Dialogue about radicalisation and equality

The project is concerned with shifting how we address radicalisation by understanding it as a societal rather than purely security-related phenomenon. Its research programme focuses on ‘Islamist’ and ‘extreme-right’ radical(ising) milieus. It looks at young people’s encounters with messages and agents of radicalisation, their responses to them and the pathways through those milieus that ensue.

DARE employs a multi-method research approach including meta-analysis, online data analysis, experimental survey and historical and ethnographic studies of radical(ising) milieus. The milieu approach allows the study of actors who hold radical ideas without becoming violent extremists, i.e. the process of partial, stalled or non-radicalisation.

Taking a societal approach to understanding radicalisation also helps develop more effective counter-extremism (CVE) policy and practice. By engaging with, rather than targeting, groups considered vulnerable to radicalisation, it is possible to prevent their further stigmatisation and ensure CVE interventions do not drive radicalisation by fuelling grievances.