Extreme Society

Extremist political views have been experiencing a boom. Even in Germany, positions at the right and left ends of the po­litical spectrum and in the context of religious sectarianism are radicalizing. In order to avoid turning into a “society of extremes” and to strengthen our liberal values and institutions, we must first understand the mechanisms that drive indi­vidual and collective radicalization. Besides engaging in prevention work and pro­secuting cri­minal offenses, incentives for individuals to part ways with extremist groups must also be provided. This is context addressed by the project “Extreme Society. Radicalization and Deradicalization in Germany” starting on July 1, 2017 and with the support of the German Fe­deral Ministry for Education and Research.

The project uses an interdisciplinary and systematic com­parative approach to investigate the current state of radicalization research and to propose recommen­dations for combating radicalization while also strengthening de­mocratic values. Moreover, the project promotes the exchange of knowledge between researchers and practitioners. Under the di­rection of Professor Dr. Christopher Daase, Professor Dr. Nicole Deitelhoff and Dr. Julian Junk, the project is being executed by a team of researchers at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) comprised of Magdalena von Drachenfels, Dr. Eva Herschinger, Heribert Meiss, Philipp Offermann, Clara Süss and Dr. Carmen Wunderlich.

The project “Extreme Society. Radicalization and Deradicalization in Germany” will have a du­ration of 18 months and it will be carried out in co­operation with five research institutions relevant in this area and partners from the field. A team of experts are supporting the project in addressing the following key issues: Without suggesting that clear-cut distinctions can be applied to the complex dynamics of radicalization pro­cesses, the first three issues areas shed light on this phenomenon using different perspectives. The Institute for Inter­disciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG) at the Uni­versity of Bielefeld is studying processes of radicali­zation at the individual level while the Berlin Institute for In­tegration and Migration Research (BIM) at Humboldt University Berlin is dealing with the radicalization of groups. The Peace Re­search Institute Frankfurt (PRIF), part of the Leibniz Association, is fo­cusing on the extent to which entire societies are prone to radica­lizing. The Violence Prevention Network is looking into the practi­cal challenges associated with deradicalization. Online radicalization is the focus area of Inter­national Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) at King’s College in London while the work of the National Center for Crime Prevention (NZK) in Bonn is ex­clusively dedicated to evaluating prevention and dera­dicalization measures.

All of the pertinent results arising out of these projects will be made availa­ble to the public in various online and offline formats and presented at a concluding conference in association with the German Foundation for Peace Research (DSF).