Radicalization and Deradicalization: A Qualitative Analysis of Parallels in Relevant Risk Factors and Trigger Factors

We analyzed five narrative interviews with individuals who disengaged from Islamist extremist and Salafist ideologies in an early stage of radicalization (Study 1) and seven semistructured expert interviews with employees of German deradicalization programs (Study 2) to explore which root factors are common to both radicalization and deradicalization and how they manifest. Employing a coding-reliability approach to Thematic Analyses, we constructed five themes central in radicalization and deradicalization, respectively. Parallels between radicalization and deradicalization (themes: social surroundings, exclusion vs. acceptance, social status, self-definition, and structure/sense of purpose) as well as the specifics of our particular sample—female explorers of religious extremism—and implications for future research are discussed.