ABSTRACT
Radicalisation is an influential and yet contested concept. There have been hundreds of accounts of radicalisation processes that have attempted to explain why both individuals and groups adopt extreme beliefs and, in some instances, engage in violence. This chapter sets out the three main areas in which conspiracy theories can contribute to radicalisation: Narrative, psychological and social. It aims to emphasising the limited state of the existing literature on conspiracy theories and radicalisation, and the potential for conspiracy theories in explaining other aspects of extremist behaviour outside of radicalisation. If scholars have been split in defining radicalisation, it should come as no surprise that accounts of radicalisation also differ in the explanations they offer. The key trend in the analysis of radicalisation has been the varying significance given to explanations based on individual factors, wider structural factors and contextual factors such as ideology and social relationships.
