ABSTRACT
The terms “radicalization” and “violent extremism” originated in efforts of government intelligence and security agencies to define a new kind of security problem in early years of ‘war on terror’. The voluminous literature on radicalization, violent extremism and terrorism in disciplines as diverse as psychology, political science, criminology, sociology, cultural studies, anthropology, education as well as philosophy, is a testament to the complexity of phenomena. A full analysis of “radicalization” needs to account for Western states “radicalising” too, as they have become more willing to use violence in a wider range of contexts – from torture to drone strikes to proxy wars. By 2007 it was becoming apparent that questions of “radicalization” and “extremism” were becoming central to the crisis of multiculturalism that had already been in play. The theory of “mutual radicalization” or “cumulative radicalization” is useful to extent that it invites a comparative approach to different forms of violence and undoes the presentation of Islamic movements as exceptional.
