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Processes of distancing from Salafist extremism ,
Source: BAMF
What are the triggers and conditions that lead to people wishing to disassociate themselves from Salafism? How do the paths of distancing differ? What can advice achieve? Information is provided by the results of the network study entitled "Practice-orientated analysis of deradicalisation processes" ("PrADera").
A team of researchers from the Centre for Technology and Society at the Technical University of Berlin, the Centre of Excellence for Deradicalisation of the Bavarian Land Criminal Police Office, and the Research Centre of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, jointly conducted the study entitled "PrADera". The project was promoted by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community with funds provided by the National Prevention Programme against Islamist Extremism (NPP).
The project involved conducting interviews with 16 former members of the scene and subjecting them to a science-based analysis. The aim of the research project was to obtain a better understanding of distancing processes, as well as to develop improved approaches for the creation of differentiated, target group-specific intervention measures. With this aim in mind, the study is based on four central research questions:
- What development processes can be observed with regard to the phases of involvement, remaining and turning away?
- What influencing factors and mechanisms are there that favour or indeed hinder distancing processes?
- What role do interventions by security authorities and/or agencies involved in dissociation work play in this process?
- How can distancing processes be typified with regard to the influencing factors and mechanisms that come into play in individual cases?
A typology of distancing processes was developed from the case-comparative analysis which particularly explores the experiences and situational circumstances which formed the starting point of a distancing process. Three different process types were derived from the results:
- Firstly, the "autonomous change" type which is characterised by a short-term, autonomous change in biography. These individuals succeed in independently devising alternative life plans and implementing them autonomously.
- Secondly, the "blocked change" type. Individuals of this type are able to imagine alternative life plans, but their further implementation is blocked, for example due to a lack of support from outside the scene.
- And thirdly, the "supported change" type. In this case, the individual is not able to develop an alternative plan of action on his or her own. It is only through professional support provided via counselling, or integration into a new subculture, that the individual succeeds in the long term in developing new potential for action and triggering a change in their biography.
The study was written by: Corinna Emser, Imke Haase, Mika Moeller, Christoph Nagel and Robert Pelzer
This publication is only available in German.