ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the concept of de-radicalisation and present how it has been approached, understood, and implemented. It presents some potential implications of the various communicative approaches applied in the Yemen and Saudi Arabia programmes with a particular emphasis on how communication may affect the programmes impact. The Yemeni Religious Dialogue Committee and the Saudi Counselling Programme are only two examples of initiatives geared toward de-radicalisation. Psychological reactance theory (PRT) predicts that some participants may attempt to restore their decisional freedom by defying the Religious Subcommittees messages and strengthening their resolve to violent religious extremism. Five religious scholars were chosen to form what would become Yemens Religious Dialogue Committee (RDC). In the past, several scholars have tried to explain terrorism using individual psychological models, economic and rational choice models, and what have become known as root causes. Individual psychological models that emphasised psychopathy or major mental illness as a risk factor for engaging in terrorism have been effectively dismissed.
