Beyond Women: Rethinking Gender and Radicalisation

This chapter argues for the necessity of a gendered approach to radicalisation. Recent years of research have produced a variety of radicalisation models, situated in diverse theoretical perspectives. However, they are characterised by inconsistencies and tensions: while radicalisation is broadly understood as a collective ‘process’, models also individualise radicals, presenting their path to extremism as due to personal failings and flaws. A gendered approach mediates these two positions, and the impacts of structure and agency in radicalisation journeys. It outlines the difference between a gendered approach, which constitutes an epistemological reconfiguring of theory, and the simple inclusion of women. First it sets out shared themes of current radicalisation models, outlining the absence of gender. Next, it explores the possibilities for a gendered perspective to transform the field and enrich current understandings of radicalisation and its impacts. The chapter argues for an interdisciplinary approach to radicalisation research, which should draw on resources on gender and masculinity.