ABSTRACT
The history of disengagement and deradicalisation is complex. The concept of deradicalisation is rather new, while the concept of disengagement is older, yet its use exploded after 11 September 2001, and the growth of the Islamic State in the Levant. The belief that criminals and perpetrators of violence can be rehabilitated was crucial for the activities, and indeed the deradicalisation and disengagement programmes. This chapter deals with the “re-education” programmes targeting Nazis, and subsequently present “deprogramming” from cults, the history behind changes in thinking around desistance and rehabilitation of criminals and facilitating exit in right-wing groups, following the chronological order of when the fields were established, and the most important discussions within them. There are lessons neglected, links neglected and gaps in knowledge identified by a study of the historic past of deradicalisation and disengagement programmes. The history of the wider field also illustrates how deradicalisation and disengagement could be politicised.
