Radicalisation: Users' Guide. a Case Study on Swedish Prevention Practices

This research engages in both a theoretical and an empirical approach to prevention of radicalisation. After an analysis of the literature on radicalisation, including studies drawn from sociology, political sciences and psychology together with national policies, this study delineates the different stances that have been taken in studying this concept. It then focuses on the complex relation between radicalisation and Islamophobia, addressing the topic of “white men radicalisation” and how post-truth is fostering this phenomenon.

Based on 14 interviews with professionals working in prevention of radicalisation in Sweden - the police, the Government, youth workers, NGO workers, psychologists and experts of Islam - this research explores the diverse approaches that are taken in prevention according to the different agendas. In Sweden, prevention policies began to be drafted in 2012, and radicalisation to violent extremism has been categorised either as left-wing, right-wing or Islamic. Through the definition of the concept of radicalisation with the words of each professional, a bias against Muslim communities is detected in particular from the side of the Government and the police. The negative consequences of this stigmatisation have been explored through the confrontation with experts of Islam in the Swedish context. Moreover, the shift of responsibilities from the Ministry of Culture to the Ministry of Defence denotes the transition to a more securitarian view on prevention.

Finally, this work contains a case-study of a cultural association working in the field of prevention through the usage of music and the cultural arts.

This work fits in the recent critical tradition that examines radicalisation as a multi-faceted phenomenon that can also take place at a State level in its relations with minorities, in this case Muslim communities in the West.