Interviews probed deradicalization as life-course narrative from early life to exit

Evidence

We spent the bulk of each interview having formers and family members tell us the story of their or their family members’ radicalization and deradicalization (“in your own words, and from your own perspective”). To guide the narrative of radicalization and deradicalization, we asked respondents to begin with their or their family members’ early lives, then discuss “major warning signals and turning points,” followed by “attempts to intervene” made by family members, friends, or others (e.g., school officials, law enforcement). We went on to briefly discuss the focal individual’s radical activities, then the process of deradicalization. To close out the interview, we asked all respondents about “missed opportunities”—in other words, things they think could have derailed the radicalization process or helped deradicalization occur more quickly. Finally, we asked respondents for any ideas they had for interventions (whether big or small) and whether they had anything else they would like to add. — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America, 270

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Interviewed deradicalized extremists differ systematically from those who refuse or never exit. — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 131; Deradicalized individuals can be interviewed about their own exit process.; Biographical narrative conversation outperforms argumentative persuasion in deradicalization work — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice: How to Communicate…, 705 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Biographical narrative conversation outperforms argumentative persuasion in deradicalization work #complicates (0.72) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 705
• Early life experience shapes leaders’ later political orientation and methods #expands (0.72)
• Ethnography reveals identity aspects invisible to conventional psychological approaches #complicates (0.70) — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice, 726