools (as semantic analysis).
3. Co-creation: field-work to analyse and to generate with the involvement of the social actors in different social spheres, strategies of contrasting polarisation, extremism and radicalisation.
4. Tools: to develop methodologies and policies recommendations for improving the action of policy-makers also on the basis of the previous field-work.
Basing on this approach, the purpose of the PARTICIPATION Project is to provide to the European Society and European Institutions not only a contribution to improve the knowledge of radicalisation and extremism; it aspires to make society, in its various actors and in particular the young people and women, protagonist, “subject” and not “object”, of the research process, starting from the assumption that extremism cannot be fought except through a broad mobilization of civil society, an alliance between science, university and society, and a collective awareness. Thus, PARTICIPATION Project has both scientific and democratic relevance, favouring the empowerment of social actors
Work performed from the 1st December 2020 to 30th November 2021 has provided above all general methodological bases of the work-field that will be implemented in the next years, as well as a deeper critical knowledge of the research on extremism and radicalisation, including P\CVE.
1) Social lab methodology
Regarding to the first aspect it has been developed the “Social Labs: A Shared Participatory Methodology for Fieldwork” (task leader: Maastricht University) a guide to implement social labs, main methodological approach adopted in the PARTICIPATION project, in order to involve women, young people, decision makers and, in general, people, in municipalities, religion communities and schools, in the research process as well as in the development of new tools to prevent extremism, social polarisation and violent radicalisation.
2) A deeper critical knowledge of the research on extremism and P\CVE
Our analysis is based on a large set of studies conducted so far in the PARTICIPATION Project and, in particular:
- A Systematic review of the recent literature on the drivers of radicalisation and violent extremism based on a mixed research design. This study analysed 350 international papers and reports published between 2015 and 2021 with the aim to identify main development trends in current extremism and violent radicalisation (Task leader: European Foundation for Democracy).
- A Comparative research on P/CVE policies and strategies, at national and local level, in 8 European Countries: United Kingdom, France, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, Romania, Greece, Portugal. In addition, a special focus was on EU policies. Desk research and interviews involving experts were the methodologies for this study (Task leader: Universidade do minho).
- An Integrated research (systematic review on scientific literature and 16 semi-structured interviews with experts) on counter and alternative narratives communication strategies developed in Europe between 2015 and 2021 (task leader: Università degli Studi “Roma Tre”).
- A study on the characteristics and the effectiveness of the main risk assessment methodologies such as ERG22+ and VERA-2r (task leader: Centro Studi Internazionali).
Main emerging trends in extremism and radicalisation in Europe identified are:
• Extremism is more and more a cumulative phenomenon.
• Digital cultures and gamification play an important role.
• Radicalisation process should be understood as an event that occurs at the intersection between a personal trajectory and a permissive, or enabling, environment.
• Many radicalised young people suffer from a shared lack of acceptance from the society which they live in.
• Assembling new kind of extremism (hybridisation): this process takes place both between 'consolidated' extremisms and through the interaction with emerging phenomena such as, for instance, the proliferation of conspiracy theories or new religious movements (related to the recovery of an old tradition, such as Nordic mythology, or connected to more contemporary forms of spirituality, such as the New Age).
• Islamist extremism has remained a priority for several countries.
Consequently, the major challenge for eventual policy was the need to design a coherent approach to P/CVE and to avoid fatigue caused by introducing too many initiatives on different levels as well as to re-think risk assessment tools and methodologies because they are inadequate when it is necessary to analyse the pre-criminal space, young people, women or alienated and discriminated ethnic, religious, sexual, and social minorities.
1) Social lab methodology
Regarding to the first aspect it has been developed the “Social Labs: A Shared Participatory Methodology for Fieldwork” (task leader: Maastricht University) a guide to implement social labs, main methodological approach adopted in the PARTICIPATION project, in order to involve women, young people, decision makers and, in general, people, in municipalities, religion communities and schools, in the research process as well as in the development of new tools to prevent extremism, social polarisation and violent radicalisation.
2) A deeper critical knowledge of the research on extremism and P\CVE
Our analysis is based on a large set of studies conducted so far in the PARTICIPATION Project and, in particular:
- A Systematic review of the recent literature on the drivers of radicalisation and violent extremism based on a mixed research design. This study analysed 350 international papers and reports published between 2015 and 2021 with the aim to identify main development trends in current extremism and violent radicalisation (Task leader: European Foundation for Democracy).
- A Comparative research on P/CVE policies and strategies, at national and local level, in 8 European Countries: United Kingdom, France, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, Romania, Greece, Portugal. In addition, a special focus was on EU policies. Desk research and interviews involving experts were the methodologies for this study (Task leader: Universidade do minho).
- An Integrated research (systematic review on scientific literature and 16 semi-structured interviews with experts) on counter and alternative narratives communication strategies developed in Europe between 2015 and 2021 (task leader: Università degli Studi “Roma Tre”).
- A study on the characteristics and the effectiveness of the main risk assessment methodologies such as ERG22+ and VERA-2r (task leader: Centro Studi Internazionali).
Main emerging trends in extremism and radicalisation in Europe identified are:
• Extremism is more and more a cumulative phenomenon.
• Digital cultures and gamification play an important role.
• Radicalisation process should be understood as an event that occurs at the intersection between a personal trajectory and a permissive, or enabling, environment.
• Many radicalised young people suffer from a shared lack of acceptance from the society which they live in.
• Assembling new kind of extremism (hybridisation): this process takes place both between 'consolidated' extremisms and through the interaction with emerging phenomena such as, for instance, the proliferation of conspiracy theories or new religious movements (related to the recovery of an old tradition, such as Nordic mythology, or connected to more contemporary forms of spirituality, such as the New Age).
• Islamist extremism has remained a priority for several countries.
Consequently, the major challenge for eventual policy was the need to design a coherent approach to P/CVE and to avoid fatigue caused by introducing too many initiatives on different levels as well as to re-think risk assessment tools and methodologies because they are inadequate when it is necessary to analyse the pre-criminal space, young people, women or alienated and discriminated ethnic, religious, sexual, and social minorities.
Most recent studies on radicalisation have been influenced by the vulnerability model that appears to be the prevalent one to identify people potentially at risk of violent radicalisation. Within this interpretative frame, radicalisation stops being simply “something done to a person” isolated and alone. On the contrary, radicalisation must be considered a social process of transformation in which the individual actively communicates and shares thoughts and emotions. So, it is a “pathway” that can take place in small groups characterized by “brotherhood” relationships, or it can be associated with period of detention or with a criminal background.
Moreover, It has become increasingly clear that the analysis of radicalisation must take place in parallel with that of the key drivers of polarisations (i.e. narratives and strategies aiming to polarize public discourses and debates) especially with the aim to identify critical steps as well as turning points in all radicalisation levels.
Starting from these last theoretical considerations – which already represent an attempt to go beyond the state of the art – PARTICIPATION project wants to represent a real forward leap in the investigation of the paths and processes that from alienation and social exclusion of vulnerable groups lead to radicalisation. This project will stress on the socio-psychological mechanisms, such as social marginalization, alienation and polarization, that lead to radicalisation, with a special focus on gender and sexuality dimensions. Through the developing of a holistic multidimensional model based on a participatory fieldwork and a mixed-method approach, the project will identify and clarify the different drivers of violent radical ideologies (both on-line and off-line), how these are organized in different pathways and which mechanisms, factors and strategies contribute to support non-radical attitudes and behaviours.
Moreover, It has become increasingly clear that the analysis of radicalisation must take place in parallel with that of the key drivers of polarisations (i.e. narratives and strategies aiming to polarize public discourses and debates) especially with the aim to identify critical steps as well as turning points in all radicalisation levels.
Starting from these last theoretical considerations – which already represent an attempt to go beyond the state of the art – PARTICIPATION project wants to represent a real forward leap in the investigation of the paths and processes that from alienation and social exclusion of vulnerable groups lead to radicalisation. This project will stress on the socio-psychological mechanisms, such as social marginalization, alienation and polarization, that lead to radicalisation, with a special focus on gender and sexuality dimensions. Through the developing of a holistic multidimensional model based on a participatory fieldwork and a mixed-method approach, the project will identify and clarify the different drivers of violent radical ideologies (both on-line and off-line), how these are organized in different pathways and which mechanisms, factors and strategies contribute to support non-radical attitudes and behaviours.