Exclusion or Culture? The Rise and the Ambiguity of the Radicalisation Debate - Hörnqvist, Magnus & Flyghed (2012)

The years 2005–2010 saw a sudden interest in the phenomenon of radicalisation. Terrorism was treated as the end result of a process of radicalisation and, as such, a reflection of broad social changes. In the discussion surrounding this phenomenon, radicalisation has not functioned as a homogenous analytical category.

We analyse leading academic and administrative texts and identify two fundamentally different perspectives. One of these perspectives locates the causes of terrorism in alien cultures and identity clashes, while the other proceeds from socio-economic conditions and sees the threat as coming from increasing levels of social exclusion.

The two perspectives are incompatible but nonetheless co-exist in practice, making terrorism a projection screen for an array of ambitions and fears. The emphasis on radicalisation has further become tied to policy preferences which have affected the Muslim community in quite different ways.