ABSTRACT
In the beginning, radicalization developed as a social science concept, used primarily in order to analyze violence as a result of interaction between different actors. It then became a concept used in policy making to define large groups in the population – usually defined on the basis of their religion, status, and age – as at risk of becoming terrorist. The concept of a ‘War on Terror’, imported from the US, implied not only the consideration of terrorism as perpetrated by an enemy coming from afar, but also the extension of the suspicion of belonging to this type of external enemy by being part of an ethnic or a religious minority. In some countries during the anti-austerity protests there has been the development of new political parties on the left, like Podemos or Syriza, who have been able to channel some of these protests. This also represents some sort of transformation that can be seen as positive innovations.
