SFI Workshop: Modeling dynamics of violent radicalization in Western democracies

Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe NM

Investigators

Abstract

General Abstract The proposed workshop will bring together scholars from a number of academic disciplines in an effort to develop new insights into factors that lead to the violent radicalization of citizens in Western democracies. In addition to drawing from a wide set of disciplines, the workshop also aims to address causes at different levels -- individual, group, and societal -- to identify factors that contribute to radicalization. By convening scholars from across academic disciplines, and looking at multiple levels, the organizers hope to gain new insight into the conditions that give rise to radicalization. Based on these new insights, they plan to develop new theoretical models that incorporate these causal elements and to compile data sets that will allow them to measure these variables and test their theories. This is especially important work given a number of recent examples in which citizens from Western democracies radicalized and perpetrated acts of violence. Understanding how and why such transformations occur is an important step toward developing effective counter-radicalization strategies. Such findings will presented to interested scholarly and policy-relevant communities along. Technical Abstract The proposed workshop will bring together scholars from political science, psychology, anthropology, computer science, and mathematical biology to investigate factors that give rise to violent radicalization of individuals in Western democracies. Existing research on the topic tends to focus on the individual or micro-level. The multi-disciplinary team will expand that focus to look not only at micro-level causes, but meso- and macro-level causes as well. By drawing from a wide set of disciplines and expanding the focus to include multiple levels of analyses, the aim of the workshop is to get these diverse teams identify more precise and possibly new causal mechanisms. From there, the aim is to use these insights to build new theoretical models and construct appropriate data sets to test them. This is especially important research in that it provides a means to encourage research networks that reach across existing scholarly communities. The subject matter being investigated is timely and of great interest to scholars and policy makers alike. The team's plan is to disseminate the findings widely to both academic and policy making communities. These findings have the potential to help develop strategies to reduce violent radicalization in Western democracies.